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Relative or absolute paths to use in your page?

There are three types of paths usually used to link files and objects.

1) Site root relative (eg: /news/today.html)
2) Document relative (eg: ../news/today.html)
3) Absolute (eg: "http://www.anotherwebsite.com/item/item.html")

Site root relative paths start with slash that identifies the root of site. Document relative paths describe the location of file in relation to another file on the same server. Absolute path contains URL of the item being referenced.

Even if google doesn't rank above paths differently, I recommend to follow site root relative paths in your internal links and absolute paths for external file links. By using these two paths, you can ensure none of your links are broken and can avoid confusion to GoogleBot.

Additional details about paths:

1) Document-relative, site root-relative and absolute paths
2) Site Root Relative - Why?

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