Should I add the "/"?

Hi,

In SEO, is there a difference between

<a href=http://www.mydomain.com>
and
<a href=http://www.mydomain.com/>

i.e. Should the / be added or left out?

Thanks.

 

I don't think it makes a difference. Of course I don't have the resources myself to test it, so it's just one opinion out of thousands of opinions based on the fact that the backlinks/google PR etc. show exactly the same.

 

good question. i was just wondering that too. Only mine was for after a folder.

twistermc.com/chatfield
twistermc.com/chatfield/

 

In that case definitely include the slash. Otherwise browsers could start looking for file names beginning with chatfield rather than a chatfield folder.

 

For the bare domain--meaning that you want visitors to get to your front page (typically index.html or something much like), you should certainlty add the slash to the URL. If you don't, people will get there anyway, but with one extra HTTP transaction needlessly involved--

request without slash

301 or 302 returned with slash

re-request with slash

page delivered​

--wasting time and bandwidth. A domain just points to a server--only a directory-and-file specification points to a page. Servers will do you the kindness of auto-supplying a page spec for pages meeting their "index page" definitions if no page spec is given in a requested directory; and, if there is no such page in that directory, giving you either a directory listing or a snotty message, depending on their configuration (which is at least partly under your control via the ever-popular .htaccess file).

Never forget: the first slash is not a decoration, or a sort of punctuation mark delimiting the domain name: it is a directory specifier, that for your root directory.

Omitting the trailing slash when specifying a directory is much worse. With a URL something like--

twistermc.com/chatfield​

--the server has no way to know that you are not requesting a file named chatfield, and will try to serve you that file, giving the ever-delightful 404 message if it cannot find such a file in the specified directory.

 

Ohh it's a good think i added the /

 

but lets make sure that everyone knows it doesn't really matter from an SEO or PR standpoint, where / and no / are just fine.

 

Thanks everyone.

 

So for instance with reciprocal links, you ask them to link back to http://www.mydomain.com/ ?

 

Yes.

(And you should link out that way, too, if it is to a site's front page.)

 

As implied by others, the web server will do the redirect for you in almost all cases if you don't put the trailing / - even for stuff with pathname components. Again, this is MOST cases - but you are better off doing it "right" and using the trailing / IMHO.