Our site's navigation links are currently in relative form:<a href=/section>The SEO company I mentioned in my previous question recommends we change them to absolute links:<a href=http://www.ourpage.com/section>This is to ensure search engines get the correct and working URL for the pages. Is this really something that should be taken into account or is this another case of extra work with no added benefit?
Absolute vs relative links
seo;html;links
There's pros and cons to both implementations:Absolute: Deters scrapers (since they will have to replace all base href values). Allows for better testing in production sites - not relying on missing folder heirachy etc. Less overhead for URL retrieval (debated).Relative: Easier for development (on a staging server or local server etc) without the need of dynamic base href. Easier to transport or move the site to another (sub)domain/folder.So while you can see there's no SEO value to be had on way or the other, one thing that is commonly agreed in SEO is that Good URLs NEVER change, hence my (personal) preference for insisting on absolute URLs.