How to reference links?

Absolute, relative, or other for Google

[gators]

In opinions, for footers, what is the best way to reference links on the index.html page for Google to pick them up.
I get confused between the terms relative and absolute , so please be specific.

At the footer, is it okay to just use
Example 1:
<a href="page1.html">Page 1</a> or is it better to use

Example 2:
<a href="http://mydomain.com/page1.html"> or can I use

Example 3:
a javascript .js file for the links or

Example 4:
on most sites, for my links, I have used
<a href="./page1.html"></a>

I always include a site map with links.

I had always used Example 4, but then with my logo at the bottom and a link to the client's privacy statement, I had always written it as <a href="privacy.html">.

I notice that in doing a allinurl: domain.com or site: domain.com

that Google always shows the privacy link but not the others (even those they are indexed with Google).

I am thinking that Example 4 may not be a particularly good idea. And it is better to use Example 1.

Also, is it particularly necessary to make sure that whatever method or example I use, that i am consistent on all pages within the site. Could this cause problems?

thanks

[ciml]

While links inside Javascript within the page will normally be seen if they are full URIs (i.e. http://whatever), Google doesn't normally load .js files so any links there are unlikely to be followed.

Otherswise, I haven't found any difference between Google's treatment of <A href="./foo.html">, <A href="/foo.html"> , <A href="foo.html"> or <A href="http://www.example.com/foo.html">.

It may be that your privacy page has enough PageRank to be counted, hence the different treatment.