Internal links to home page

[vero]

All internal links to my home page currently go to "index.htm"
From an SEO point, what's the best way to write internal links to the home page:

1 - just keep them as "index.htm" (which lets me test on hard drive)
2 - keep them as "index.htm and use a 301 redirect to send index.htm to the root /
2 - re-write them all as "/"
3 - re-write them all as an absolute url ie "http: // www .domain .com/"

I know this has been addressed, but i keep reading different opinions, and wondered if there's a general concensus.

[tedster]

I use the full domain name, http://www.example.com/ for links to the Home Page. That avoids a lot of problems.

If you can implement a 301 from index.html to http://www.example.com, that would also address your legacy issues from previously using index.html in links. There might be a dip in rankings for a short while as Google processes the new information, but soon all should be better.

[man in poland]

Hi tedster - in the case of implementing a 301 from index.html to http://www.example.com, why would you expect a dip in rankings? This sort of redirect is something I have been considering for a while, and I had not planned on any dip at all!

[g1smd]

Redirect to "without filename" version, with URL ending in trailing slash (whether domain or folder name).

Redirect for all common filenames: (index¦home¦default).(html?¦php¦pl¦cfm¦aspx?¦jspx?)

All internal links to point to the slash-ended URL too.

Never have to worry about technology changes forcing a URL change in the future.

[g1smd]

As for testing on your PC, install Apache and PHP and you can move to the next level in your knowledge.

You can then test as http://localhost/ or you can force a fake domain name like mytestsite.yourdomain.com by simply adding this to your HOSTS file:

127.0.0.1 mytestsite.yourdomain.com

[tedster]

why would you expect a dip in rankings?

I don't expect a dip, but depending on the way Google has indexed the current urls, I felt I should mention that there might be a dip. Each situation can differ, and only a few people have reported the dip. But even if it does occur, recovery is almost always fast, assuming no other issues are in the way of course.

[man in poland]

In my case, Google has my http://www.example.com indexed as the main home page, and all my internal links and most of my links from external sites point back to that (and have done for some time now)

However, I have some old legacy links from external sites to http://www.example.com/index.html and it was these I was thinking of redirecting - and would be expecting it only to have a beneficial effect (if at all) with no risk whatsoever of a dip. Am I right in my particular case?

[mack]

I always use the url www.example.com/ simple because this will alow the server to serve up any content that has been set as an index.

A good example woudl be if you use index.htm then recreate your homepage using php your internal home links will all need to be modified. My pointing to www.example.com you have resolved this issue before it can become a problem.

Mack.

[tedster]

man_in_poland - I wouldn't expect any trouble in your situation either.