URL Structure Issue

[immanuelruby]

Hi all,

I have a question that what is the difference between http://www.domain.com/ and http://www.domain.com

If I use "/" at the end of the url, will it make any changes in seo standpoint? Is there any canonical issue happen by using both url.

Please suggest me.

[rainborick]

A URL ending with just the domain name is actually invalid and I'm not sure if browsers automatically "repair" such URLs before sending the request or servers append the trailing slash automatically. I believe its the browser. In any case, there's no need to attempt to redirect such invalid URLs because the search engines also repair them automatically. And there's no way for you to redirect it anyway, because the repair occurs before the request reaches your site.

[cryptblade]

Immanuelruby, in what context are you referring to in this question?

If you mean internal link architecture, it's best to use http://www.domain.com/

If you use http://www.domain.com in your internal link architecture, technically, it will be repaired by browsers automatically. But it's not correct and leaving it like that is unnecessary. There is no real technical advantage or disadvantage SEO-wise, but don't be lazy - just add the "/"

If you are refering to link-building, it's not really up to you. The link partner webmaster might not do it with any concern for SEO.

But again, it's not a critical effect on your SEO - but stick to the safe side and add "/" to the end of the domain extension.

[JohnW]

Sometimes you can find where google has indexed www.domain.com and www.domain.com/ as 2 different pages causing a duplicate content issue. Also to note that using the trailing / for a folder reduces server load because a get request for a document without the / is assumed by server to be a page not a folder, so if it is a folder, the server will have to do a 2nd lookup to find it. There is a way to redirect this in Apache and it should be always done.