Google indexing page differently

[WebRiverGroup]

Does google index an interal page differently depending on whether you are using a FULL url (including domain) or just a relative link?  Also, is it possible that using a full URL (http://mysite.com/page.html) causes the browser to "ping" the server differently than just having the href linked to using relative links (/page.html) Could this cause server or firewall perfomance issues?

[jws8118]

It won't change the indexing but it does change server requests.  To reduce server load its best to use relative not absolute urls.

[irvingw]

True, but for SEO it's better to use absolute URLs.

[Mike.Goracke]

No. Google will not index your page differently; however, it can potentially slow your pages down, because you will have additional code.

Here is what Google has to say on the matter, "Where possible, use absolute rather than relative links. (For instance, when linking to another page in your site, link to www.example.com/mypage.html rather than simply mypage.html)."

There are a few reasons behind this thought process: 1) crawlers cannot get confused when crawling your pages, because the complete path is available 2) should your site content be scrapped, the links would point back to your own page 3) if you have poor site structure, this can increase errors (for instance if you switch to HTTPS for a signin page and you continue to use relative pathing for navigation, you could then have links to the HTTPS version of your website and the HTTP version).

Also, just for reference, when you are looking at using relative or absolute for canonical pages, Google states, "rel="canonical" can be used with relative or absolute links, but we
recommend using absolute links to minimize potential confusion or difficulties."

Hope this answers your question.

Mike