SEO Tycoon

**jmz2** · 04-07-2007, 11:23 PM

Hello,
I want to work with absolute links but in a flexible way.

I am using ASP. What I have done is to declare a variable 'SiteRoot' and configure links like this:
<img src="<%=SiteRoot%>/images/picture.jpg">

Well, the main reason for doing this is for being able to adapt quickly in case of needing to change to another domain. I don't know if it is the best option but is the one that I have come across (this is my 1st web design so don't quick me

!!). You are very welcome to coment this if you like.

My concern is if this is going to 'punish' my SE ranking in any way. Could you give me some thought of how my rankings would be affected acting this way?

Many thanks.

**ForrestCroce** · 04-08-2007, 01:58 AM

A web site tends to be more portable if you use relative paths ( src="../Images" ). Browsers and spiders convert those into absolute URLs when reading the page.

Also, Google doesn't care how you code or generate your pages. They only want good content.

**ADAM Web Design** · 04-08-2007, 02:35 AM

You're not the only one who does it that way, jmz2. I actually use two variables: Image_Root (for images) and Page_Root (for pages). I dot his because I have a production server that I use to develop the sites and then a live one to upload them to. I've been doing it this way for a few years now, and I think most people around here will say I know what I'm doing.

Google actually prefers them, or so they say. Personally, I prefer them because I find that it's a lot easier to trace back a failure when an image or page doesn't load...you're staring at the absolute path in the code, so it makes debugging much easier.

**jmz2** · 12:49 AM

But now I am stuck with the includes.
I can not make:



How can I walk around this problem?

Adam as you do this as well, what do you do whith the includes to avoid this? Please.

P.S. The real includes files (settings and such) won't give me this problem as I am thinking on making them all 'include virtual'. My problem is with files like 'headers' and such.

-----Just realised that the solution is to make everything virtual. Need some sleep. Sorry.

Many thanks.

**vickysoft** · 04-09-2007, 06:28 AM

Having absolute or relative paths have no bearings on your SE rankings. But if you plan to change the domain name in future, do not forget to do a 301 to all new urls.

**willcode4beer** · 04-09-2007, 10:19 AM

On my site, I just use a custom tag to include images.
That way, if I need to change image servers or move directories, I can just change the configuration of the tag.

**ADAM Web Design** · 04-09-2007, 11:26 AM

You can use include file, but not with a variable.



Or 

will both work.

**jmz2** · 04-10-2007, 02:52 PM

I use:


I put that virtual directory out of the public root, I supose this would give me a little bit extra security, am I right?

willcode4beer can you give an exmple?

Thanks.