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If you’re unsure whether to include the trailing slash after the .com when you’re building links, the right move is simple: use whichever version the site is actually configured to use.
Check both versions of the homepage — with and without the slash — and see what happens. If one redirects to the other, that’s the one you use going forward. If both load without redirecting, the hosting isn’t set up correctly, and that can create duplicate URLs, split signals, and unnecessary crawl noise. In that case, have the host or developer fix it so one version always redirects to the other.
Canonicals can help, but they aren’t as strong as a proper 301. A redirect is still the cleanest way to consolidate link equity. Once you know the correct version, standardize all your link building, citations, internal links, and branded assets to match it. Consistency is what matters — not the slash itself.
In episode 565 of our weekly Hump Day Hangouts, one participant asked whether to keep or remove the trailing slash in root domain links.
The exact question was:
Hey Bradley, I think you may have spoken about this in the past (im sure you have). My question is, should we keep or remove the “/” forward slash after the .com/ when sending links to the root domain?
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#canonicaltags #seotechniques #seostrategies #301redirects #urlstructure
CHAPTERS:
00:00 – Forward Slash in Links
00:07 – Sending Links to Root Domain
