An absolute link includes the full address: https://page1google.co.uk/pricing/. A relative link only includes the path: /pricing/. The browser fills in the rest.
Is one better for SEO?
For rankings, no. Google treats both the same once it works out the full address. The old claim that absolute links "pass more SEO value" is a myth.
What actually matters
- One version of your site. Pick
https://and either with or withoutwww, and redirect every other version to it. Otherwise Google may see duplicate copies of each page. - Canonical tags. Each page should declare its preferred address with a canonical tag, written as an absolute URL.
- Sitemaps and structured data should always use absolute URLs.
- No broken links. Relative links can break if pages move to a different folder, so check your links after any restructure.
Our recommendation
Use relative links inside your site for flexibility, use absolute URLs in canonical tags, sitemaps and schema, and make sure every old or duplicate address redirects to one version. Our SEO audit checks all of this.