url rewriting - When should I use a trailing slash in my URL?

Question

When should a trailing slash be used in a URL? For example - should my URL look like /about-us/ or like /about-us?

I am fully aware of the SEO-related issues - duplicate content and the canonical thing; I'm trying to figure out which one I should use in the context of serving pages correctly alone.

For example, my colleague is thinking that a trailing slash at the end means it's a "folder" - a "directory", so this is not a correct style. But I think that without a slash in the end - it's not quite correct either, because it almost looks like a folder, but it isn't and it's not a normal file either, but a filename without extension.

Is there a proper way of knowing which to use?

Answer 1

It is not a question of preference. /base and /base/ have different semantics. In many cases, the difference is unimportant. But it is important when there are relative URLs.

• child relative to /base/ is /base/child.
• child relative to /base is (perhaps surprisingly) /child.