diff --git a/src/main/java/com/commafeed/backend/feed/FeedUtils.java b/src/main/java/com/commafeed/backend/feed/FeedUtils.java
index c236a29b..0999e85e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/commafeed/backend/feed/FeedUtils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/commafeed/backend/feed/FeedUtils.java
@@ -430,12 +430,8 @@ public class FeedUtils {
 	}
 
 	public static boolean isRelative(final String url) {
-		// the regex means "doesn't start with 'scheme://'"
-		if ((url != null) && (url.startsWith("/") == false) && (!url.matches("^\\w+\\:\\/\\/.*")) && !(url.startsWith("#"))) {
-			return true;
-		} else {
-			return false;
-		}
+		// the regex means "start with 'scheme://'"
+		return url.startsWith("/") || url.startsWith("#") || !url.matches("^\\w+\\:\\/\\/.*");
 	}
 
 	public static String getFaviconUrl(FeedSubscription subscription, String publicUrl) {
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/commafeed/backend/feed/FeedUtilsTest.java b/src/test/java/com/commafeed/backend/feed/FeedUtilsTest.java
index e7dd4710..de41be4b 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/commafeed/backend/feed/FeedUtilsTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/commafeed/backend/feed/FeedUtilsTest.java
@@ -44,11 +44,18 @@ public class FeedUtilsTest {
 	@Test
 	public void testToAbsoluteUrl() {
 		String expected = "http://a.com/blog/entry/1";
+
+		// usual cases
 		Assert.assertEquals(expected, FeedUtils.toAbsoluteUrl("http://a.com/blog/entry/1", "http://a.com/feed/", "http://a.com/feed/"));
 		Assert.assertEquals(expected, FeedUtils.toAbsoluteUrl("http://a.com/blog/entry/1", "http://a.com/feed", "http://a.com/feed"));
+
+		// relative links
 		Assert.assertEquals(expected, FeedUtils.toAbsoluteUrl("../blog/entry/1", "http://a.com/feed/", "http://a.com/feed/"));
 		Assert.assertEquals(expected, FeedUtils.toAbsoluteUrl("../blog/entry/1", "feed.xml", "http://a.com/feed/feed.xml"));
 
+		// root-relative links
+		Assert.assertEquals(expected, FeedUtils.toAbsoluteUrl("/blog/entry/1", "/feed", "http://a.com/feed"));
+
 		Assert.assertEquals("http://ergoemacs.org/emacs/elisp_all_about_lines.html",
 				FeedUtils.toAbsoluteUrl("elisp_all_about_lines.html", "blog.xml", "http://ergoemacs.org/emacs/blog.xml"));