Error referencing external jquery library in master page

Question

Background - I added a webpart to hold my jquery script on a single Sharepoint page. It works fine. In the HTML of the source editor, the script begins:

<script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.11.0/jquery.min.js" ></script>
<script type="text/javascript">....

Now I want to put that same jquery in the master page to use it site wide.

I copied what I had in the webpart and saved it as js to /scripts/outboundlinks.js

In my master page, I put the following just before the closing head tag:

<script src="/Scripts/OutboundLinks.js" type='text/javascript'></script>

and saved / approved my master page.

I'm surfing about on my site and the javascipt is not working. Looking at the loaded scripts in IE developer tool I am getting an error that point to the 1st line referencing the external js library.

What does the master page not like about my script that a webpart with this script will allow? Is it the external reference to jquery? Do I have to have jquery library local to my sharepoint site?

I could just try this - but I am interested in hearing an explanation for this.

Answer 1

I don't think your script file can contain <script> tags. Try loading the jQuery in your master page directly, then having only script (no <script> tags) in the OutboundLinks.js file (loaded after jQuery, of course). So your master page will have:

<script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.11.0/jquery.min.js" ></script>
<script src="/Scripts/OutboundLinks.js" type='text/javascript'></script>

OutboundLinks.js will contain:

if (typeof jQuery != 'undefined') {
    jQuery(document).ready(function($) {
        //rest of code...

Answer 2

Your link is incorrectly configured. if you start with a / you need everything after .com to be included which should contain at least your site name. Relative paths do not start with / and can be used appropriately. See http://www.coffeecup.com/help/articles/absolute-vs-relative-pathslinks/