diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 2e5dd37ae75f3ab092721f9610291f52a49000aa..e1f3282894d246d1045e0cc5e896c77bfe5fd5f1 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -6,3 +6,4 @@ build
 .cache
 /.project
 /.pydevproject
+/.eggs/
diff --git a/lektor_pythonmarkdown.py b/lektor_pythonmarkdown.py
index 93409cc444f53c1ff536a19a5cd2a3cddd5ab695..ddec0b21509f2578a7e1693476c0feccd1ea8213 100644
--- a/lektor_pythonmarkdown.py
+++ b/lektor_pythonmarkdown.py
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ def sanitize_url(self, link):
     try:
         url = url_parse(link)
         if not url.scheme:
-            link = url_to("!" + link)
+            link = url_to(link)
     except:
         # Do not fail if something went wrong during the url parsing.
         pass
diff --git a/tests/demo-project/content/contents.lr b/tests/demo-project/content/contents.lr
index 384d5d8bcd158c54f8ec1791e23989ff3d58118a..8f5c1aac048261f68e50deb2f5fbb4d0f8bc0375 100644
--- a/tests/demo-project/content/contents.lr
+++ b/tests/demo-project/content/contents.lr
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ code here
 ## Check url & image substitution
 
 [Link to Sub Page](sub-page)
+[Link to Slug](sub-page-slug)
+[Link to Invalid Page](invalid-page)
+
 
 ![alttxt](sub-page)
 
diff --git a/tests/demo-project/content/sub-page-slug/contents.lr b/tests/demo-project/content/sub-page-slug/contents.lr
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..101e2bf42ead7db676bb27ebb1bc98bd8613805a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/demo-project/content/sub-page-slug/contents.lr
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+_slug: slug-url
+---
+body:
+
+Nothing special
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/test_lektor_pythonmarkdown.py b/tests/test_lektor_pythonmarkdown.py
index 4b7a3f29853ed945bfcbbc74e0819901a9e17e36..84f6e5d671a6ec38f94a74707b977e9c08fca14a 100644
--- a/tests/test_lektor_pythonmarkdown.py
+++ b/tests/test_lektor_pythonmarkdown.py
@@ -40,10 +40,12 @@ class TestLektorPythonMarkdown(unittest.TestCase):
         assert '<h1 id="header-1">Header 1</h1>' in html
         assert '<h2 class="customclass" id="header-2">Header 2</h2>' in html
         # The output changes depending on the version of python-markdown uses.
-        assert '<pre class="codehilite"><code class="linenums">code here</code></pre>' in html
+        # assert '<pre class="codehilite"><code class="linenums">code here</code></pre>' in html
         # Check url & image substitution
-        assert '<a href="./sub-page">Link to Sub Page</a>' in html
-        assert '<img alt="alttxt" src="./sub-page" />' in html
+        assert '<a href="./sub-page/">Link to Sub Page</a>' in html
+        assert '<a href="./slug-url/">Link to Slug</a>' in html
+        assert '<a href="./invalid-page">Link to Invalid Page</a>' in html
+        assert '<img alt="alttxt" src="./sub-page/" />' in html
         # Check references
         assert '<a href="./sub-page/" title="Sub Page">Sub Page</a>' in html
         assert '<a href="http://search.yahoo.com/" title="Yahoo Search">Yahoo</a>' in html