diff --git a/docs/src/release_notes.rst b/docs/src/release_notes.rst
index 2b0c43b..29c4b95 100644
--- a/docs/src/release_notes.rst
+++ b/docs/src/release_notes.rst
@@ -8,6 +8,10 @@ These release notes are based on
 sphinx-codeautolink adheres to
 `Semantic Versioning <https://semver.org>`_.
 
+Unreleased
+----------
+- Fix backreference links using relative URIs (:issue:`190`)
+
 0.17.3 (2025-03-06)
 -------------------
 - Fix Sphinx InventoryItem deprecation warning (:issue:`173`)
diff --git a/src/sphinx_codeautolink/extension/__init__.py b/src/sphinx_codeautolink/extension/__init__.py
index 001bc3c..f691b2e 100644
--- a/src/sphinx_codeautolink/extension/__init__.py
+++ b/src/sphinx_codeautolink/extension/__init__.py
@@ -271,7 +271,8 @@ def generate_backref_tables(self, app, doctree, docname):
         visitor = CodeRefsVisitor(
             doctree,
             code_refs=self.code_refs,
-            builder=app.builder.name,
+            docname=docname,
+            builder=app.builder,
             warn_no_backreference=self.warn_no_backreference,
         )
         doctree.walk(visitor)
diff --git a/src/sphinx_codeautolink/extension/backref.py b/src/sphinx_codeautolink/extension/backref.py
index e6b1379..cb122e1 100644
--- a/src/sphinx_codeautolink/extension/backref.py
+++ b/src/sphinx_codeautolink/extension/backref.py
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 """Backreference tables implementation."""
 
 from dataclasses import dataclass
-from pathlib import Path
 
 from docutils import nodes
+from sphinx.builders import Builder
 
 from sphinx_codeautolink.warn import logger, warn_type
 
@@ -63,12 +63,14 @@ def __init__(
         self,
         *args,
         code_refs: dict[str, list[CodeExample]],
-        builder: str,
+        docname: str,
+        builder: Builder,
         warn_no_backreference: bool = False,
         **kwargs,
     ) -> None:
         super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
         self.code_refs = code_refs
+        self.docname = docname
         self.builder = builder
         self.warn_no_backreference = warn_no_backreference
 
@@ -82,10 +84,7 @@ def unknown_visit(self, node) -> None:
 
         items = []
         for ref in self.code_refs.get(node.ref, []):
-            if self.builder == "dirhtml" and Path(ref.document).name != "index":
-                link = ref.document + "/index.html"
-            else:
-                link = ref.document + ".html"
+            link = self.builder.get_relative_uri(self.docname, ref.document)
             if ref.ref_id is not None:
                 link += f"#{ref.ref_id}"
             items.append((link, " / ".join(ref.headings)))
diff --git a/tests/extension/__init__.py b/tests/extension/__init__.py
index 87fb758..0279bee 100644
--- a/tests/extension/__init__.py
+++ b/tests/extension/__init__.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
 from sphinx.cmd.build import main as sphinx_main
 
-from ._check import check_link_targets
+from ._check import check_link_targets, check_reference_targets_exist
 
 # Insert test package root to path for all tests
 sys.path.insert(0, str(Path(__file__).parent / "src"))
@@ -365,6 +365,58 @@ def test_dirhtml_builder(tmp_path: Path):
     assert_links(result_dir / "subdir/page3/index.html", links)
 
     assert check_link_targets(result_dir) == len(links) * 4
+    check_reference_targets_exist(result_dir)
+
+
+def test_html_subdir_reference(tmp_path: Path):
+    index = """
+Test project
+============
+
+.. toctree::
+
+   subdir/page1
+   subdir/subdir2/page2
+
+Index Page
+----------
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   import test_project
+   test_project.bar()
+
+.. automodule:: test_project
+"""
+
+    page = """
+Page {idx}
+===========
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   import test_project
+   test_project.bar()
+
+.. autolink-examples:: test_project.bar
+"""
+
+    files = {
+        "conf.py": default_conf,
+        "index.rst": index,
+        "subdir/page1.rst": page.format(idx=1),
+        "subdir/subdir2/page2.rst": page.format(idx=2),
+    }
+    links = ["test_project", "test_project.bar"]
+
+    result_dir = _sphinx_build(tmp_path, "html", files)
+
+    assert_links(result_dir / "index.html", links)
+    assert_links(result_dir / "subdir/page1.html", links)
+    assert_links(result_dir / "subdir/subdir2/page2.html", links)
+
+    assert check_link_targets(result_dir) == len(links) * 3
+    check_reference_targets_exist(result_dir)
 
 
 def _sphinx_build(
diff --git a/tests/extension/_check.py b/tests/extension/_check.py
index 6060c4e..c5b497a 100644
--- a/tests/extension/_check.py
+++ b/tests/extension/_check.py
@@ -44,6 +44,25 @@ def check_link_targets(root: Path) -> int:
     return total
 
 
+def check_reference_targets_exist(root: Path):
+    site_docs = {
+        p: BeautifulSoup(p.read_text("utf-8"), "html.parser")
+        for p in root.glob("**/*.html")
+    }
+    for doc, soup in site_docs.items():
+        for link in soup.find_all("a", attrs={"class": "reference internal"}):
+            base = link["href"].split("#")[0]
+            if any(base.startswith(s) for s in ("http://", "https://")):
+                continue
+            target_path = doc if base == "" else (doc.parent / base).resolve()
+            if target_path.is_dir():
+                target_path /= "index.html"
+            assert target_path.exists(), (
+                f"Target path {target_path!s} not found while validating"
+                f" link for `{link.string}` in {doc.relative_to(root)!s}!"
+            )
+
+
 def gather_ids(soup: BeautifulSoup) -> set:
     """Gather all HTML IDs from a given page."""
     return {tag["id"] for tag in soup.find_all(id=True)}