Ankur sood
New member
What to do with old content after 301 redirect?
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What to do with old content after 301 redirect?
- Thread starter Ankur sood
- Start date
parul jain
New member
HTTP status code 404, aka the “Page Not Found” error, is what users will get if you remove the page and don’t redirect the URL. 404s are bad for SEO because they reduce link equity. 404s are also bad for user experience (UX), more often than not.
vismaadlabs
New member
With a permanent redirect, HTTP status code 301, you sends users to a new URL when they try to get to the old one. The permanent redirect is SEO-superior to the other redirects like the temporary (302) redirect, as it passes most of the link equity to the target page and allows search engines to update their index. 301s also pass relevancy signals to the target page.
301 redirects do reduce net relevance (since some content is removed and link signals are dampened) but may improve relevance of target page if the redirected page was relevant to the target.
Tip 1: Avoid unhelpful blanket redirects of a ton of URLs to single page like the main blog page or a home page when they should go to several specific URLs.
Such redirects are no better than 404s for UX (worse, in my opinion). They are frowned upon by Google, which is getting better at giving unhelpful redirects the SEO benefit (or lack thereof) they deserve; consider their rally against “faulty redirects” for mobile. Blanket 301s are yesterday’s SEO tactic – good SEOs just don’t do it anymore, but bad SEOs still love ’em.
Tip 2: Avoid redirects that make the user ask “WTF?”
One sloppy redirect is a long chain of redirects that slow down page load time (especially bad for mobile). Other sloppy redirects include the redirect loop, accidentally redirecting the wrong URL, and accidentally redirecting tothe wrong URL. Such issues are common with large, complicated webs of redirects and can be caused not only by carelessness, but also by ignorance or confusion of the technical implementation setup.
Tip 3: Tell users what is happening (when appropriate).
Some open communication to redirects can improve UX. For example, you could add a note explaining which old posts (on a blog) or which discontinued products (on an ecommerce site) have been redirected to another page, and why.
Tip 4: If you’re confused at this point, here’s a friendly guide on redirects and some info on technical specifics.
Summary: 301 redirects have long been a favorite weapon of SEOs as they are a way to pass link juice from an old page that isn’t taking advantage of it to a page that needs and deserves that link juice. However, don’t use 301s carelessly. Only use redirects when it actually improves the user-experience, for example when you can say “hey I have a much better post on this exact topic”. Only use redirects if you will commit to doing them right
301 redirects do reduce net relevance (since some content is removed and link signals are dampened) but may improve relevance of target page if the redirected page was relevant to the target.
Tip 1: Avoid unhelpful blanket redirects of a ton of URLs to single page like the main blog page or a home page when they should go to several specific URLs.
Such redirects are no better than 404s for UX (worse, in my opinion). They are frowned upon by Google, which is getting better at giving unhelpful redirects the SEO benefit (or lack thereof) they deserve; consider their rally against “faulty redirects” for mobile. Blanket 301s are yesterday’s SEO tactic – good SEOs just don’t do it anymore, but bad SEOs still love ’em.
Tip 2: Avoid redirects that make the user ask “WTF?”
One sloppy redirect is a long chain of redirects that slow down page load time (especially bad for mobile). Other sloppy redirects include the redirect loop, accidentally redirecting the wrong URL, and accidentally redirecting tothe wrong URL. Such issues are common with large, complicated webs of redirects and can be caused not only by carelessness, but also by ignorance or confusion of the technical implementation setup.
Tip 3: Tell users what is happening (when appropriate).
Some open communication to redirects can improve UX. For example, you could add a note explaining which old posts (on a blog) or which discontinued products (on an ecommerce site) have been redirected to another page, and why.
Tip 4: If you’re confused at this point, here’s a friendly guide on redirects and some info on technical specifics.
Summary: 301 redirects have long been a favorite weapon of SEOs as they are a way to pass link juice from an old page that isn’t taking advantage of it to a page that needs and deserves that link juice. However, don’t use 301s carelessly. Only use redirects when it actually improves the user-experience, for example when you can say “hey I have a much better post on this exact topic”. Only use redirects if you will commit to doing them right
sadianisar
New member
If you have implemented 301 redirection, then do not do anything with old content.