Dead links

[kristianw]

I recently changed the design on my website and now in the google webmaster tools i have about 404 errors. Is there a way to delete these old urls from googles index?

[TheHutz]

Originally Posted by kristianw

I recently changed the design on my website and now in the google webmaster tools i have about 404 errors. Is there a way to delete these old urls from googles index?

I personally would recommend doing a 301 redirect to the new correct URL. This will continue to include any links that you have built up to the old URLs and pass on the value.

Wherever possible - always do a redirect (301) rather than just delete URLs. At the very least you will continue to get natural traffic if people have linked using the old URL.