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Easy SEO Question

by slappytheking
4 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I have pages in Google's index that are from previous iterations of my website over the years. If I get these off the server, so no longer to be considered as "pages" for my website, will it push more juice to the active pages?

Is it wise to just take them off the server or should I do a HTML redirect or a 301? Whats the best way?

Thanks....I just have a ton of old pages sitting in Google's Index that are no longer valid..

The Idiot..slappy
#easy #question #seo
  • Profile picture of the author GodMode52
    If you wonna save any SEO power from them you gotta use the 301 re-direct. However try to avoid useless 301's , analyze carefully those pages first , see if you have any links pointing on them and if they hold any authority , otherwise let em go as dozens of 301's from weak pages are useless.
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  • Profile picture of the author benbro
    The problem with just getting them off your site, without also doing some sort of 301 redirect is twofold:
    1. Poor User Experience - If other webmasters have linked to your old pages and are unaware that the pages are no longer on your site; then you run the risk of having their visitors click the links to your dead pages and seeing your 404 error page.
    2. Potential SEO Blocker - Basically, as long as the search engines have the old pages in their cache, its possible for those old pages to show up in the search engine results. When a surfer hits one of your 404 pages via a search engine result its possible that this can negatively impact your rankings - sitewide.

    This is why even though setting up your 301 redirects can be time consuming; it's more than worth the short term inconvenience.
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  • Profile picture of the author HeadStartSEO
    Originally Posted by slappytheking View Post

    I have pages in Google's index that are from previous iterations of my website over the years. If I get these off the server, so no longer to be considered as "pages" for my website, will it push more juice to the active pages?

    Is it wise to just take them off the server or should I do a HTML redirect or a 301? Whats the best way?

    Thanks....I just have a ton of old pages sitting in Google's Index that are no longer valid..

    The Idiot..slappy
    Hey Slappy, this is a common question we get with clients. The above recommendations are spot on -- get your 301 redirects in place then pull the pages from the server.

    Just make sure it's a PHP 301 (or coded into htaccess), not something done in the HTML!
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  • Profile picture of the author webdevpro
    If the pages are just in Google's index and nowhere mentioned (backlink) then either 301 or taking them off will work but the second method will create lots of 404 errors and may let Google to take more time to clean up their indices. So better to go with 301.
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