Best way to handle expired ad in a classified

[mirum_agency]

I don't think there is a definitive answer to this, but worth the discussion:

How to handle an expired ad in a classified / auction site?

Michael Gray mentioned you should 301 it to it's category page, and I'm inclined to agree with him. But some analysts say you should return a "product/ad expired" page with a 404.

For the user I think the 404 aproach is best, but from a SEO perspective that means I'm throwing link juice out.

What if I 301 him from the ad, and show a message saying why they're seeing the listing page instead of the product page?

Thoughts?

[EGOL]

Who is going to bet against Michael Gray?  I think that you should listen to him.

I would give his answer one tweak.  He says....

If the product goes out of stock forever, you have a couple choices. You can leave the page up with a discontinued notice on the page. IMHO that’s not the best way to go for search engines. Ideally I’d like to not lose any link equity and 301 the product page to a similar product, category/department page, or home page.

I would do exactly what he says 99% of the time, however, if that page is pulling a lot of search engine traffic and same manufacturer has a replacement product or something close that substitutes, I would leave that page in place and use it to explain...  "This product has been retired but a new and improved widget is available... (then give the sales pitch for the new model with a buy button).  This approach would be especially valuable if the product is something like running shoes where repeat customers with very high loyalty are looking to replace their favorite shoes up to several times per year.

When this shoe was replaced by Addiction there was a mad scramble to buy up all existing stock...  (I am probably only person posting here old enough to have worn out a couple dozen pairs)

[MarieHaynes]

I do the same thing with our real estate site.  If a listing has expired, I keep the page active, but I put a note at the top saying, "This listing has sold!  Contact us and we can find you similar listings in the city."

My expired listings bring in a lot of search traffic.

[EGOL]

Interesting...

I don't know how "private" selling prices are in your area but maybe a couple pages on your site like thiese.....

WHAT YOU CAN BUY IN YOURCITY FOR $100,000

This would be a point of reference for buyers and sellers.  Where I live there is a huge divergence between askin' and sellin' prices.  They ask for the moon but get something a lot less.

RECENT SALES PRICES IN YOURCITY...

Nosy people would love this.

[mirum_agency]

Great inputs!

But what if, for legal reasons (price, pictures, etc), the ad has to be removed after it has expired. (real case here)

Ideas:

1. Modify the ad page and return a 200? (remove ad data and add a message saying it's expired)
2. Throw a friendly 404 page, saying the ad has expired and show other options for the user to navigate to
3. 301 to it's parent page

(3) is my favourite, but (2) may be the best option for users.

Thoughts?

[EGOL]

I would do #3.