Should 301 Redirects be used only in cross domains or also internally?

[BeytzNet]

In the following video with Cutts:

http://youtu.be/r1lVPrYoBkA

he explains a bit more about 301 redirects but he only talks about cross sites.

What about redirecting internally from a non-existing product in a store to a new similar existing product?

[Keszi]

Hi,

I personally like to use 301 especially when there is a "redesign of architecture", the URLs will change internally so then you go and redirect from the old URLs to the new ones.

If we talk about products, then I wouldn't use the redirect, instead a custom 404 page and possibilities for the user to choose if (s)he would like to check for similar products or categories, etc.

I hope that helped,

Istvan

[bobjones]

Internally redirecting pages with a 301 is fine. The whole point is to tell Google that what was once here, is now there.

However, if you're redirecting to a product is significantly different to the one that you had originally, you might want to have a placeholder on the old page, telling the client that this product s no longer available, but add a link to the new product that will achieve a similar outcome for the customer.

[StephanieChang]

Like mentioned above, internal 301 redirects are completely appropriate, especially for product pages that no longer exist. However, instead of redirecting a non-existent product page to a new similar product page, you might want to consider redirecting it to a category page, especially if that non-existent product page has already garnered external links.

This will help demonstrate to search engines that this page is more important than other pages and increase the link equity to that page, which would ultimately help increase its page authority.

[BeytzNet]

Dear Stephanie,

What I recently decided to do (and I wonder what you think of it), is putting "similar available products" on the non existing product with links to the other products.

However, consider the fact that the non existing product is actually non reachable (since it is not available the product category pages don't point to it) so eventually it will be de-indexed.

Thanks

[StephanieChang]

It's okay to put similar available products on the product page that is no longer available. Before de-indexing them, make sure that the category pages have not garnered any backlinks. If they have, it might be worth 301 redirecting. If not, let them become deindexed.