After the 301 redirect

[gazza777]

Hi all,

A quick question, after you have setup your 301 re-directs in .htaccess - is it necessary to keep your content in the original domains directory?

My thinking is that requests do get as far as referencing the directory, thus it should be safe to delete all the files on the old domain?

Thanx!

[Webmaster_SEO]

Technically you can delete the old files if the redirect is in place correctly.

However, do test it out after you delete the pages to ensure that everything is fine. You can use Google WMT's 'Fetch as Googlebot' to know the exact response Google gets.

[Aran_Smithson]

There is no need for the content to exist any more if you have 301'd the containing URL.

[MalcolmGibb]

You really should delete the old content that you are redirecting to a new page. If you have forgotten to de index the old page then because it physically exists Google may list that page which technically redirects to page #2. Not good.

The purpose of 301 redirects is to redirect users trying to access a deleted/moved resource to it's new location. I don't see why you would keep the old content where it is.

[gazza777]

Thanx all, once this content is deleted, what would I show on my sitemap.xml?

This domain has become a landing page and now redirects to two other location businesses.

eg. www.business.co.za  used to be the main site, but now they have split to www.business1.co.za and www.business2.co.za

Do I now add a simplified site map showing only these two links? Or do I show the old sitemap with the two new links to the new domains?