Should Your Keep Out Of Stock Item Active On Your Site ?

[TeamLogo]

If you have sold out products that will never come back in stock.  Should you remove the items and urls from your sitemap and site.  Or should you keep them active with a sold out image.  The purpose would be for search engines will think your site is larger due the products and amount of urls you have ?

[Virage]

I do keep out of stock product pages active for the very reason you mentioned: it's more unique content for the search engines to read, and also, if someone is searching for my out of stock item, I would still want them to find my site because it is very likely we would have a similar alternative option of which they may purchase instead.

If anything, our product pages always include a ton of information, including PDFs and pictures, that just seem helpful from a consumer's POV. Even if they do not end up purchasing said product from us, they can still research it with us!

It really thus depends on the nature of your website and your products, but there is great value in retaining unique content, so if your product page is filled with useful product information, I'd say definitely keep it available for the search engines and consider linking to alternative in-stock options for your visitors to pursue as well!

[NakulGoyal]

I agree with Virage. As long as it makes business sense and the volume of your OOS products is not more then your current products. I would not want to have 500 OOS products and 50 In stock products on a site.

Stop linking to that page from your navigation (obviously) and then if somebody does indeed navigate to your OOS product page from elsewhere on the web, then they can see it's OOS and see related products and so on. That's a much better user experience in my opinion vs a 404.

[IanTheScot]

It depends on the product. If the item is unique, such as a book that is now out of print, we keep it on the site with a pop-up pointing people to either a new version or the related category.

If it is a t-shirt design, we remove the item and redirect it to the category page for the item unless there is a new item that is a direct replacement.

You have to consider your audience. People will probably be grateful to know that a particular book they were looking for is out of print but they probably don't care that a specific color and cut of shirt is unavailable.

[junioruf]

I would keep the sold out items on my site and have a "we also recommend" section below the item in the inner page to show the client that you have items similar to the one that is sold out. I wouldn't add a sold out image; instead, I would code it so if an item is sold out, then the purchase button is replaced by a sold out button/image. Depending on the products that you carry, some of your sold out items may carry weight within SEO and may show up for relevant keyword searches; you don't want to lose that.

[EGOL]

Before you keep these types of pages you should determine if they have any links or any traffic.  If they are pulling traffic that you would not otherwise receive then you can use the page to tell the history of the item (such as an antique or other one-of-a-kind piece).

If it is a standard product such as a pair of running shoes that has been replaced by a different model you can make the page informative and explain that the item was replaced by a new model and the impovements that were made.

Both of the above showcase your helpfulness and knowledge.

However, if this page has no links and pulls no traffic then delete it and redirect it.  You don't need useless pages on your site.

[KevinBudzynski]

Also, critical to remember a person who bought the product in the past may want to view their history for some reason (see descriptions and such).