GWT 404 best practices

[IceIcebaby]

I'm getting back lots of 404 errors for old websites that are linking back to my current website. If the website content/anchor text has no relevancy to my current content is it still best practice to redirect to current home page, contact the web master to remove link or any other suggestions?

Not exactly sure if redirecting looks spammy since it's irrelevant content.

Thanks for your help!

[mosquitohawk]

If the content is irrelevant I wouldn't redirect it to specific pages on your site.  If it is generally still relevant to the business as a whole, you could 301 redirect it to the root URL.  If not, at the very least, if some referring visitors might become customers, you could change your 404 page to offer up calls to action or shopping options for the folks who see it.

My 2 cents.  

I wouldn't worry thought about removing the links unless they're very poor quality and their percentage is high compared to your "good" links.

[IceIcebaby]

Thanks Marty, exactly what I was looking for.

[mosquitohawk]

You're most welcome, glad you found it useful!