Pages linked with Spam been 301 redirected to 404\. Is it ok

[Modi]

Pl suggest, some pages having some spam links pointed to those pages are been redirected to 404 error page (through 301 redirect) - as removing them manually was not possible due to part of core component of cms and many other coding issue, the only way as advised by developer was making 301 redirect to 404 page.

Does by redirecting these pages to 404 page using 301 redirect, will nullify all negative or spam links pointing to them and eventually will remove the resulting spam impact on the site too.

Many Thanks

[jesse-landry]

If the server isn't actually returning a 404 response then those links are still actively pointing at your domain. Just because you point them at a custom 404 page doesn't mean it returns a 404. In fact, in your case it's clearly returning a 301 which passes link juice.

A 302 does not pass link juice and might be the better option, but I'm not sure that even will be your best bet. Your best bet is to delete the pages in their entirety and re-create them with different URLs.

Well, your best bet is to remove the poison links but trust me I know how impossible that can be.

Anyway.. Hope this helps.

[Modi]

Thanks Jesse, am finding a way to delete them by checking with another developer

If still - it does not work out - as recommended atleast 302 seems a better bet than 301 redirect for these pages. May advise !!

[Modi]

To update, have deleted those pages, through the help of developer by doing major code changes

Now pages when opened shows 404 server error without any redirects

Can i now be assured that, that these poison links are doing no bad to site going forward as they are now linked to 404 server error page

[greindel]

You may want to consider using a 410 in the place of a 404 as it tells Google not to come back the link is dead.