Quantity of products

[TellThemEverything]

I have an e-commerce site that sells around 1,500 SKU's.. but there are some huge categories that we really never sell anything in.

I'm thinking of deleting a lot of underselling products. When I put it like that of course, you'll probably agree - but I'm hesitant because I have to wonder what Google will think of my site going from (say) 1,000 products and unique URL's to 500.. or lower. Removing that many URL's, products and product categories worries me that we may be viewed as a smaller store and have a negative impact.

What effect would you expect from removing a lot of products? Who has done this?

[MashBonigala]

Hi James, I don't think removing unsuitable products would be considered negative. Do each of these product pages have unique content? Do they rank? I would guess that a phased and gradual approach would be the right way to do it. Mash