Deep Page Link - url no longer exists

[mhans]

I used Open Site Explorer and found a link to our site on http://www.business.com/guides/bedding-supplies-3639/  The link was setup to go to an important, deep page on my website, but the structure of our urls changed and the url no longer exists. The link (anchor text 'National Hospitality Supply') does direct to our homepage, www.nathosp.com.

My question is, am I receiving full link juice? Or would I be better served to create a 301 redirect to the revised / new page url? In case it matters, if I had my choice I'd prefer the link to go to the intended deep page.

Thanks in advance for your insight.

-Josh Fulfer

[SteveOllington]

Definitely, 100% do the 301 in any case... to whatever has been put in place of that page (assuming it's the same or similar content)    

[mhans]

Thanks Steve, very much appreciated.

[CodyWheeler]

Keep in mind here that just because you use a 301 redirect to point to your new page you won't lose the opportunity for your new page to rank. A 301 redirect will pass 95% of the link juice from the redirected page, which is great. Your new page will most likely rank once it starts getting links to it through people finding it through the old redirect and your site getting re-crawled.

301s are a great tool to keep in your SEO utility belt. Don't rely on them, but always use them when you need to move something.

[SparkplugDigital]

What about when the old URL no longer exists at all (page no longer saved on server) - how can you do a 301?