Can we ignore "broken links" without redirecting to "new pages"?

[vtmoz]

Let's say we have reaplced www.website.com/page1 with www.website.com/page2.

Do we need to redirect page1 to page2 even page1 doesn't have any back-links?

If it's not a replacement, can we ignore a "lost page"?

Many websites loose hundreds of pages periodically. What's Google's stand on this. If a website has replaced or lost hundreds of links without reclaiming old links by redirection, will that hurts?

[Alick300]

Hi,

We do use 301 redirect to pass link juice from one page to another page. If your webpage not ranking in top 10 or 20 and there is no backlink then you can ignore.

Thanks

[vtmoz]

But how come we retain the reputation at Google? Page1 is familiar for Google. Page2 is new and cannot rank in Google for weeks and months. In this case, if we redirect page1 to page2....it must help somewhere right; even without back-links. We have noticed our new page was not ranking in Google for "same keyword" for weeks, but it would've made if we redirected it.

[PatrickDelehanty]

Hi there

I would redirect the page to it's new URL because if this page ranked for any keywords or queries, the new page can stand to gain that visibility. I would also do it from a user experience standpoint. If a customer or user bookmarked that page, then they will be able to be redirected to the correct URL. So, my two cents, go ahead and redirect, especially if it's a few pages, and also make sure your internal links / sitemap XML are updated to the new URL.

Hope this helps! Good luck!
Patrick

[Fulanito]

It is recommended you redirect page1 to page 2, don't worry about if there is any back link or not, Google already crawled the page1 and now if it turns to 404 you'll loose google rank given to that page. Let's say you go to your favorite restaurant and when you get there you found that the store is closed permanently, what you'll do you'll start looking for new restaurant, same issue with SEO here.

Hope this helps.

Antulio

[vtmoz]

Hi Patrick,

Will there be any issue if we do redirection for hundreds of pages in the process of link reclamation?

[BlueCorona]

I highly recommend putting a 301 redirect in place for any links like the one you mentioned above.

Google wants the ensure that users have a great experience when in your website, and if there's even a slight chance that their visit could be interrupted by a broken link, you could be dinger. To stay safe, I recommend redirects.