400+ deleted pictures, 404 on URLs, can they be deleted without penalty?

[fcromwell]

A client had a website redesign and over 400 pictures (she's a photographer) were lost. The URL's (ending in .png) are hanging out there and according to the site scan, they have a matching current URL. Since the pictures are gone can the URL be deleted?

[Casey_Bryan]

Hi there!

If the pictures aren't going to be reloaded (so you can 301 redirect the old URL to the new URL) then in my opinion it would be best to make sure you set a 410 HTTP header (aka a content deleted header) for all those URLs.

The 410 header would be better suited (from what you have said above) as it's more specific. When it comes to Google and 410s, Google will understand you have removed the URL on purpose and if the URLs are indexed, then it should removed them.

I hope that helps!

Cheers,
Casey

[fcromwell]

Thank you Casey. I'm honestly not familiar with a 410 header, a chance to learn something new!

If you have any advice about it I'd be grateful

[Casey_Bryan]

No problem, happy to help

If you are on WordPress, then I'd highly recommend Yoast's premium plugin as you can set up 410s via the plugin (see screen shot attached) - it's super handy! If you're not using Yoast premium, then it is probably best to chat to your web developer.

I hope that helps!

Cheers,
Casey

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