Does removing product listings help raise SERP's on other pages?

[13375auc3]

Does removing content ever make sense?

We have out of stock products that are left on the site (in an out of stock section) specifically for SEO value, but I am not sure how to approach the problem from a bottom line conversion stand point.

Do we leave out of stock products and hope that they turn into a conversion rate via cross selling, or do out of stock products lower the value of other pages by "stealing" link juice and pagerank from the rest of the site? (and effectively driving interest away)

What is your perspective? Do you believe that any content that is related or semi-related to your main focus is beneficial, or does it only make sense to have strong content that has a higher rate of conversion and overall site engagement?

[CPLDistribution]

I have always taking the point of view of keeping out of stock products on site and including related products on the page taking the more content more traffic perspective.

As long as you don't have say over 20% out of stock products I wouldn't be too concerned about losing too much link juice to these pages.

Yes they will drag down your site conversion rate but they should increase revenue. You could always have separate conversion reports for your out of stock and in stock products.