Expired Content

[SEMTurkey]

Hi

We have a listing website that has a huge amount of listings.These listings are changing all time, they become passive or deleted.

We would like to choose the response code for the passive for deleted pages. Which response type must we use ?

• Redirect to last category with 301

• Give 410 Gone response code

• Give 404 Response code

which option would we choose ? and any ideas ?

[RyanKent]

You are reviewing the correct options and it is up to you to determine which option should be chosen for any given page.

If you have relevant or similar content on another page, the best option is to perform a 301 redirect to that page. For example if you have a page on "Christmas Deals" then in January you may wish to 301 redirect to your "After Christmas Deals" page. There is a strong likelihood that anyone who was interested in Christmas Deals would be interested in the new page.

On the other hand, if you have a page on a specific topic which is no longer active and there is not another relevant page on your site, offer a 410 response code. This will allow search engines to update their records a bit faster. If you let the page 404, then the search engine will not be sure if the content is temporarily unavailable or not so your listing will be kept for longer.

With either of the last approaches be sure your 404/410 page is helpful. It should contain your site's normal navigation along with a search function. Don't dump people on a page where they need to press the Back button on their browser.