Product discontinued

[Paul78]

Hi there,

We have ranking top 3 for a competitive keyword, however the product linked to that keyword has just been discontinued, normally if we have alternatives to this product I would keep this page live and direct users to those alternatives products.

What is best practice here? keeping the page live and telling users that this product has been discontinued and offering a helpline number? or just removing the page all together? (404)

Thanks

[AlanBleiweiss]

I would suggest creating a transitional custom page solution.  In this scenario, you keep the page itself but instead of the product information, you show a custom message such as "We're sorry but this product has been discontinued".  Then below that, you might present one, two or a few similar products for the visitor to consider, along with an invitation to browse the category that product was in.

If this is going to be done, I would suggest building in a time-frame for using this method, such as x months.  At the end of that time-period, I would implement a 301 "permanently moved" redirect pointing that page to the next highest most relevant page, such as the sub-category or category the product falls within.  This way, you give users options and an opportunity to still buy from you, in a respectful way.

Alternately, if you don't have any products that are essentially like the discontinued product, I would implement a 301 redirect right away, again to that next higher most relevant page, and I would suggest including a custom message at the top of that page's main content area, communicating how that product has been discontinued, if your programmer has the skill to implement that custom message based on the source of the visit...