What to do with outdated (but ranking) content?
-
I'm SEOing for a theatre. We've got show pages that rank when searching for the business, but are outdated as the shows are from past years. The pages aren't accessible at all from the site now, but still exist in domain and are linked to by google.
If you search the business, the results are:
1. [biz name]
2. [biz name] - tickets
3-6. outdated shows
Should these pages be left up, or taken down and redirected home?
Would there be any seo boost to the homepage from 301ing them home, or do you think it'd be more beneficial to have more results available as entry points into the site?
-
The action I would recommend would depend on two factors: are there backlinks to the page, and how frequently are the links used (check Google Analytics).
If you have a page without any backlinks that is rarely used, then I would allow the 404 to occur. If you have a page with link juice and is frequently used, I would make an effort to ensure user's are happy with what they find when clicking to the page, otherwise they may bounce off my site. In this case I would rebuild the content.
404s are a natural part of the internet. Content is moved and removed over time. It is not necessarily a bad thing for a 404 to occur if your site is prepared to handle it (i.e. your 404 page is helpful and friendly).The only point I am making is some webmasters view 404s as an issue with their site that must be resolved, and that is not the case. You should be fully aware of any 404 links and be able to adjust where necessary.
-
Thanks for a great answer. There are not links to these pages on the website, only from search engine results. While I thought the pages could be restored, I'm realizing now they don't mix with a new site update, so it is either:
a) remake the content.
b) let them 404.
c) 301 redirect.
You think it would be better to let them go to a useful 404 page than to redirect?
-
I wouldn't take the pages down, but I'd alter them to prominently display a message that the show is no longer running with a nice big call to action to visit the homepage, or whatever action makes sense for the theater's objectives.
With this set up you still get all the traffic from your higher authority pages, and your visitors know what they're looking at and what a good next step is,
-
It will be beneficial for both Ryan.
-
Make sure your site's 404 page is friendly and helpful. The message should be something along the lines of "we are sorry the page you are looking for cannot be found" along with links to your home page and other helpful pages. A search box should ideally be provided. Additionally a panel which displays links to your site's top pages or most interesting content.
Your options are:
1. If there are links to the outdated show pages and the pages aren't accessible, you may want to restore the old pages. This will keep users and search engines happy. The links will continue to offer your site value.
2. If there are links to the outdated show pages and the pages have been deleted and not recoverable, you can 301 redirect the pages to the most relevant page on your site. Perhaps another show from the same director, or a show of the same type. This will allow your site to retain the link value within it's DA.
3. If there are not links to the outdated show pages, I would recommend allowing the pages to 404.
If you perform any action other then the first, then the rankings #3-6 will disappear. The search engine crawlers will recognize the pages are no longer available and remove the results.
-
For the users' sake of not being taken to old content, or will that boost the homepage's ranking/authority?
-
You should 301 them all to the Homepage.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
How Many Backlinks does I need to rank?
A keyword Olehana private label cosmetic company that also my competitor have 4k ref domain for this keyword. So Do I need more than 4k ref domain with anchortext "olehana" Please help me. Thanks.
Link Building | | arainbadami0 -
DMOZ Directory Impact on Rankings
For about 5-10 years ago many SEOers said that it is in particular important to be in Dmoz. What about nowadays?
Link Building | | kitoks
Moreover is it still working and accepting new projects. I suggested several of my projects but no news from them0 -
Adding content to an eCommerce site
We're creating buyers guides for the each category on our ecommerce website and we're not sure where to place the content for maximum impact. Option a: place the content on the category page beneath the product listings Option b: place the content on our blog and created links between the content and category page Which option do you think would be most effective/ user friendly? Any thoughts, help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks, Alick
Link Building | | Alick3000 -
Will feeding a blog through a widget onto a wix site help rankings?
I have a client I am writing blog content for, however his site was recently redesigned on wix html5. They offer no native blog. I have used a widget to embed blog from another site, however does this help seo in any way? When people share on social media, etc., it is linking the embedded page, not the clients site, right? So it would not be giving any link juice to site. It also doesn't help for organic search of content if it is embedded, is that right? I have been racking my brain trying to figure out how to overcome this issue. Would creating a "faux" blog on the Wix site work (as in multiple pages that I would then categorize and link to each other to navigate like a blog myself)? Wix looks like it has page length maximums too, so I'm not sure how I would get around that. It is also clunky to share on social media without a "share" button for viewer, but perhaps I am mistaken. Is that a ridiculous solution? What have other people done to deal with this issue and get better rankings with Wix platform? Thanks in advance for any input! I'm feeling a little frustrated with what to do.
Link Building | | Quill_Quotient0 -
On my latest report we have dropped one point on Domain authority. I also note that our 3 competitor rankings have dropped as well. Has something changed to make this occur.
On my latest report we have dropped one point on Domain authority. I also note that our 3 competitor rankings have dropped as well. Has something changed to make this occur.
Link Building | | Fodders0 -
If I create articles with my keyword phrases and find sites to post them on, will this help wiith my search engine rankings for keyword phrases?
Also, if I use my web site name for the anchor text on backlinks will it still help getting me ranked for my keyword phrases?
Link Building | | katiasm0 -
Ranking above Auth domains question?
Hi, How difficult would it be to rank a new page above the likes of Wiki, About, Squidoo etc? I have a keyword I would like rank but most of the domains on first page are the likes of the above, wiki, about, squidoo etc. The pages themselves dont have a high Page Auth its just the root domain. Will it still be very hard to rank above these types of sites? Cheers
Link Building | | activitysuper0 -
Ranking for competitor brand terms
My client sells security software online. Our keyword research shows massive traffic for competitor brands relative to the non-branded terms and my guess is that this traffic converts well. I'd like to figure out a way to get some of that traffic for my client without crossing any ethical boundaries. The only thing I can think of is having a comparison page with good onsite optimization. Does anyone else have any tips on how to rank for these terms?
Link Building | | Riona0