60% Internal Redirects

[MattHopkins]

A new client I am working with has a site with over 9,000 internal 301 redirects.  These are as a result of old links not being updated and the number of internal 301 redirects far outweighs the number of 'correct' links on the site.

My personal opinion is that creates the risk of crawl errors/issues and whilst a 301 redirect is correct in this case, it does not negate the need to update internal links.

The problem I have is that when I explain this to the client, they reply with an Matt Cutts video from 2008 that talks about 301 redirects being correct for site migrations.  Even though the video is not entirely relevant to the point, I can not get the client to move from his position.

Ideally, what I am looking for help with is the following:

1. Am I right in my position that having this many redirects is a potential issue and that internal links should be updated?
2. Does anyone know of any articles from 'notable/reputable' sources that I can use in order to support my position?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Everett]

Hello Matt,

Two things:

#1 - "The amount of pagerank that is lost through a redirect is currently the same as the amount of pagrank that dissapates through a link". So they are exactly the same. Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Filv4pP-1nw

It was thought that more pagerank was lost through a redirect because Google does not want webmasters relying on redirects instead of actually updating internal links. At least that's what Matt told us at a search conference many years before denying it in this video. So.... That's sort of a non-issue - for now. Until Matt changes his mind about how he wants to explain it again.

#2 - It is still "best practice" to update your internal links after a site migration instead of relying on the 301 redirects. The reason is that you don't just migrate once. Think long-term and you will see there is always going to be a possibility of changing the URLs again at some point in the future. If you do not update your internal links you're going to be sending users through multiple redirect hops, which will THEN probably lose more page rank than what is lost in a normal links because it will be happening multiple times.

[Searchmgseo]

Hi Matt,

I agree that it's a potential issue, but not a highly likely to be one. Another argument in in favor to restructuring the internal links is the internal link juice that can be lost through re-directs. Saying that, your client could be right in thinking time could be better spent on other tasks.

[GPainter]

Hi Matt,

Unfortunately the point of a 301 is to point the user / bot to the correct location. Having said that there is nothing wrong with tweaking the site structure so it is more accessible to users however the 301 redirects would still be a valid point.  It does sound like long term a restructure would be more beneficial.

As long as they are making the user experience better they are doing their job, make the user happy make Google happy.

Best of luck though.