Bobby - 12:21 pm on Jun 10, 2005 (gmt 0)

Now that I've finally figured out how to upload the .htaccess to the server I'm just aching to use it!

Here's my question, if anyone has experience with it let the info flow:

A client of mine has recently redesigned their web site, and a number of pages that were pulling in traffic now no longer exist.

What is the benefit to using a 301 redirect as opposed to just uploading the old page and placing a client side redirect like in javascript?

I don't know exactly how the 301 works, and I don't want to lose that optimization for those pages that no longer exist.

One more question assuming a 301 is the way to go, is it feasible to redirect 5 or 6 pages to the index page? My understanding (very limited mind you) is that a 301 says something to the effect of "this page has now moved here". If this is the case then wouldn't it be a mistake to remove the pages that no longer exist since they do no have identical pages in the new site?