"retiring" an URL

the proper way

[chinkchink]

Would any one tell me, (or point me to some good documentation on) the google-friendly way to "retire" an URL?
I am particularly interested in page URLs that are no longer valid within an active domain.

Thank you much

[jcoronella]

For me, if the URL had incoming links I would do a 301 redirect to a very similar page, or the home page.

If the URL has none, a custom 404 message with navigation to the main site.

[encyclo]

If you're being particularly meticulous, you could also serve pages which have definitively disappeared with a "410 Gone" error code, which is even clearer than a simple "404 File not found".

Again, make sure you use a customized error message for your human visitors with navigation to other areas of your site.

[chinkchink]

Thank you much for the tips...

jcoronella,
in your opinion, for an URL that has incoming links from other websites as well as a replacement page, I should have the 301 up permenanatly then?
how would that impact (if at all) the PR for the new page (the page users are beig redirect to)?

encyclo,
Would you explain how I can set up the "410 Gone" error for the pages that has no replacements?

Thank you again

[jcoronella]

I would keep the 301 up as long as the incoming links were valid so that you can make use of the referers and PR. A 301 will transfer the PR to the new page.

If you can, contact the site that links to that page and ask for a corrected one so you don't have to keep the 301 indefinitely.

[kevinpate]

> so you don't have to keep the 301 indefinitely

Just an FYI, if you're in organic Y! or anywhere else because the Slurp bot already found you, plan on that 301 being up for a long, long time. Slurp can follow a 301 just fine, so fine in fact it does it again, and again, and again. it doesn't seem to make a note of it for future reference though.