How to delete old pages

without being penalised

[jamsy]

I have a static site of about 500 - 600 pages which ranks very well with Google and all pages are indexed.

My problem is that 450 of these pages are indivual product pages of which 150 are now discontinued and to be replaced with new products.

These discontinued items pages are named after the product code ie /product333.html - so to replace the new product say number 340 i would prefer to have it has /product340.html instead of utilising the old one of 333.html which will make it easier all round.

My main objective is not to be penalised by the Big "G" since the site does very well at present.

What i can do is place a 404 redirect to the index.html?

I hope you understand my problem ;)

[Macguru]

>>What i can do is place a 404 redirect to the index.html?
Good idea!

Search for 404 Checker
or even better : Master404

Both are free scripts for *nix servers that will let you do that. The later will let redirect directly to new product page if you want.

[gingerbreadman]

I would suggest doing a redirect permanent 301 asopposed to a 404.

cheers
Ross

[jamsy]

redirect permanent 301 asopposed to a 404

How do i do this - i host with p**r networks.
Thanks

[WindSun]

Depends.
If the new produce is very similar to the old one, I try to use the same page with new info.

Otherwise do a 301.

[Macguru]

I see content as some expensive good, especially hard to part with when content is scoring good on major SE.

If I was in jamsy's position, I would ask to myself these questions :

Can I leave those pages on my site since they bring traffic?
Can visitors benefit from knowing the product is discontinued?
Can I add a single line of code on these pages, such as a gif, linking to replacement product?
Can I keep my site structure relatively intact with archives of discontinued products?

Just my 2 cents.ca

[taxpod]

I agree with Macguru. Why not let your customers know "this product has been discontinued but here is a viable alternative." I dunno what you sell but picture someone who was looking for something you sold six months ago. That person might have bookmarked your site or remembered that they found it on Google. Now they want that thing they sought out but it's not available. Maybe the model has been discontinued and a new one launched with very slightly different features.

I do this all the time and when I see the new feature doesn't impact what I want the thing for, I go ahead and but the newer model.

If you just take down that page, you've lost a sale.

[jamsy]

Can I keep my site structure relatively intact with archives of discontinued products?

Macguru - Great idea thanks. I will keep all the pages archived and have them shown as discontinued with alternatives - but to avoid them from becoming orphan pages do you suggest I create a page which just lists ALL (current and discontinued) items in that range?

or should i not worry about them becoming orphans?

[Macguru]

Yes, orphanned pages can be a problem. They will certainly loose some value because of lack of links pointing to them.

I would make a link from homepage to sitemap, then from sitemap to archives. Archives are miniature sitemaps with about 10 to 20 links on them, with good descriptions and anchor text pointing to your discontinued products.

I try to keep olders pages just as they where before, with just a banner sized gif telling visitors about it beeing discontinued and linking to closest replacement product or relevant category when possible.

I hope this can apply for you.