removing frames - should I recycle old pages or 301 redirect?

301 redirect or recycle old framed section pages?

[txredhead]

Hello everyone

I maintain a 10 year old website with a around 1000 html pages. Years ago when the techology was somewhat different we built the site in frames. Our important keywords have always performed well even with the framesets. Times have changed and we are rebuilding the site without the frames.

Soon, I have several dozen old index pages that have been listed for many years. The old index pages were basically just a menu with a typical list of our main sections(keywords). Some of these index pages still rank well on Google. Note: we have the site set up that if a person loads either of the frame URL's, it automatically kicks over to the full page with frames. It doesn't just display the partial frame page.

Anyway, we are keeping the old content section of the frames and redesigning the page with pretty standard navigation. Most other pages of the site will be pointed to the content pages.

So, here is the question. Should I recycle these old index pages, build some new content, and turn it into a full pages? Or, would it be better to just do a 301 redirect on the old index pages?

Would appreciate any comments.

[edited by: Robert_Charlton at 6:44 am (utc) on May 20, 2007]

[tedster]

I suggest you only recycle the URLs that rank well and draw search traffic, or that have direct backlinks. Trying to hold onto the whole bunch would be a lot of extra work for little return.