Removing Orphan Files

[cooldogs]

I have an older site that needs a lot of clean up, I'm currently looking for some good orphan file software. But what I'm wondering is, if I go in and remove those orphan files, even if I do 301 redirects with them, will Google notice a drop in site size and lower my rank? They seem to pay a lot of attention to size.

[tedster]

Ranking is calculated for urls, not for domains. If those files are not part of circulating link juice and PageRank to other pages, then there should be no problem at all. Check them for external backlinks first, just to be sure that your not throwing away an unknown asset.

[cooldogs]

Thanks Tedster, is there some software out there that helps track down external back links?

[tedster]

The most thorough backlink reports I know of are online, from Yahoo SiteExplorer. There couldn't really be a desktop application unless you want to spider the web yourself. You can also check your server logs for referers that you didn't realize were providing traffic.

[santapaws]

there used to be comment that google didnt like orphan files, does this still hold true? is there any plus or negative point in deleting orphans from a google point of view?

[tedster]

If an orphan is a file with NO inbound links, then why would it exist? Just for as search engine bait, I'd assume - if you can get it to stick in the index somehow (and that's not very likely these days.) Orphaned files are first cousins to doorway pages, and I'd guess that's why Google expressed a dislike for them in the past.

[cooldogs]

In my case my orphans are present in poorly named directories or poorly named themselves. They were done in the "old" days about eight years ago before I had any idea whatsever what I was doing.

I was thinking the 301 would be a good way to clean things up but I was afraid Google would frown on a decline in the "size" of the site when I got rid of them. My spots in the listings always go up when I add to the site so I've assumed they might go down if I reduced it.

But, like Tedster said they can also be seen as a first cousin to doorway pages and you could get in trouble for that too.

Quite a decision, I would love to know what you think about the "size" change, and how google might view this or the fact that I'm getting rid of more files than I'm adding right now, negative or positive.

Thanks

[santapaws]

personally i get so nervous of ANY changes, anything that suggests the signature of a site or page has changed. However i must say recently i have noticed a change, in that google seems to make its mind up these are liked or disliked pages/sites very quickly and does not leave you in limbo as it had till recently.

[cooldogs]

I'm thinking with regard to site size change, a compromise might be to delete older orphan files every time I add something new, in a similar amount of kb. I'll probably add an .htaccess with 301's in those directories too just in case there are inbound links or spyders looking for them once they are gone.

If you can't tell I don't like to leave anything to chance if possible. If a file is an orphan chances are it's not indexed or linked to anyway but you never know.