410 or 404? What to apply to removed content

[leadegroot]

First, some definitions:
404 - Not Found - The document at the specified URI does not exist
410 Gone - the requersted URI no longer exists and has been prermanently removed from the server
(Taken from my old OReilly "Webmaster in a Nutshell", 2nd Edition)

There's been a lot of discussion, post Panda, on how to treat content to be removed.
I'm suddenly seeing a fair number of recommendations for a 410 response for content thats never going to come back as superior to a 404, with some suggestions that Google treat the 410 as a removal request.
I'm curious - when did this change?
The last Google quote I heard was that they didn't treat a 404 any differently from a 410.
Does anyone have anything authoritative about how Google handles them?

(Tip: if there is anywhere better to point the removed material - even a category page - a 301 retains value)

[tedster]

The first official mention from Google about a change in handling the 410 status was in October 2009.

Google's JohnMu made a post on Google's Help Forum that contains a bit of news on the 404 versus 410 status code issue:

"...we are now treating the 410 HTTP result code as a bit "more permanent" than a 404. So if you're absolutely sure that a page no longer exists and will never exist again, using a 410 would likely be a good thing...

In the worst case, the 410 will be treated the same as a 404; in the best case it'll be a bit quicker & stickier."

Google Changes 410 Status Handling [webmasterworld.com]

[leadegroot]

Ah, thanks Ted - thats a good resource :)

[tedster]

Reports from many in the field is that repeated crawling after a 410 response drops off a lot sooner than after a 404, too.