301 for a deleted page?

[YESdesign]

Which is in your opinion the best "301 practice" to notify Google that a web page does not exists anymore?

For example:

...
---CATEGORY PAGE
-------SUBCATEGORY PAGE
------------ PRODUCT PAGE 1
------------ PRODUCT PAGE 2
------------ PRODUCT PAGE 3
...

If you delete “PRODUCT PAGE 2” does it make sense to create in the .htaccess a 301 redirect towards the “SUBCATEGORY”?

Do you have others tested methods to deal with this issue?

Thank you in advance for sharing your opinions and ideas.

YESdesign

[DesignbysoapLtd]

You don't need a 301 redirect for this - unless you've got some really strong links pointed to it. If it's search you're worried about, just do as Mark suggests above and remove the page from your sitemap. If you have a link to that page that's actually sending traffic, then you could 301 it to the most relevant page that does exist.

It's worth putting in the effort to create a customised 404 page with some links to other content, that way if people do end up on your 404 page you've got a much better chance of keeping them on the site.

[Maximise]

As mark suggested there's no need to 301 all pages that you remove from your website.

One situation I can think of where you should do this is if the page has many external links to it. Setting up a 301 redirect will then mean that the inbound link juice will not be wasted, plus any potential customers don't end up on a 404 page.

[Mark_Jay_Apsey_Jr.]

YESdesign-  Simple and easy. Just update your sitemap and remove the page.

Hope this helps.

Mark