Depreciated content - Canononical, 301, or noindex?
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I have a page that has existed on our website for many years, without ever being updated.This is what I would consider an "evergreen" content page, but it is now considered out of date and depreciated. It was never ranking high for any keyword in particular, but it is a page that has existed for many years.
We have now created a more up-to-date version of the page, with much more informative content, a new URL, and of course it is SEO optimized.
I am puzzled as to what I should do with my old page. Should I add a canononical link pointing it to the new updated page, or should I 301 redirect it to the new page, or should I no-index the old page?
What are your thoughts and suggestions?
I can give more information if needed.
Thank you!!
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If it has inbound links, I would 301, assuming the topic is at least the same.
If it has no inbound links, I would probably delete it and allow the page to 404.
It seems webmasters keep creating new pages on the same topic, rather than improving the content on the older page. It doesn't make sense.
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Sounds like a pretty clear 301 redirect
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I wouldn't advise a canonical. That's not really the purpose of canonical tags. If the page isn't ranking or has no real value then a no-index isn't going to hurt you. What you really need to decide is if the old page is still relevant and useful. If it isn't relevant or useful any longer than you should 301 redirect it. If the content is similar and still relevant, but you don't want it to compete with the new content then you no index it. If the content is relevant and significantly different then you may want to leave it live and link to the new page.
Without seeing the content this is hard to determine, but guessing where you are trying to go with this I'd say a 301 sounds most appropriate.
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Hi
What are the urls for both pages and what is the keyword or keywords that are you targeting with this new page ?
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