404 with a Javascript Redirect to the index page...

[JusinDuff]

I have a client that is wanting me to issue a 404 on her links that are no longer valid to a custom 404, pause for 10 seconds, then rediirect to the root page (or whatever other redirect logic she wants)...to me it seems trying to game googlebot this way is a "bad idea"

Can anyone confirm/deny or offer up a better suggestion?

[JusinDuff]

Thanks CleverPhD. Exactly what I was thinking, just wanted to have someone else confirm. Appreciate it!

[CleverPhD]

Don't think you are gaming Googlebot.  You are showing it a 404 (that is good) so GB knows that the page is dead.  You are showing a custom page to the user that should let them know the page is dead.  I think the custom page should say something like "Oops, this page no longer exists, redirecting you to another more helpful page in 10 seconds (click here if you are not redirected).  You are

I might give it 15-20 seconds to make sure the person has time to read it.

You are showing the same thing to Gbot and the user, so no cloaking issues, i.e. you are not trying to game GB.

You may want to reconsider a 301 redirect instead.  You then get the redirect automatically for the user (no pause or clicking needed) and the 301 tells google where the new page is etc.   The only caveat to that, if you are redirecting a bunch of pages to the home page (or some other index page)  - your solution above is probably better as you don't want to have a many to one situation with the 301s.  Google prefers more of a one to one on 301 redirects - otherwise they may tag your 301 as a soft 404.