Should I implement 301 Redirects vs 410 in Removing Product Pages?

[UAScrubs]

I manage an ecommerce site and had a question about 301 redirects vs 410 when removing product pages. What we have in place now is a 410 because we have removed products that are no longer available and the content itself no longer exists. In all my research, SEO Best Practices is to have a 301 in place. Should we replace our 410 with a 301 redirect or keep it?

[rafaromero]

hi there!

I want to add a bit more  of difficulty on this topic. What would you guys do if your products are renewed every year, so product A in 2014 is product B (almost the same as the previous) in 2015, and then B will eventually become C in 2016.

How would you guys avoid the 301 chain?

any suggestion?

Thanks!

rafa

[UAScrubs]

Thanks Wissam for your prompt feedback! We do have similar pages we can redirect them too and right now, when the visitor gets the 410 page, we are giving them the option to search our site or go to our home page. I will check into the # of inbound links.

[UAScrubs]

Thanks Peter for your prompt feedback! I will look at your Moz link further. Right now, when the visitor gets the 410 page, we are giving them the option to search our site or go to our home page.

[wissamdandan]

if the product have a relevant substitute then you can utilize the the 301. but if the product don't have a relevant substitute then 404/410 is the right of doing it.

i might rethink intelligently if the product have too much inbound links to it ... but this is case by case situation.

[crackingmedia]

Hi Lori

A 410 code it technically correct in the context you are using it, but for SEO purposes you are better to do something with links that are going to the pages you are currently returning 410 codes for.

If you have a page that relates in some way to the page you have removed, then create a 301 redirect and send the requests to the similar page.

If no similar page exists, you could just redirect to the home page. In some cases though in those circumstances it could be worthwhile sending the link to a custom 404 page similar to the one Moz use as you can see for my invalid page query: http://moz.com/404. Rather than use a 301 redirect in those circumstances, this type of response can be a good opportunity to engage with the visitor to try to guide them to the information they are looking for. The Moz 404 page is a good example of that.

I hope that helps,
Peter