Shall I 301 a Url that has a discontinued product or shall we remove from Googles index

[weddingshoesandaccessories]

My web site sells shoes. These items go out of fashion and are replaced. Shall I 301 a Url that has a discontinued product or shall we remove from Googles index using webmaster tools.

I seem to have a massive 301 list that carries on growing and Im concerned that to carry on doing 301s is not the right way.

[weddingshoesandaccessories]

Hi BruceA

Thanks for the comment, yes I 301 with all the you mention in mind, I was just worried that one could actually create to many 301s and therefor be penalized in some way.

[BruceA]

Cross Selling products, have you thought or tried to add links to similar replacement products from the original product?

This style is now discontinued, here are some alternatives....  If the customer took the trouble to find and click onto your site, try and keep them on it and not to bounce straight back out.

Bruce

[weddingshoesandaccessories]

I see where both eyepaq and Highland are coming from. I personally hate landing on products that are no longer available and would prefer to land on a category giving me options,so that's why I have been implementing 301s. It just dawned on me that perhaps I may have missed a change in the goal posts from our trusted Google and redirecting may flag my site up. I did recently get a message in G webmaster tools about my redirects should be more relevant because of mobile use as a bad re direct would confuse the mobile shopper. I checked out the ones in question and i was happy that they were ok but it did make me think about the mobile shopper and weather actually it would be better to take the URL from the index altogether.  Mobiles do seem to be used to surf my site more and more.

Cheers Guys

[eyepaq]

Hi,

It make sense to 301 redirect the old products to keep current Page Rank - PR won't be lost and it will be transferred to another similar page (assuming you will link to a similar page). if you remove the page - you will lose any PR that that particular page is holding. So I would definitely implement the 301 redirects and won’t cut down those pages that might have some incoming links, someone might have those in bookmarks and so on.

There is no limit as far as the overall number of 301 redirects per site. You can have millions if you want to. There is only a limit to the 301 chains.

Here is a video about this from long ago - but still very valid today - from Mat Cutts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1lVPrYoBkA

Hope it helps.

Cheers !

[Highland]

Never underestimate the power of legacy content. Yes, those shoes are no longer for sale but what if someone wants to consign a pair and needs details? Google might favor your site and send traffic your way. Mark it out of stock, add some products they might enjoy instead and move on. I've noticed that Amazon, Newegg, etc. don't delete their old URLs. Stuff I bought years ago is still out there.