Are 1x Event pages considered thin content? Should they be archived or redirected?

[cindyt-17038]

Since past event pages will become stale after the event, should they be keep alive and archived with only a link from a couple of places (for instance the main event page and html sitemap).

Or should they be "retired" and redirected to the main event page if they are really no longer needed?

They would probably be considered thin content because they won't have much traffic and will have very few links pointing to them. Right?

Thanks. Inquiring minds want to know...

[AlanMosley]

Keep them or remove them, don't redirect them unless they have external links, you want to keep things simple,

if you do remove them. make sure you remove all links pointing to them from your own site, you don't want broken links.

[KristinaKledzik]

You may have already gotten your answer from previous responses, but if you haven't: what sorts of events do you have pages for? Is it possible to have one URL (since you mention the main event page) which changes content based on what is coming up next? This may make the process easier.

[DirkC]

Hi,

If it's really for temporary events that have a limited life you could use the unavailable-after metatag - which indicates until which date the event should remain in the index. If it's about recurring events - I would do like Egol says.

More info on the tag can be found here: http://googleblog.blogspot.be/2007/07/robots-exclusion-protocol-now-with-even.html & here is an interview with Matt Cutts on the tag (the context is e-commerce - but it could as well apply to temporary events): http://searchengineland.com/googles-matt-cutts-seo-advice-unavailable-e-commerce-products-186882

rgds,

Dirk

[EGOL]

If these events are recurring, like once per year.  Then I would make a permanent page for them.

If that event is featured on other websites then I would make sure that the next upcoming event is always on the page and always reflected in the title tag.  People will search for it with the year....  "2015 Spring Widget Dealer's Convention"   The bigger the event the more important this is.

I attend a couple of events regularly and  I search for them a few times each year.  I can't remember the URL of their website so I just google the name of the event.  I want to mark next year's event on my calendar, I want to see what they have on the preliminary schedule, I want see a final schedule, I need a map, I am looking for deals on lodging.  Event sites can get multiple visits from attendees each year.  Lots of websites have info on this event but only one of them does a great job.  I remember the URL when I see it in the SERPs.  It is also usually the only URL that has the current year in the title tag.  Other webmasters doing update their title tags promptly or don't include the year.  That's a mistake because google suggest shows a year.

A friend of mine maintains a massive event calendar with all of the events in this industry listed in chronological order on a huge LONG page.  He gets tons of traffic because he is the only person who puts this work into it.  Lots of people  know his site because of this calendar.  Lots of websites link to it.  I have an industry news blog and link to his events page every time I see that he has updated it (about six times per year).   I have a robot monitoring it   Lots of people click from my blog to his page every time I list it.  Events pages can be valuable if you do a great job on them.

[RyanPurkey]

It might depend on how large the event is. For really large scale things (sporting events, annual conferences, etc.) it makes more sense for there to be an archive of some sorts. With more iterative events that are collectively focused on topical awareness, I'd be more inclined to redirect those page sot which ever even in the series is most current.