301 vs. 404
-
If a listing on a website is no longer available to display is it better to resolve to a 301 redirect or use a 404?
I know from an SEO point of view a 301 will pass on the link value, but is that as valuable as saying tto the user hey that page is no lonoger available try something else?
-
"Ensure your 404 page is helpful. It should contain your site's normal navigation bar along with a search box."
good point, there is nothing worse than a 404 with no information. Something to consider is the amount of fun you can do with the 404 landing page.
- Write a fun title
- Iframe a funny blooper youtube video
- Link to your most visited pages
- Link to your social platforms
- Write a joke
I have had good social reactions from this.
-
There is nothing wrong with allowing a page to 404. It is a perfectly natural part of the internet. With that said, a 301 vs 404 depends on your site.
If you offer a page on "2010 Best Websites" and you decide to remove the page due to it not being current, you may wish to consider a redirect to your "2011 Best Websites" page. Your role is to review your site and determine the page which is most likely to satisfy the user's need. By implementing a 301, you are helping your site retain the backlinks and helping users find the content they seek.
If you no longer carry a relevant page, then go ahead and let it 404. Ensure your 404 page is helpful. It should contain your site's normal navigation bar along with a search box.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Unintentional wildcard 301 Redirect?
I have migrated a client's site to a new domain. I used Yoast tools to add 301 redirects for all active site pages from old domain to new domain in the .htacces files as neither the client nor I have access to hosting server via FTP (long story). Redirects are working as I intended, and we didn't lose too much in our rankings. Unfortunately, as soon as I saved the .htaccess file in Yoast, old-domain.net/wp-admin began redirecting to new-domain.net/wp-admin. I can no longer login to the wordpress site on the old domain. I did not enter a redirect for /wp-admin. Any thoughts on how this is happening or if there is some other way to get back in? Without server access, I'm pretty stumped. Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | c_estep_tcbguy0 -
New Domain VS New Page Backlink?
Assuming you've already got a link from:
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Sam.at.Moz
sitea.com/page1 (Moz domain rank 55, Moz page rank 30) You have two choices for another link: 1. Another link on the same domain but a new page:
sitea.com/page2 (Moz domain rank 55, Moz page rank 30) 2. A link on a new domain but with a lesser domain & page rank
siteb.com/page1 (Moz domain rank 30, Moz page rank 20) Assuming you have no other links to your site - both sites are relevant to your industry, both 5 years old, both have the same number of visitors/external links/ads and the content and anchor text remains the same. Which will have a bigger impact on SERP movements? Sam0 -
Does 301 vs 302 matter when dealing with "social signal"?
When looking at links and how search engines look at "social signal," does it matter if a link is 301 vs 302? In addition to that, if I build out my own short URL system that gets used for link redirects that include referral attributes, would/could I get penalized if I use 301 instead of 302?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | JDatSB0 -
Location.href vs href?
I just got off a Google Hangout with John Mueller and was left a little confused about his response to my question. If I have an internal link in a div like widgetwill it have the same SEO impact as widget John said that as you are unable to attribute a nofollow in an onclick event it would be treated as a naked link and would not pass pagerank but still be crawled. Can anyone confirm that I understood it correctly? If so should all my links that have such an onclickevent also have an html ahref in the too? Such as widget Many times it is more useful for the customer to click on any area of a large div and not just the link to get to the destination intended? Clarification on this subject would be very useful, there is nothing easily found online to confirm this. Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | gazzerman10 -
How important is having a 301 redirect?
Is having a 301 redirect a must for rankings when it comes to the www and non-www version of a site? I am on the bottom of page 1 for my main key phrases but I can't do a 301 redirect with my web host that I've been with for over a year. I've been considering changing web host (currently with Yahoo) but I also have concerns about transferring the site and the impact it might have because of the changing ip address. So my options are Stay Put Change Web host Which would you recommend?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | bronxpad0 -
301 redirect and improved ranking
I was wondering if a 301 redirect will improve my ranking. My subpages use to redirect to my homepage ( all the subpages of my site redirecting to my homepage) and my homepage use to have no redirect from non www.to www. ( other than thru google webmaster tools. I am sure why it was like this for my subpages... I was wondering if I can expect some improvements in ranking now that the redirect goes from the none www. to the www version of each subpage and not to the homepage. By the way what was the issue ( was I telling google ) by re-directing all my subpages to the homepage ? was I making google think that my subpages and my homepage were all the same ? was I sending all the link juice from the subpages to my homepage ? etc... Thank you,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | seoanalytics0 -
Canonical vs noindex for blog tags
Our blog started to user tags & I know this is bad for Panda, but our product team wants use them for user experience. Should we canonizalize these tags to the original blog URL or noindex them?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | nicole.healthline0 -
Regarding 301 Redirect!
Hello, I heard that 301 redirect can be good for newly registered domain names can i buy a old domain name and put 301 redirect on it to my newly registered niche market domain name. Shall i buy only 1 domain name and put 301 redirect to my newly registered domain names or i can do this for more than 1 old domains i purchased?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | anand20100