Multiple links to dead pages
-
I have just taken over a client and have been shocked to see a lot of wasted 'link juice' from hundreds of websites linking to old/dead pages within my client's domain.
My question is - what is the best method to re-capture that juice given that it is impractical to change the links at source.
Thanks.
-
Having looked into this further, does the following code deliver?
ErrorDocument 404 http://www.mydomain.com/
I am unsure, given your comment - "You must explicitly code 301 in your redirect or it is 302 by default and 302 redirects won't pass link juice like 301's will."
Regards
-
Many thanks guys.
-
correct, you 301 redirect the dead 404 pages to the most relevant related page, if there is no similar type page then redirect it to the home page. You can do that in your .htaccess file. You must explicitly code 301 in your redirect or it is 302 by default and 302 redirects won't pass link juice like 301's will.
Here's how to do it:
-
Malachi's answer is perfect. Those are the only two options if the source link cannot be changed.
-
either 301 redirect the link to new relevant content or update the dead links with proper URL's and quality content. 301 May be the must efficient if you're going to create new fresh content.
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
-
Disvowing Links?
I ran a report through SEM rush and it came back with 174 toxic links ( score 100-60). I have been reading mixed reviews about what to do. Most of the websites are not relevant and appear to be linking to the images. Should I disavow these links? Would it help SEO? Or should I leave it be?
Link Building | | higherimages0 -
SEO value of home page links
I was looking at the website peak7.org and there are links on the homepage that rotate at the bottom. Do such links have SEO value even though they are not static text links? Are they still counted as links by Google if they are in that rotating carousel?
Link Building | | RandyHT1 -
How to handle bad DoFollow links to pages on my site that no longer exist
I briefly had a forum on one of my sites, but after getting inundated with spam I decided to remove it for the time being. During the brief time it was up, most of the spammers were stopped from registering, but a few managed to get through and posted tons of links to their prescription drug sites. These posts were deleted almost instantly, but the spammers also created DoFollow backlinks on high authority community sites like ning. The forum posts they linked to were deleted immediately, so the links never went anywhere and the forum has been deleted entirely for a few months now. When clicked, the spam backlinks now bring someone to a "Sorry, that page doesn’t exist" page on my site. My site suffered a bit in the last Panda update and it made me look through my backlink profile, finding lots of these links - even though the pages on my site are long gone, could these links be hurting my site? Can a DoFollow link to a site help or hurt the main domain, even if the actual page it's linking to is deleted?
Link Building | | adventurenick0 -
Is it better to link back to the root domain, or the specific page you're optimizing for?
I'm working on a project our site - building links for iPhone Repair. For the term "iphone repair miami" - is it more ideal to link to the root domain (xxx.com) or to the subpage that is about iPhone Repair (xxx.com/iphone-repair)? I would imagine the latter - but obviously that page has less authority than the root. Thanks!
Link Building | | preemo0 -
Advetorial links
How do you scientifically value advertorial links. I have a site who is willing to buy advertorial in large online sites which will contain links. (I would prefer they invested in content on their own site). The DA on these sites is universally extremely strong. the PA of the examples I've seen is pretty low. The site has strong DA matching it's main competition and is performing pretty well in terms of ranking. Question: how do you value this kind of link in terms of the amount of £ the publications want to charge. Anybody have a formula or a logical process which would provide solid advice rather than don't infringe Google's T&C's which I've already mentioned to them. Any thoughts appreciated.
Link Building | | Shivvyt0 -
Link exchanges
I have quite a few legal clients and 90% of my clients top competitors are doing 1:1 link exchanges and they have been doing it for years. Other industries Dont seem as prevalent. I am just boggled every time someone says link exchanges don't work, will get penalized, or value is not passed. Its been working for my competitors....Legal SEO's seem to focus heavily on link exchanges. I have yet to do link exchanges, but am about to get started with a resourceful directory of local businesses on my clients site. Some will be linking back, but not all. Fear of penalization is lurking in my mind. Does anyone have any real data on this? Does anyone have an example of doing this properly and an example of how not to do it? I appreciate any feedback you can give. Thank you,
Link Building | | waqid0 -
Link Building and Landing Pages
I'm embarking on my first link building campaign and I was wondering if its good practice to develop a specific landing page (a focused summary page) like I do in my PPC campaigns or should I use the URL to my homepage?
Link Building | | bmackrell0 -
Different Link Titles Linking to the same page
So I'm doing a lot of link building but my question is how do search engines treat different link titles to the same page. For example, my main page is www.musillawfirm.com If I have 20 links from 20 sites linking to it as Melbourne FL DUI Lawyer and 20 more linking as Melbourne FL immigration Lawyer and More linking as Cocoa FL DUI lawyer etc... what happens? Do the search engines just rank me higher for all the terms or would it be better to always just link to separate landing pages? Thanks in advance
Link Building | | musillawfirm0