Dumb SEO Questions

(Entry was posted by Shawn Cohe on this post in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, 05/31/2014).

A Question about how to deal with 404 pages

Hello everyone. A real estate client is migrating their CMS and on the old CMS we have thousands of property pages that are no longer available--these are all showing 404s.

Should we redirect these pages (which have little SEO value) to a live page or should we put a 410 status code on them? Or something else...? Thanks for your help!?
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YOUR ANSWERS

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

  • Shawn Cohen: Hello everyone. A real estate client is migrating their CMS and on the old CMS we have thousands of property pages that are no longer available--these are all showing 404s.

    Should we redirect these pages (which have little SEO value) to a live page or should we put a 410 status code on them? Or something else...? Thanks for your help!
  • Kalpesh Bharankar: +Shawn Cohen 301 redirect would be better, although the pages have little SEO value.
  • Shawn Cohen: I know that's the rule of thumb but some SEOs I respect say it isn't necessarily a best practice: ;http://www.rimmkaufman.com/blog/seo-and-404-pages/01022013/
  • Kalpesh Bharankar: +Shawn Cohen if the pages have SEO value then dont look further 301 redirect, but it doesnt have any value then think about user, in my opinion user would certainly like redirection to your new website rather watching 404 error.
  • Shawn Cohen: Of course I'll 301 redirect the 404s with SEO value. I should have clarified that I'm referring to 404s with no SEO value.
  • Edwin Jonk: From the expert panel in this weeks SEO Questions hangout on air on 00:37:14 into the YouTube video: https://dumbseoquestions.com/q/a_question_about_how_to_deal_with_404_pages +Shawn Cohen

    The cuetimes listed on this page are functional while the live broadcast continues and also once Youtube has finished processing the public broadcast. Processing time varies between 6-24 hours. During this period the clip is viewable in full but the cuetimes cannot be relied on. ;

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View original question in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, 05/31/2014).

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