After Deletion of URL - Which is bettar 301 redirect or Error 404 Message.

[Shreya Mathur]

Hello Guys,


I mostly things know about 301 Redirection but there is still confusion in my mind. I will be very thankful to you if clear this doubt.


I saw two URLs in my site having same content. I checked in Google analytics and remove one URL which having almost negligible traffic near to 20-30 in 2 years and others in Thousands so I decided to remove less traffic URL.

So, Please tell what is the best SEO Technique after DELETION of Duplicate URL should I remain this Url as ERROR 404 Message for Google that Google should know that this Page doesn't exist or setup a Permanent 301 redirection on right WEB PAGE.

If I show the ERROR 404 Message to Google . Is it perfectly Fine or Redirection on main page is bettar.


Please Folks, give the reply with your practical knowledge.

Thanks

[MaskaThor]

I personally use the 404 option on my blog and it works really good so far, but it takes a while for Google to realize it's dead link and deindex it.

[curier]

use 301

[snakeair]

Originally Posted by curier

use 301

I think the thread creator wants to know a few more details then just your low quality response.

Why use 301?

[rankwatch]

Use 301 Redirection is the better option on the low traffic url.

[addlinkweb]

First delete all the internal links pointing to that web page which is deleted
then use 301 redirect because Google hates 404 errors on a website

[GeraldNitram]

Since you mentioned that the two pages had the same content, I suggest that you use a 301 just to take advantage of that little traffic that goes to the old page. It's not just the search engines that wouldn't like your 404s. The people won't be pleased if they happen to land on a 404 when they're looking for something that they need.

[Shreya Mathur]

Still mix of replies here.
Dear, Fellow members Please tell me Why 301 and Why not I use Error 404 message. Which one is bettar for me and why. how google sees the Error 404 message in a website.

[indybail]

I don't know if it will help, but this post about how to handle expired content may give you some food for thought. It does does a good job of explaining the issues to consider about whether to use 301 redirects versus 404 pages, as well discussing other options. http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-shoul...xpired-content

[flexibleresourceuk]

I have one question what is the use of 404 if we redirect old page to 301.

[Asifdilshad1]

Originally Posted by Shreya Mathur

Still mix of replies here.
Dear, Fellow members Please tell me Why 301 and Why not I use Error 404 message. Which one is bettar for me and why. how google sees the Error 404 message in a website.

Everyone have its own experience and knowledge so you won’t get any exact answer. I personally prefer 301 redirect because it helps to shift old link juice to new webpage (no matter what the value of juice, it may be 0.00001 or 10000) an other reason is that Google dislike 404 errors. You just redirect your less traffic page to high traffic page and ping to search engines once they crawl they easily pass old link juice to new page it take less time than disindexing 404 pages.

[Shreya Mathur]

Thanks for your all useful answers. @Asifdilshad1 I m agree that in SEO everyone has own experiences & knowledge so nobody can't use the same technique which is useful for him. But this thread helps me to clear my doubts.

[bestvaluecopy]

I think 301 redirection is better option than 404 error. If someone click on that url so, they reach the new page which one is relevant.