What should we do about page redirects for discontinued products please, from a SEO perspective, so as not to lose any link juice? They currently become 404 pages.
Do we just keep an eye on 404 pages and redirect them in the .htaccess file?
The redirect would normally go to a category page for a discountinued product.
We currently use a module in Magento which links to a shared Google spreadsheet so we can define the redirect. It is not good to use the Magento redirect as you can end up redirecting an already redirected to page (so I understand). It would be good to have access to whatever solution we decide so we can implement site updates and keep the link juice flowing.
Your advice would be welcome. Thank you in advance.
[font=calibri]If you have products that are discontinued and you are able to redirect people to an alternative product that is broadly similar then that is ideal. If not, your best plan is to redirect them to a specific page that says something like “Sorry, we’re no longer selling the product you were looking for” and then give links to your main categories.
A redirect of a redirect is not a big deal – you might lose a little bit of link juice along the way but with only a 2-step redirect it isn’t enough that you need to lose sleep over it.
You don’t want to have 404 pages, either for SEO or for your users. While you can monitor your logs and put redirects on pages after they are hit, that’s a bit like locking the stable door after the horse has bolted – you’ve already lost those customers, and that’s a bigger problem than losing link juice, given that they are products that you don’t sell any more!
Put a redirect in place whatever way is easiest for you to manage – whether it’s to a dedicated page or to a suitable alternative product – whether it’s via a CMS module or directly in .htaccess – but don’t just leave people hanging on a 404.[/font]