Have you ever had a web page that you no longer feel is valid? It might be that you have outdated content that you don’t intend to change, or it just isn’t useful for your customers any longer. Or, perhaps you have a service or product you no longer offer and you don’t need that page anymore.
Now, it’s not just a case of deleting that page and moving on without a second thought. You’ll need to redirect the traffic that used to visit those pages to an alternative location first.
I’m going to show you how to do that.
Have a Plan
Before deleting old content or making any changes, it’s important to have a plan in place. Where do you want a user or search engine bot to go instead of the old page? Taking a moment to plan here will avoid a disappointed user from seeing an error page, rather than the content they were hoping for.
Perform Any Changes
If you’re deleting content, you can remove the page from your website. It’s good practice to make a copy of the content before you delete it, just in case you need it again in the future. For any new content, make sure this is added to your website and you make a note of the new URL for the content.
Set Up the Redirect
At this step, it might be a good idea to show your reader a tool they can use to set up a redirect, such as the WordPress Redirection plugin. You could show a quick video walkthrough or a series of screenshots, which clearly show how to set up a redirect.
Test the Redirect
After you’ve created your redirect, you should test it in your web browser. Open a new tab in your browser and try to visit the old page on your website. If the redirect is working correctly, you’ll find yourself redirected to the page that you set. If it’s not working, you’ll want to troubleshoot the issue and double-check everything that you entered.
Track Any Errors
The Redirection plugin has a handy option to track 404 errors. You can show your reader where to find this and what the errors mean. Explain to them that 404 errors that show up here regularly could be for content that was previously deleted or moved. They can set up a redirect to ensure that visitors are redirected to an appropriate alternate page.
This structured approach ensures that your website remains user-friendly and SEO-optimised, even as content evolves and changes. Taking these steps can significantly enhance the user experience and maintain your site’s relevance and authority.
