Old Blogs
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We have several blogs on our site for a range of products we no longer stock. Would you set up a redirect for these - and how long would you keep it in place?
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@Caroline_Ardmoor Yes, setting up 301 redirects for these blogs is a good practice, as it helps preserve the SEO value that these pages might have accumulated over time. This is particularly important if the blogs have backlinks or still receive substantial traffic.
You should redirect these old blog posts to the most relevant new content or product pages. If no such relevant page exists, you could direct users to a related category page or to your homepage.
As for the duration, 301 signifies a 'permanent' redirect, so you should ideally keep them in place indefinitely. However, in practice, after around a year or so, most of the link equity (the SEO value of links) will have transferred to the new page. Still, if old links to the page exist on other sites or in bookmarks, you'll want to keep the redirect in place to ensure users don't hit a dead end.
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@Caroline_Ardmoor Yes, it is generally recommended to set up redirects for blogs or any other pages that no longer exist or have been removed from your site. Redirects ensure that users and search engines are directed to relevant content instead of encountering broken links or errors.
To set up redirects, you can use the .htaccess file if you're using Apache server or utilize the redirection module if you're using Nginx. Here's an example of how to set up a redirect using the .htaccess file:
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Open your .htaccess file located in the root directory of your website.
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Add the following line to create a redirect:
Redirect 301 /old-blog-url.html http://www.example.com/new-blog-url.html
Replace "/old-blog-url.html" with the URL path of the old blog and "http://www.example.com/new-blog-url.html" with the URL of the corresponding new blog or an alternative relevant page.
- Save the .htaccess file.
Regarding how long you should keep the redirect in place, it depends on the specific circumstances. If you have permanently removed the product and its corresponding blog posts, a 301 redirect (as shown above) is appropriate, indicating that the content has permanently moved. In this case, it is generally recommended to keep the redirect in place indefinitely to maintain a good user experience and preserve any SEO value associated with the old URLs.
However, if there is a chance that the products or related content might return in the future, you may consider using a temporary redirect (302 or 307) instead. Temporary redirects indicate that the content has temporarily moved, and you can specify a shorter timeframe for keeping the redirect in place.
In any case, regularly monitoring your website's analytics and traffic patterns can help you assess whether the redirects are still necessary or if any updates are required based on user behavior.
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