Don't Delete Any Content From Your Website Until You Read This
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“My website is out of date and has too much content.”
Sound familiar? It’s common for school websites to get bloated, full of content your predecessors put there or that promotes events or projects that are no longer happening. In a fit of spring cleaning, you comb through your website and delete seven unnecessary pages from your website, and change the title and URL of another four pages. You feel so productive!
Unfortunately, if you deleted or changed the URL of these pages without redirecting them or marking them as permanently deleted in Google, your website could be penalized by Google and could create a negative user experience.
Do you know how to redirect a webpage or what that means?
Just as you need to notify the post office to forward your mail when you move to a new address, the same needs to be done when you change any URL/permalink on your website.
If you change a URL on your website without taking the proper steps, your visitors may receive a 404 Not Found error message. This means the web browser is unable to access the intended destination. To prevent this error, use redirection.
Redirection not only provides a positive experience for your visitors but helps preserve all of the efforts you have put into your SEO campaign. Changing URLs without redirects can do serious damage to your SEO. However, with the proper preparation and execution, you can change URLs easily and without any negative impact.
When do I need to redirect webpages?
If you change your site’s main URL
If you delete a post or a page for new content
If you change the permalink of any post or page on your website
Check for broken links
Use this free tool to check your website periodically for broken links. Make a list of these, and map them to existing pages on your website to help create redirects.
HOW DO I REMOVE OR CHANGE WEBSITE CONTENT WITHOUT HURTING MY SEO AND VISITOR EXPERIENCE?
Map out a Site Migration Path
Compile a list of all the URLs that you are planning to change or which are already broken and map each URL to another page on your website. Planning ahead can prevent any unseen issues and keep you organized during the process.
Make sure that you are not deleting content that has significant traffic. What you assume may be extraneous information, may actually be indexed in Google and drive visitors to your website. Look at your Google Analytics data before taking the axe to website content.
Don’t overuse redirects. When you have to use them, make sure to follow these best practices:
Avoid chained redirects: one redirect should not forward to another redirect.
Redirect to the preferred version of your website, using the right protocol (http or https), domain name (www or non-www) and path notation (with or without trailing slash).
If possible, avoid redirecting all deleted pages to your homepage, as doing so can cause your traffic to take a hit. Instead, redirect them to the most relevant sub page on your website.
Use a 301 Redirect
A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect from one webpage. A 301 redirect automatically changes the URL that a visitor or search engine enters into a different address. This permanent redirect is practically invisible to the visitor, and is the only way to keep your SEO efforts intact.
On a WordPress website, you can use a redirection (we like Redirection). If you use Yoast SEO Premium plugin, anytime you change or delete a permalink, Yoast will prompt you and create a redirect for you.
Other website builders, such as Finalsite, have instructions on how to create redirects. Check for these instructions so you are clear on the process before your start.
Let Google Know
After you have completed the redirection process, you can test to make sure the redirection worked using Redirect Checker. Then, resubmit your sitemap to Google in the Webmaster Tools/Google Search Console.
Also note that if you ever change your entire website domain, use the “change address” option in Google Search Console to notify Google that the old domain is moved.
Taking good care of your website will not only help your website avoid SEO issues, but it will also create a better user experience by avoiding broken links and frustrated website visitors.
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