What to do with outdated (but ranking) content?

[RyanWhitney15]

I'm SEOing for a theatre. We've got show pages that rank when searching for the business, but are outdated as the shows are from past years. The pages aren't accessible at all from the site now, but still exist in domain and are linked to by google.

If you search the business, the results are:

1. [biz name]

2. [biz name] - tickets

3-6. outdated shows

Should these pages be left up, or taken down and redirected home?

Would there be any seo boost to the homepage from 301ing them home, or do you think it'd be more beneficial to have more results available as entry points into the site?

[RyanKent]

The action I would recommend would depend on two factors: are there backlinks to the page, and how frequently are the links used (check Google Analytics).

If you have a page without any backlinks that is rarely used, then I would allow the 404 to occur. If you have a page with link juice and is frequently used, I would make an effort to ensure user's are happy with what they find when clicking to the page, otherwise they may bounce off my site. In this case I would rebuild the content.

404s are a natural part of the internet. Content is moved and removed over time. It is not necessarily a bad thing for a 404 to occur if your site is prepared to handle it (i.e. your 404 page is helpful and friendly).The only point I am making is some webmasters view 404s as an issue with their site that must be resolved, and that is not the case. You should be fully aware of any 404 links and be able to adjust where necessary.

[RyanWhitney15]

Thanks for a great answer. There are not links to these pages on the website, only from search engine results. While I thought the pages could be restored, I'm realizing now they don't mix with a new site update, so it is either:

a) remake the content.

b) let them 404.

c) 301 redirect.

You think it would be better to let them go to a useful 404 page than to redirect?

[AdoptionHelp]

I wouldn't take the pages down, but I'd alter them to prominently display a message that the show is no longer running with a nice big call to action to visit the homepage, or whatever action makes sense for the theater's objectives.

With this set up you still get all the traffic from your higher authority pages, and your visitors know what they're looking at and what a good next step is,

[AdiRste]

It will be beneficial for both Ryan.

[RyanKent]

Make sure your site's 404 page is friendly and helpful. The message should be something along the lines of "we are sorry the page you are looking for cannot be found" along with links to your home page and other helpful pages. A search box should ideally be provided. Additionally a panel which displays links to your site's top pages or most interesting content.

Your options are:

1. If there are links to the outdated show pages and the pages aren't accessible, you may want to restore the old pages. This will keep users and search engines happy. The links will continue to offer your site value.

2. If there are links to the outdated show pages and the pages have been deleted and not recoverable, you can 301 redirect the pages to the most relevant page on your site. Perhaps another show from the same director, or a show of the same type. This will allow your site to retain the link value within it's DA.

3. If there are not links to the outdated show pages, I would recommend allowing the pages to 404.

If you perform any action other then the first, then the rankings #3-6 will disappear. The search engine crawlers will recognize the pages are no longer available and remove the results.

[RyanWhitney15]

For the users' sake of not being taken to old content, or will that boost the homepage's ranking/authority?

[AdiRste]

You should 301 them all to the Homepage.