Claim: Old Web pages should be deleted.
Status: False.
The claim is when maintaining a Web site, the best thing to do with old pages is to delete them or unlink them. One
self-styled "expert" claimed that the best thing to do with such pages is to link them to the Javascript menu of the
site, since that is not followed by search engines.
The claim is false, and if you follow the advice, you will certainly damage the search engine visibility of your Web
site. It is hard to imagine why anyone would offer this bad advise, but they do.
The
Google PageRank (or Authority for other search engines) of the main page
of your site depends in part on the number of pages in your site and/or the number of
links those pages give to the main page. This can also affect the
positioning of the main page for its
Keyword. If the search engine suddenly sees that the
mainpage, which used to have 1,000 pages linking to it, now has only 500, and the whole site has shrunk, it is bound to
downgrade the site and any pages that lost links.
Additionally, each page that has been on the Web for a while and appears in search engines and has some PageRank
(authority) is a valuable asset. It may have taken months for that page to get out of the
sandbox and to attract links from other Web sites. If it
is deleted, you lost all of that investment, as well as returning the favor of a link with the bad deed of breaking that
link. This makes no sense.
It seems that some search engines can now follow JavaScript menus. In any case, there is no point in having the page
linked from a site menu if you do not want visitors to see it.
What to do with old pages? The best solution is to update the page, so the same keywords refer to new and relevant
information. This is not always possible. If a page shows last year's activities or a discontinued product, archive it.
Do not change the URL. Link the page or pages from an archives page so they stay in search engine listings
and do not return 404 errors, and so they remain a part of your Web site. If the page contains outdated or incorrect
information (such as a discontinued product) note that prominently on the page to avoid misunderstanding. Such pages can
also be of value to visitors - for example, those who bought the product. News items especially should never be removed
or have their addresses changed. A lot of Web logs link to those pages and moving them, a regrettable practice of some
online journals, breaks the links.
Old Web pages might fade away - they should never die.
