Comments on: How to Get Rid of Multiple Subpages & Not Get Penalized http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-get-rid-of-multiple-subpages-not-get-penalized/7468/ Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:21:59 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: SEO Canada http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-get-rid-of-multiple-subpages-not-get-penalized/7468/comment-page-1/#comment-1084095 SEO Canada Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:27:12 +0000 http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-get-rid-of-multiple-subpages-not-get-penalized/7468/#comment-1084095 Great post. I personally go for a mixture of 301s and 404s like you suggested. At SMX someone said just to 301 every single 404 directly to the homepage, and I thought this was a terrible tactic (Which Matt Cutts fully agreed with me via email on), I'm so waiting for where Matt would like to take the webmaster tools (not to drop any hints, but some of it directly could relate to this very topic). Cheers. Great post. I personally go for a mixture of 301s and 404s like you suggested. At SMX someone said just to 301 every single 404 directly to the homepage, and I thought this was a terrible tactic (Which Matt Cutts fully agreed with me via email on), I’m so waiting for where Matt would like to take the webmaster tools (not to drop any hints, but some of it directly could relate to this very topic). Cheers.

]]> By: Ann Smarty http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-get-rid-of-multiple-subpages-not-get-penalized/7468/comment-page-1/#comment-1084033 Ann Smarty Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:07:53 +0000 http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-get-rid-of-multiple-subpages-not-get-penalized/7468/#comment-1084033 Commenting at Sphinn discussion and also adding these points here: (btw, you should visit brilliant Sphinn discussion concerning this post): "I never saw any penalties either from using 404 or 301 - tried both in various cases. I've had cases when plenty of 404 popped up in a day and no ranking (or other) change followed. So, no, I don't believe that 404 can be harmful or that it is not user or bot friendly (I mean proper 404). So yes, I was citing other people's experience (just because I agree that they might have seen something I failed to see) - and I gave the link to the related discussion and emphasized that 301-penalties are just rumors ("might cause penalties"). The solution I offered for the discussed case still seems most reasonable as there should be a good reason behind using 301 (related pages, pages created as substitute, etc)." And here is the <a href="http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/08/farewell-to-soft-404s.html" rel="nofollow">link</a> to the recent GoogleWebmasterCentral post concerning 404. Commenting at Sphinn discussion and also adding these points here:
(btw, you should visit brilliant Sphinn discussion concerning this post):

“I never saw any penalties either from using 404 or 301 – tried both in various cases. I’ve had cases when plenty of 404 popped up in a day and no ranking (or other) change followed. So, no, I don’t believe that 404 can be harmful or that it is not user or bot friendly (I mean proper 404).

So yes, I was citing other people’s experience (just because I agree that they might have seen something I failed to see) – and I gave the link to the related discussion and emphasized that 301-penalties are just rumors (“might cause penalties”).

The solution I offered for the discussed case still seems most reasonable as there should be a good reason behind using 301 (related pages, pages created as substitute, etc).”

And here is the link to the recent GoogleWebmasterCentral post concerning 404.

]]> By: Babu http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-get-rid-of-multiple-subpages-not-get-penalized/7468/comment-page-1/#comment-1084032 Babu Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:37:40 +0000 http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-get-rid-of-multiple-subpages-not-get-penalized/7468/#comment-1084032 Hello all Wish you a Very Nice time going on . I am here to request you for something . I had created a new Blog . Which is not so congested so you can reach soon . I request all of you to visit and Review this new Blog . Here you can get lots of FREE stuffs and Free Information too . So act soon . Hello all Wish you a Very Nice time going on . I am here to request you for something . I had created a new Blog . Which is not so congested so you can reach soon . I request all of you to visit and Review this new Blog . Here you can get lots of FREE stuffs and Free Information too . So act soon .

]]> By: Derek Edmond http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-get-rid-of-multiple-subpages-not-get-penalized/7468/comment-page-1/#comment-1083998 Derek Edmond Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:03:07 +0000 http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-get-rid-of-multiple-subpages-not-get-penalized/7468/#comment-1083998 I've 301 redirected at least 100 (never 1,000's) pages of a website to a sitemap page and.or relevant landing pages and not seen an issue with organic search engine traffic in at least 2 recent instances. That was for a static website but I have seen redirected blog posts impact organic search engine traffic (pruning out old or outdated blog posts). I've never been too interested in the search traffic of the specific blogs impacted to really delve into this deeper though. I’ve 301 redirected at least 100 (never 1,000′s) pages of a website to a sitemap page and.or relevant landing pages and not seen an issue with organic search engine traffic in at least 2 recent instances.

That was for a static website but I have seen redirected blog posts impact organic search engine traffic (pruning out old or outdated blog posts). I’ve never been too interested in the search traffic of the specific blogs impacted to really delve into this deeper though.

]]> By: Jaan Kanellis http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-get-rid-of-multiple-subpages-not-get-penalized/7468/comment-page-1/#comment-1083993 Jaan Kanellis Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:05:31 +0000 http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-get-rid-of-multiple-subpages-not-get-penalized/7468/#comment-1083993 Ann if the post is just about deleting pages off your website then say so, but the fact is if you had a 1000 pages on your website and they were getting some clicks/traffic/or had some juice you should be redirecting them. The number of redirects shouldnt even be an issue here. Ann if the post is just about deleting pages off your website then say so, but the fact is if you had a 1000 pages on your website and they were getting some clicks/traffic/or had some juice you should be redirecting them. The number of redirects shouldnt even be an issue here.

]]> By: Jim Gianoglio http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-get-rid-of-multiple-subpages-not-get-penalized/7468/comment-page-1/#comment-1083992 Jim Gianoglio Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:55:46 +0000 http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-get-rid-of-multiple-subpages-not-get-penalized/7468/#comment-1083992 I was under the impression that having a lot of pages that return a 404 can negatively impact your rankings. If I were Google, and I was trying to crawl a site that kept returning "Page Not Found" it wouldn't make me want to rank it higher - even for pages that do have content. Can you clarify this Ann? I was under the impression that having a lot of pages that return a 404 can negatively impact your rankings. If I were Google, and I was trying to crawl a site that kept returning “Page Not Found” it wouldn’t make me want to rank it higher – even for pages that do have content.
Can you clarify this Ann?

]]> By: sam lee http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-get-rid-of-multiple-subpages-not-get-penalized/7468/comment-page-1/#comment-1083985 sam lee Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:20:02 +0000 http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-get-rid-of-multiple-subpages-not-get-penalized/7468/#comment-1083985 great tips thanks great tips thanks

]]> By: Ann Smarty http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-get-rid-of-multiple-subpages-not-get-penalized/7468/comment-page-1/#comment-1083983 Ann Smarty Wed, 13 Aug 2008 09:52:01 +0000 http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-get-rid-of-multiple-subpages-not-get-penalized/7468/#comment-1083983 @Jaan, no harm doesn't mean it should be done. If we talk about low-quality (extra) pages (otherwise, why would we want to get rid of them?), what's the point in redirecting them? Wouldn't it be more natural to just delete them and clean up the site and that's it? I insist that every method should be based on common sense: if we have the reason to redirect (links, traffic, etc), then do it, if not, then why would you do that? @Jaan, no harm doesn’t mean it should be done. If we talk about low-quality (extra) pages (otherwise, why would we want to get rid of them?), what’s the point in redirecting them? Wouldn’t it be more natural to just delete them and clean up the site and that’s it? I insist that every method should be based on common sense: if we have the reason to redirect (links, traffic, etc), then do it, if not, then why would you do that?

]]> By: Software Testing http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-get-rid-of-multiple-subpages-not-get-penalized/7468/comment-page-1/#comment-1083976 Software Testing Wed, 13 Aug 2008 06:37:07 +0000 http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-get-rid-of-multiple-subpages-not-get-penalized/7468/#comment-1083976 @ Loren, I am not against you and Ann's statement, my doubt is if we are adding 301 from few powerful pages to a new page, will that be considered as spam, with respect to G? Its like adding few high pr links to a new page! @ Loren, I am not against you and Ann’s statement, my doubt is if we are adding 301 from few powerful pages to a new page, will that be considered as spam, with respect to G? Its like adding few high pr links to a new page!

]]> By: Jaan Kanellis http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-get-rid-of-multiple-subpages-not-get-penalized/7468/comment-page-1/#comment-1083970 Jaan Kanellis Wed, 13 Aug 2008 01:53:54 +0000 http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-get-rid-of-multiple-subpages-not-get-penalized/7468/#comment-1083970 I really dont see any harm in using 301 redirects for 100s or 1000s of pages at all. I have done with positive results. I really dont see any harm in using 301 redirects for 100s or 1000s of pages at all.

I have done with positive results.

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