Gian Stavin
In this week’s Q&A section, we have selected the following topic from our subscriber: “Does Deleting Pages Affect SEO?”
Question From Mohd Ankit:
“Hi SEM team, I have completed your module about redirect. In the module, it explains that it is better to redirect the page instead of deleting them. Could you explain further about how does deleting pages can affect SEO in more depth? This is because, I just bought a site and found hundreds of low quality pages and considering to delete them.
When you delete a page on your website, it is essentially removed from the internet. This means that any inbound links pointing to that page will no longer work, and any traffic that the page was receiving will cease.
If a search engine has already indexed the page, it will continue to appear in search results until the search engine updates its index. Once the search engine realizes that the page no longer exists, it will remove it from its index.
Does Deleting Pages Affect SEO?
The short answer is, yes, deleting pages can have an impact on your website’s SEO. The extent of the impact will depend on several factors. This including the importance of the page, the number and quality of inbound links, and the presence of duplicate content.
1. Inbound Links
Inbound links are one of the most important factors in determining a website’s search engine ranking. When you delete a page that has inbound links, those links will no longer work.
This can have a negative impact on your website’s SEO, as the links will be seen as broken and can potentially harm your website’s ranking. To minimize the impact of deleting a page with inbound links, it’s important to redirect the URL of the deleted page to a relevant, active page on your website.
This will ensure that any inbound links pointing to the deleted page will redirect to a working page on your website, preserving the link equity.
2. Importance of The Page
The importance of the page being deleted is another important factor to consider. If the page is a cornerstone of your website’s content, has a high amount of traffic, or is a major source of leads or sales, deleting it could have a significant impact on your website’s SEO.
In this case, it’s important to consider whether deleting the page is absolutely necessary, or if there is a way to modify the page to better align with your website’s goals.
3. Duplicate content
Duplicate content is another potential issue that can arise when deleting pages. If the content on the deleted page is duplicated elsewhere on your website, search engines may view this as duplicate content, which can harm your website’s SEO.
To avoid this, it’s important to either remove the duplicate content or modify it to make it unique.
What Should You Do Before Deleting a Page?
Before deleting a page on your website, there are several steps you should take to minimize the impact on your website’s SEO:
1. Evaluate the importance of the page
As mentioned earlier, the importance of the page is a crucial factor to consider before deleting it. If the page is a significant source of traffic, leads, or sales, it’s important to consider whether deleting it is necessary or if there is a way to modify the page to better align with your website’s goals.
2. Check for Inbound Links
It’s important to check if the page has any inbound links. If it does, you should redirect the URL of the deleted page to a relevant, active page on your website to preserve the link equity.
3. Check For Duplicate Content
Check if the content on the deleted page is duplicated elsewhere on your website. If it is, either remove the duplicate content or modify it to make it unique.
4. Update Your Sitemap
Updating your sitemap ensures that search engines know which pages on your website exist and which do not. Once you’ve deleted a page, be sure to update your sitemap so that search engines can remove the deleted page from their index.
5. Consider Adding a 404 Error Page
A 404 error page is a page that is displayed when a user attempts to access a page that no longer exists. By adding a 404 error page, you can provide users with helpful information about why the page they were looking for no longer exists, and direct them to other relevant pages on your website.
6. Create a Redirect
If the deleted page had a high amount of traffic or was an important source of leads or sales, consider creating a redirect to a relevant, active page on your website. This will help preserve the link equity and ensure that any traffic that was going to the deleted page is redirected to a relevant page on your website.
Bottom Line
Deleting pages on your website can have an impact on your website’s SEO. However, by taking the necessary steps to minimize the impact, you can ensure that your website’s ranking on search engines is not adversely affected.
Before deleting any pages, it’s important to evaluate the importance of the page, check for inbound links, check for duplicate content, update your sitemap, consider adding a 404 error page, and create a redirect if necessary.
By taking these steps, you can help ensure that your website’s SEO remains strong even after deleting pages.