Should You Redirect Deleted Pages to the Homepage?

Usually no. Redirecting every deleted page to the homepage looks like a mismatch to search engines, and they may treat it like an error page. Redirect a removed page to a closely related page when one exists. If nothing relevant exists, let it return a proper 404 or 410 instead.

Why the homepage is a poor target

A visitor who clicked a link about a specific topic and lands on a generic homepage is confused and often leaves. Search engines notice that the destination does not match the original, so the redirect may pass little value or be treated as a soft error.

A simple decision process

1. Is there a page that covers the same topic? Redirect with a 301.
2. Is there a parent category that fits? Redirect there.
3. Is the content gone for good with no match? Return a 404 or 410.

404 or 410?

A 404 says the page was not found, while a 410 says it is gone on purpose. Both are acceptable, and a 410 may be dropped slightly faster. The codes are explained in HTTP status codes for SEO.

Make the error page useful

Give visitors a helpful page with search and links to popular sections. That keeps them on the site even when the page is gone.

Find pages that need a decision

Use the broken link checker to find links pointing at removed pages, then update them. Check the result of each decision with the redirect checker.

Frequently asked questions

Next steps

If you have removed many pages, contact me here for a cleanup plan.

More in this series (redirect questions): start with Free Redirect and Status Code Checker, then explore:

• Do 301 Redirects Pass Link Equity and PageRank?
• How Long Should You Keep 301 Redirects in Place?
• How to Redirect HTTP to HTTPS and Non-WWW to WWW Correctly