I’ve not got any proof this actually happens, but I do it. Rather than tell Google via a 404 or some other command that this page isn’t here any more, I have no problem permanently redirecting a page to a relatively similar page to pool any link power that page might have, or even redirect it server side to the home page.
My general rule of thumb is to make sure the information (and keywords) are contained in the new page – stay on the safe side.
Most already know the power of a 301 (wonder why that page is sorta disliked by Google ;) ) and how you can use it to power even totally unrelated pages to the top of Google for a time – sometimes a very long time.
Google seems to think server side redirects are OK – so I use them.
You can change the focus of a redirect but that’s a bit black hat for me and can be abused – I don’t really talk about that sort of thing on this blog. But it’s worth knowing – you need to keep these redirects in place in your htaccess file.
Redirecting multiple old pages to one new page – works for me, if the information is there on the new page that ranked the old page
Be aware that Stumbleupon doesn’t follow 301 redirects – if you move it you lose it – so if your old page gets traffic from there you might want to consider other options.
I thought something like this was the case – thanks for the heads up David :)
Yeah, it makes life a bit harder, but it helps to prevent the old link-bait-and-switch routine. It would pretty much burn Stumbleupon down if people just redirected their cool link bait to a Viagra site once it gets popular.
Redirects are often problematic and often punishable by the search engines.
Sure – I guess it’s all to do with your intent. I don’t encounter any problems as I ensure the *sorta* same content is on the new page.