It takes several years to build brand credibility through influential content on the website, updated website, and SEO efforts. But, over the period, outdated content whether it is related to not-so-relevant information or simply acts as less contextual data, thus, the web pages with such content should be removed promptly. Well, it is pivotal to understand that before taking any concrete decision related to removing or redirecting the web page, the SEO score should not be affected by this action. As a rule of thumb, the best SEO company in India focuses on driving traffic to the website through on-page & off-page SEO services, hence, modification to the web pages must be mindfully implemented. 

In simple words, there are many instances when you may lose website traffic if outdated web pages get modified without conducting a proper content audit. Users will not appreciate inaccurate or outdated information on your website and it might be the biggest turn-off for them. Nevertheless, before revamping the website or removing any web page, the following information will add value to your business without affecting the SEO score: 

Proper decision-making related to web page redirect or removing it

In this segment, you must focus on the content audit to check if it's obsolete due to the update in your business terms, products, or services. As a part of this step, you might notice that URLs and pages created in the past have unique entities, so, if there is a scope for editing the content, then, it must be considered. To be precise, rather than deleting or removing the web page, changing the title tag and implementing the SEO changes will suffice the purpose. 

On the other hand, aspects like low-quality content, fewer impressions/clicks keyword cannibalization, or even content that has become extremely outdated are the common indicators to decide on removing the pages from the website. Most of all, there is some informative content that never becomes outdated due to its relevance to your business or the valuable subject. These pages should be refreshed or edited in terms of content or SEO perspective so that the web traffic and the overall SEO score do not get affected. 

Assess the redirect precision 

According to the SEO dynamics, the 301 redirect option moves the removed or irrelevant pages to the new pages of your website. On evaluation, if the page is attracting a decent amount of organic traffic, then, the redirect 301 option can be used according to the CRM and CMS platform considerations. With the help of 301 redirects, the users can be engaged. 

Remove your pages from Google's Index 

When the web pages with outdated content are removed from the website, these can still be accessible online. Therefore, removing these pages from Google's Index must be considered, but, if you intend to keep these pages on your website, then, the “no index” tag must be used further remove it from the sitemap. This will denote the relevance of the page for visitors to an extent. Alternatively, the use of a canonical tag to remove the page from Google's index comprehends that the different page should be indexed instead of the existing one. 

Rankings should be evaluated before deleting the web page 

It is imperative to assess the ranking obtained by the web page after the SEO implementation before deleting it. To keep it simple, if the old content has ranked well in the search engine, then deleting it can impact your SEO score. Therefore, this aspect should be verified before taking any concrete decision. 

You can make this process simple yet definite by hiring the best SEO company in India. With the well-tailored strategy, the SEO professionals will recommend to you the practical solution in terms of revamping the website while maintaining your business's online presence.