List every old address Google still shows, using a site: search and the Crawl Errors report in Search Console, then redirect each one permanently to its closest new page and check the reports again a month later.

The old pages did not leave

A redesign goes live, the new pages look right, and everyone moves on. Weeks later someone searches for the business, clicks a result, and lands on an error page.

The result was an old address. The page behind it was renamed or replaced in the rebuild, but Google still had it on file and kept showing it.

Visitors who click it see page not found on a site that has just been rebuilt. Many assume something is broken, or that the business has closed, and go back to the results.

Where old addresses keep coming from

The second is the one that costs most when ignored. A link from another site to a missing page sends its visitors nowhere useful, and whatever that link was worth in search goes with it.

What the visitor concludes

An error page answers a specific question, about prices or a particular service, with a shrug. Few visitors look for the new page themselves; the next result is one tap away.

A friendly error page with a search box, the main links and the phone number helps a little. A redirect that takes them straight to the right page helps far more.

Finding the old addresses

Type site: and your domain into Google, with no space between them. The results are a rough list of the pages Google holds, and the old addresses stand out.

In Search Console, the Crawl Errors report lists addresses that returned not found when Google tried them, along with the pages that link to each one.

Search Analytics, grouped by page, shows which old addresses still appear in results and get clicks; those come first. The old sitemap, or last year's Landing Pages report in Analytics, fills in the rest.

Match each to its closest new page

List the old addresses in a spreadsheet and, beside each, the new page that best answers what someone wanted from the old one.

A service page goes to the new page for that service, an old price list to the current one, and a discontinued offer to the nearest related page.

Resist sending everything to the home page. When the destination has nothing to do with the old page, Google generally handles the redirect as if the page were simply gone, and the visitor is no better off.

A worked example

A glamping site with six canvas tents and two yurts on a lakeside farm had its website rebuilt over the winter, relaunching in February as summer bookings began.

The old site had a page for each tent, a rates page for each of the last two years and a honeymoon package. The new site moved everything to new addresses.

Through March, people planning summer trips were finding the old tent pages in Google, and each led to an error page at exactly the moment they were deciding where to book.

A travel blog and two directories also linked to the old yurt page. Nothing told Google, or those visitors, where the pages had gone.

The owner listed thirty-one old addresses from a site: search and the Crawl Errors report and matched each: tents to their new pages, both rates pages to the current rates, the honeymoon package to the couples' page.

The redirects took an hour to add and test. By late April the error list was short, and the new tent pages had replaced the old ones in the results.

Redirects that say the move is permanent

Use a permanent redirect, known as a 301. It tells browsers and search engines the page has moved for good, and Google moves its listing to the new address over time.

A temporary redirect, a 302, tells Google to keep the old address on file, which is the opposite of what you want.

Redirects can be set in the server's configuration, with a plugin on a WordPress site, or in some hosting control panels.

Test each one by typing the old address into a browser. Then leave them in place for good; removing them in a tidy-up next year brings the errors back.

Things that undo the work

Blocking the old addresses in the robots.txt file stops Google visiting them, which also stops it seeing the redirects. Leave them open.

Chains, where one old address redirects to another before reaching the new page, are slow and fragile. Point each straight at its final page.

And fix links inside the new site that still use old addresses. A redirect rescues them, but a direct link is cleaner.

Telling Google about the new pages

Submit the new sitemap in Search Console and remove the old one if it is still listed, so Google is not invited back to pages that have gone.

Once the redirects are in place, mark the old errors as fixed in the Crawl Errors report. Any that come back are ones the redirects missed.

The Remove URLs tool is not the answer here. It hides a result for a while and does nothing for a visitor arriving by a link from another site.

The counter-case

A redesign that kept the same page addresses, which is common when only the theme changed, needs little more than a site: search to confirm.

Old pages with no links and no visits for years can simply be left to return not found; Google drops them in time. And a new business has nothing to redirect yet.

For everyone else, find the old addresses, redirect each to its closest new page, and look again in a month.

The order to do it in

  1. Run a site: search on your own domain.
  2. Export the not found list from Search Console.
  3. List the old pages that still get clicks.
  4. Match each old address to its closest new page.
  5. Add permanent redirects and test every one.
  6. Submit the new sitemap and remove the old.
  7. Check the error list again in a month.

Step four decides whether the redirects help. A redirect to the right page answers the visitor's question; a redirect to the home page just moves the shrug somewhere else.

Once the old addresses are sorted, the new pages still need to say clearly where you work, as covered in near me searches and pages that say where you are.

Frequently asked questions

Why does Google still show my old pages?

Google keeps a page on file until it learns the page has gone or moved. Without redirects, it keeps showing old addresses that now lead to an error page.

How do I find the old addresses?

Run a site: search on your domain, check the Crawl Errors report in Search Console, and use the old sitemap or last year's Landing Pages report if you have them.

Can I redirect everything to the home page?

Better not. Google usually counts a redirect to an unrelated page as a missing page, and visitors who wanted something specific must start again. Match each old page to its closest new one.

Which kind of redirect should old pages get?

A permanent redirect, known as a 301. A temporary 302 tells Google to keep the old address on file, which is the opposite of what you want after a redesign.

How long should the redirects stay in place?

Permanently. Links from other sites, bookmarks and old posts keep using the old addresses for years, and removing the redirects brings the errors straight back.

Should I use the Remove URLs tool?

Not for this. It hides a search result for a while and does nothing for visitors who arrive through a link from another site. Redirects fix both.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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