Identify the actual state
Review expired offers, past events, replaced documents and articles whose facts have changed. Record current use, incoming links, language versions and owner. A popular page is not necessarily accurate; a little-used page may still be essential.
The content operations guide helps set review triggers. An automatic date must not pretend that a person checked the facts.
- Pages for review inventoried.
- Accuracy separated from use.
- Decision owner identified.
Choose an appropriate action
Update a page when the topic remains valid and facts can be checked. Archive a recap or past event if it retains historical value, with status clearly displayed. Combine pages that now answer the same question.
If a page has a relevant replacement, redirect the old URL there. Without one, serve a real 404 or 410 response with a useful help page. Google’s crawl-error guidance distinguishes these situations.
- Update, archive or removal justified.
- Redirect targets a true equivalent.
- HTTP status fits pages without replacement.
Repair paths to the old content
After deciding, update menus, cards, contextual links, sitemap, sharing previews and documents referring to the URL. Check the English version too: withdrawing a French page does not necessarily make its English equivalent obsolete.
Redirect chains can obscure destinations and slow the journey. The broken-links guide helps repair internal references without sending everything home.
- Internal links repaired.
- Sitemap and translations reviewed.
- Redirects short and relevant.
Check after publication
Open the old URL and verify status, any destination and the visible message. Test known bookmarks or incoming links and site cards. Watch for reported errors after the change.
Keep a private editorial record of the decision and date so obsolete content is not republished later. On the public site, people only need the status and information that helps them.
- Old URLs tested.
- Visitor paths checked.
- Internal decision retained.