: Reuse an old juicy URL or create a new one? I'm optimizing a site with all new URLs, categories, titles, descriptions. All URLs will change but I've old URLs with a lot of backlinks, SEO

@Alves908

All URLs will change but I've old URLs with a lot of backlinks...


You would need to 301 (permanent) redirect the old URLs to the new. But exactly how you do that could depend on how many old URLs there are, whether there is a pattern that helps the old URLs map to the new, whether you have access to the server config or just .htaccess (per-directory config file on Apache) or even if there is an equivalent new URL for the old one.


For those old URLs with a lot of juice, wouldn't be smarter to reuse them on new similar products and keep the SEO juice instead of a 301 that loses some


If the old URLs are a suitable structure and fit with the new site then go ahead and keep the old URLs, that is certainly the best option.

However, that option is rarely available (at least for all URLs) when developing a completely new site. The old URL simply may not make sense. A 301 redirect from the old to the new is often the only option. But you can only redirect if there is an appropriate page on the new site. For instance, redirecting to the homepage (for a page that has essentially been removed) is likely to be seen as a soft-404.

But if the content is completely changing then you can still suffer an SEO hit initially, even if the URLs don't change.

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