Hello,
I apologize for the confusion you are facing with deleting old products in your WooCommerce store without affecting your SEO.
Based on the screenshot you provided of your Redirections module setup, it seems like you have configured redirections for your products. When you delete a product permanently, Rank Math will notify you about the previously published post being moved to the trash and suggest redirecting the URL to a new one.
In this case, if you have set up redirections for your products using the Redirections module, Rank Math should take care of redirecting the deleted products to the specified URLs automatically. You may not need to manually redirect each product one by one.
Regarding your question about whether it is still considered a 404 error if you set the fallback behavior as “Default 404” in the Redirections module, I recommend setting up a custom 404 page to handle any potential 404 errors that may occur due to deleted products. This way, visitors will have a better user experience when landing on non-existing product pages.
If you encounter any further issues or need additional assistance, please feel free to reply to this ticket, and a human agent from our support team will assist you promptly.
Thank you for reaching out and raising your concern. We appreciate your time and understanding.
Kind regards,
Sources:
How to Delete a Redirection » Rank Math
Rank Math Status and Tools » Rank Math
WordPress Permalink Structure & Changing Individual URLs » Rank Math
How to Disable Custom Product Redirection in Rank Math » Rank Math
Hi there,
As I am planning to delete a lot of products from my website, I’d really appreciate it if I could get confirmation from a human support agent vs an AI bot.
In this case, if you have set up redirections for your products using the Redirections module, Rank Math should take care of redirecting the deleted products to the specified URLs automatically. You may not need to manually redirect each product one by one.
[E] Can you please help me understand what you mean by specified URLs?
Regarding your question about whether it is still considered a 404 error if you set the fallback behavior as “Default 404” in the Redirections module, I recommend setting up a custom 404 page to handle any potential 404 errors that may occur due to deleted products. This way, visitors will have a better user experience when landing on non-existing product pages.
[E] I think the Redirections module applies to all pages on the shop and not just the Woocommerce products, am I correct? I already have a default 404 page set up on my site but I’m just not sure if choosing “Default 404” as the fallback behaviour is still considered a 404 error?
Thank you.
Hello,
Thank you for contacting Rank Math support.
Please note that the Auto Post Redirect option only works when you change the slug of a post/page/product. It won’t create an auto redirect when you delete a product, as no destination URL exists.
The URLs will return a 404 error unless you manually create redirections for them. If you have similar products, then you can redirect the deleted URLs to the relevant products. If you don’t have related products, then you can set a 410 redirect for the deleted URLs to inform search engines that they are permanently deleted.
I hope that helps, and please do not hesitate to let us know if you need our assistance with anything else.
Hi Jaideep,
Thanks for your reply. That’s really helpful.
I just wanted to confirm the following. I currently have this set up on my website: https://prnt.sc/kmKUngUy57tY
If I were to change the Redirection Type to “410 Content Deleted”, am I right to say that it will affect ALL posts, pages, etc. where the location cannot be found – and not just Woocommerce products?
At the moment, when I rename a post or product for example, your plugin automatically takes care of that with a 301 redirect, and I’d still like to maintain that. I just wanted to ensure that if I change the setting to a 410, the automatic 301 redirect functionality is still preserved when I rename and it doesn’t set it as a 410 instead.
Hope that makes sense. Please let me know if my understanding is correct.
Thank you.
Hello,
Apologies for the confusion.
The Redirection Type setting from your screenshot is not connected to the Fallback behavior.
It only helps configure the default redirection type that Rank Math will use when creating a new redirection.
Also, yes, the Fallback Behavior affects all of your pages and other post types.
Hope that helps.
Hi Reinelle,
Thanks for your reply and clarifying things for me.
However, based on your explanation I am not sure how I am supposed to set things up correctly. Basically what I am trying to do is this:-
1) When a post or Woocommerce product is renamed, I’d like Rank Math to automatically create a 301 redirect to the new URL/location (which is how it’s currently working now)
2) When I delete a Woocommerce product that is permanently unavailable and will never be restocked, I’d like Rank Math to show a custom redirection page that I have created, and this should be a 410 redirect. (I think that makes sense instead of a 301 redirect since the product is permanently removed and will never come back in stock again.)
Could you please advise how do I configure this in your plugin?
Thank you kindly. (And I’m sorry for being such a pain).
Hello,
1. Once you enable the option to auto-redirect posts that have their permalink changed, you don’t have to do anything else from your side.
2. The redirection type doesn’t affect the fallback behavior so it will not add the 410 code to any posts, pages, or products that are deleted. You will have to manually add the redirection with the 410 behavior.
Since you are planning on deleting many URLs, you can mass import the redirected URLs via CSV which makes the process much after but this feature is only available in our PRO plan.
Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if you have any other questions.
Hello,
Since we did not hear back from you for 15 days, we are assuming that you found the solution. We are closing this support ticket.
If you still need assistance or any other help, please feel free to open a new support ticket, and we will be more than happy to assist.
Thank you.
