Hello!
TSF has a redirect field available for every post, page, term, and product! Under the visibility tab, either via post-edit or quick-edit, you can quickly assign a custom 301 redirect. This system is, in many cases, more performant than redirecting via .htaccess because it only tests for a redirect when the product is accessed, instead of asserting every redirect condition during every request.
Along with the redirect, if you also want to delist the product from archives and on-site search results, then you can do that too, via the Archive Settings under the Visibility tab (only available in post-edit). Lastly, if you also want to delist it from the sitemap, then you can apply “noindex” to the product.
When you combine these three tools, you can contrive a lot of SEO potential: redirect the search engine via the sitemap, obscure landing pages from on-site search, bury obsolete pages from your archives, etc.
I think, in your case, you can make do with just the hiding-from-archives feature — this feature should also hide the product from “related/linked products”-listings. This way, you can reinstate the product without having to set it all up again later.
TSF does not engage with post/page/product deletion actions, aside from clearing the sitemap’s cache. TSF lets WordPress handle all post-related data; so, once a post is gone, TSF will be unaware of it.
Thread Starter
dav74
(@dav74)
Hi @cybr
Many thanks for your detailed reply. Yes that actually seems like a much better way of doing things rather than via the .htaccess (which is getting more and more 301 redirects accumulating).
Once we have made these changes to the product (added the redirect and no follow rule etc) what status should we set the product to in WooCommerce? Do we set the product to “pending”, “draft” or delete it (without permanently deleting it from the bin)? Thoughts appreciated.
Thanks again. Enjoy the weekend!
Hello again 🙂
If you delete the product, the redirect that’s set for it via TSF will be gone, too.
If the product isn’t publicly accessible (i.e., via pending, draft, or deletion), WordPress will block it from the public. With that, TSF cannot perform a redirect for those who cannot access the product. However, this may be favorable when managing products, as it’ll also remove them from archival views, like the “related/linked products” section. But, there’s always the option to hide it from on-site search and archives with TSF, along with redirecting it and removing it from the sitemaps by applying “noindex”.
Many roads lead to Rome, and it’s ultimately up to you to decide what’s best for your visitors/customers. It would be best if you ignore what Google “thinks” about these scenarios; they’ll sporadically readjust/improve their systems anyway.
Thread Starter
dav74
(@dav74)
Hi @cybr
Many thanks for your detailed reply. Quite right as you say – many roads lead to Rome! At least now I have the information to decide on which one 🙂
Thank you
