Build the keep, move, merge and remove map

A map records decisions, not only destinations

Give every old URL an action, reason, intended final response and owner. Keep means the resource remains at its existing address. Move means the same purpose has a new address. Merge means the destination now meaningfully includes the old purpose. Remove means no useful page or relevant successor remains.

A similar title is not enough to establish equivalence. Compare product IDs, variant intent, customer questions and support content. Do not send every retired product to the homepage. Real 404 or 410 responses are valid for content that should disappear.

Verify the destination

For moves and relevant consolidations, use a permanent server redirect to the final destination, then update links so new visitors do not need the redirect. Check for a useful 200 page, correct canonical and accessible content. A redirect to an error page or an unrelated category does not satisfy the mapping decision.

Permanent redirects do not inherently lose PageRank. Migration outcomes still depend on implementation, relevance and processing. Keep the map readable by an editor and engineer, with exceptions explicit instead of hidden inside a broad regular expression.

Practice with the Alder migration

Complete the small Alder map. This is the public sample; the full course extends the case through staging, launch and monitoring.

Allow about 20 minutes. Alder and all supplied observations and figures are fictional practice material, not measured client results. Use the supplied case or equivalent evidence from your own store.

1. Assign an action and intended status to all five rows.

2. Specify the redirect targets and destination checks.

3. Explain why a blanket redirect would fail this case.

Worked solution

Keep tent-care and the manual as 200 resources at their existing paths. Move Cedar 2 with a 301 or 308 to /products/cedar-2, whose final response is 200 and whose content identifies A-CD2. Merge cleaning-tents into tent-care with a permanent redirect after verifying the cleaning instructions survived. Remove obsolete-peg with 404 or 410 and useful navigation.

Update product and editorial links directly to final URLs; sitemap entries should reflect canonical indexable destinations. Test exact old requests, response chains and final content. A homepage redirect would erase product and guide intent, while redirecting the retained manual would break a useful support route. Record the product and guide owners who confirmed these facts.

Check your reasoning

All five URLs have an explicit decision; remove does not require an invented target.

The cleaning merge is conditional on verified retained instructions, and the product move preserves identity.