@rootFeb 09.2018 — #Removal of a URL (page) has nothing to do with SEO but everything to do with how your site handles requests to URL's that do not exist.
Use URL Rewriting to capture any URL Path that does not exist, you can then push that information in to an error reporting database, then push the user on to the home page.
The error reporting routine could if you add it, send an email alerting you to this problem.
@VITSUSAAug 02.2018 — #Redirection is the best option, after that you can delete the page. If you use redirect function then landing page should be relevant.
@rootAug 03.2018 — #Place a rule in your HTACCESS file and redirect and as a belts and braces approach, add a page that is HTML redirect to the root home page...
<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;url=./index.php" /> </head> <body> </body> </html> will tell the browser to redirect to that page.
One thing to consider when removing a page is why? The internet is essentially a digital history and archive, if people find the page useful, why not advertise that the article is now out of date and a revised copy is here (with a link to it), much like I have seen on many sites.
Search algorithms are also based on the content being there, want to hurt your site, remove pages. It is that simple an equation that you either add redirection to assist in delivery of something than a 404 error.
@bonzertechAug 06.2018 — #Before you remove any pages, you need to make a list of the old pages that you're unhappy with. Once you've got your list, you have two options with each page.
You can redirect them.
From an SEO perspective, 301 redirecting dead pages will pass on most of that page's equity to your new page.
You can kill them.
Sometimes the information on an old page is so outdated that there's no new webpage that closely approximates the info on your old page. When you handle all the URLs of those posts you deleted properly (by redirecting or 410ing them) the tag archive will still give a 404, so you should make sure to deal with that URL too.