Out of stock items getting 404's in search results

[donnamac]

Not sure the best way to deal with loads of out of stock items.

We delete what we can, however, we re-stock many items, but not all the time.

We put them to 'draft'  until we order them again.  If we leave them active, then they greatly bog down product

look-up in the POS system.

We omit any products in our collections if they have 0 inventory. So, they do not cause issues with our website, 
however, 404's are beginning to be the highest hits on our search result in Google. 

How do we deal with them in the Shopify feeding system?

Any recommendations???

Thanks in advance. 

[donnamac]

@Alexa_1 

This is what we currently do. 

[fabricgardenaus]

The issue happens (404) when a link to that product still exists on the web e.g. pinterest and it can't find the item on your website.

You need to create 301 redirects for every item you delete / archive or make inactive. 

Sales Channels -> Online Store -> Navigation -> View URL redirects (top right bottom on page)

You redirect from the inactive item to either a replacement item or to a collection.

\product\abc

to

\product\xyz or \collection\efg

Hope this helps. Sue

[donnamac]

@fabricgardenaus 

Seems an easier task is to manage the Pinterest pins instead.