- Feb 28, 2019
- 7,638
- 8,080
There is no such thing as 301 screen. You either get a 404: Page Not Found error or a clean 301 redirect to the new URL. As you're getting "This page no longer exists" message, it's a 404 error. You should use a redirect instead.
Here is how Google sees it.
User clicks search result > lands on 404 error page > User returns to search results page = User intent not served ---- So, your rankings will drop.
User clicks search result > lands on 404 error page > User clicks "Go back home" button & lands on Home Page = 2 hops to reach home page ---- Your navigation is poor, so your rankings will eventually drop.
In this case, Google had to remove "xyz.com/es" from SERPs and index + rank "xyz.com" as a new URL.
In ideal case,
User clicks search result (xyz.com/es) > It redirects to home page (xyz.com) ---- It's technically still 2 hops but automated instead of giving user an option to either return to SERPs or click Home button. So, Google will eventually update the URL in SERPs to "xyz.com" and your rankings will return.
In this case, Google had to update "xyz.com/es" to "xyz.com" as we are saying that it's the same webpage with an updated URL.
