Member Avatar for Allison2009

We have a website, viz., www.plussizebeauties.com. I have a few issues with this.

1. We have developed a php website (Shopping Cart). Now, we have changed over to a Zen Cart Shopping Site. We have changed the categories and sub categories also in the processHel. The issue is google has crawled/indexed the previous website and it shows 404 error. Though we have removed the previous version, Google WebMaster shows, crawl error.

2. How to remove those 404 errors from the website.

3. We have created some links pointing to the previous site's url. Whether I can edit the links pointing to the present website urls. Will this affect the search results for the website.

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Brief summary and immediate plan: moved a custom PHP shopping site into Zen Cart and changed categories, so many old URLs now return 404s in Google Search Console. The correct, long‑term fix is server‑side permanent redirects (HTTP 301) from each old URL to its equivalent new URL, plus an updated XML sitemap and monitoring in Search Console. A friendly, site‑branded 404 page is useful for users while redirects propagate. (developers.google.com)

Practical steps (in order):

  1. Export a complete map of old → new URLs (spreadsheet) so nothing is missed.
  2. Implement server‑side 301s for every old URL that has a clear replacement; use 404/410 only when content is permanently gone. 301s preserve ranking signals; 410 signals “gone” faster if pages will never return.
  3. Remove any deleted URLs from the XML sitemap and submit the updated sitemap to Search Console.
  4. Use Search Console’s Coverage/Indexing reports and the URL Inspection tool to validate fixes; the Removals tool can be used only for urgent, temporary removals. (developers.google.com)

Example .htaccess patterns (adjust to exact old/new paths and test on a staging server first):

# single page redirect
Redirect 301 /oldproduct.php https://www.example.com/new-category/new-product

# redirect all .php pages to same path without .php (use with caution)
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^(.+)\.php$ /$1/ [R=301,L]

Apache’s Redirect/RedirectMatch or mod_rewrite are the usual ways to implement these rules; avoid redirect chains and prefer direct redirects to the final URL. (httpd.apache.org)

Notes and monitoring: Google can take time to re‑crawl and drop old 404s; Search Console will clear errors as pages are reprocessed. Updating external backlinks is helpful but not required if 301s are in place (link signals will pass through). Track 404 referrers in analytics to prioritise redirects, and validate that redirects return 301 and not a client‑side/meta redirect. (developers.google.com)

(Reference to earlier replies: ’s .htaccess suggestion and friendly 404 advice are on point; ’s validator tip only helps page validity, not URL migration.)

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Member Avatar for wanya

go to and hopefully you maybe able to find out where there are errors. I really wish this info helps you

Member Avatar for Allison2009

go to and hopefully you maybe able to find out where there are errors. I really wish this info helps you

I really thank you for your effort. But I think this does not solve my issue. If you have any other solution, kindly post it. Sorry for the trouble.

Allison

Member Avatar for kylegetson

using an .htaccess file you can redirect your old product pages to your new ones. search engines will pick this up over time, but it will help those people that click on old links, they'll get to the right place.

I'd also suggest creating a friendlier 404 page, so you don't lose visitors.

It looks like you've got an xml sitemap, make sure its updated with the new URLs.

definitely investigate your crawl errors.

hope that helps.

Member Avatar for Allison2009

Yes, I do have the xml sitemap. It is the updated new urls only.

Thanks a lot for your reply. I would work on that.

Regards

Allison

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