Let's imagine this simplified case: An auction website has "auction detail" pages. A few weeks after the auction is over, the "auction detail" page is no more available.
We are simply serving a HTTP/1.1 410 Gone
with the page providing the reason.
However our competitors play differently (even ebay)...
When the content is deleted they serve a HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
and redirect to the category list related to the auction.
What is the cleanness of this 301 redirect strategy? (to us it looks more like grey/black seo)
What is the best strategy?
Please note:
- Once the user deletes his auction, we cannot leave the content accessible (even by direct link) as some data are "strategic" or senstive.