Ask SEOs how long to keep redirects, and many will say “forever”. I’m in that same camp. Most sites have more pressing issues to focus on, and you don’t want to throw away any redirects that still have value.

But sometimes “forever” isn’t always for the best. A growing list of redirects can cause problems ranging from performance issues to long redirect chains that land a user on a page that bears little resemblance to the original page they were looking for.  

The web is always evolving and changing. Page changes and deletions happen more than you think. Websites go through redesigns, rebranding, and technology changes which all can contribute to changing and discarded URLs.

A site migration, especially if you have to port over the old redirects, is a good time to evaluate whether old redirects are worth keeping. 

Sometimes you’ve just got to wade in and clean up.