Use Opsy to review 404 candidates one URL at a time. Check the current response, where the URL came from, whether your own pages still link to it and whether a genuinely equivalent replacement exists. Then choose the appropriate action: repair a source link, redirect a replaced resource, leave a removed resource unavailable, ignore an irrelevant path or request more evidence.
A queue of old URLs is not an instruction to redirect everything. In particular, sending unrelated paths to the homepage does not provide a useful replacement for the visitor's original task.
Which URLs should enter the review?
The documented Opsy workflow can use explicitly supplied URLs, a local not-found export, unresolved queue entries and recorded handle changes. Keep the source and its period beside each candidate. A historical report can point to a useful check even when the URL's current state has changed.
Ask the agent to verify the live response and final URL before selecting an action. Also inspect the source of the visit where available: an outdated internal link is a different problem from a malformed address generated by a bot.
How do you classify each result?
Classification |
When it fits |
What to do next |
|---|---|---|
Redirect |
The resource moved and a genuinely equivalent live destination exists |
Review the exact old path and destination |
Fix the source |
An internal link or sitemap reference points to the wrong place |
Repair that reference through the appropriate workflow |
Keep gone |
The resource is intentionally unavailable without an equivalent replacement |
Preserve the appropriate unavailable state |
Ignore irrelevant traffic |
The path has no meaningful business or content role |
Keep the reason so it is not repeatedly treated as a missing product |
Needs review |
The response, history or replacement is uncertain |
Gather evidence before changing the store |
These classifications are decisions to support a review. They do not prove that a redirect has already been created or that search visibility will improve.
What should you ask Opsy to produce?
Use $opsy to inspect these old URLs. Record each source and observation period, verify the current response, and identify relevant internal references. Classify each item and explain any proposed replacement. Show exact old-path to target pairs only where the destination is genuinely equivalent. Prepare the review first; do not create redirects in this step.
For a fictional example, an old URL for a product preparation guide might have a replacement guide addressing the same task. That is a candidate to inspect. A random path that never represented your product is not evidence that the homepage should absorb it.
What makes a replacement equivalent?
Compare the visitor's expected task and the destination's answer. A similar word in the title is not enough. A link that previously led to information about a particular product should not land on an unrelated service simply because both pages belong to the same company.
Verify the target's response and content. Keep market or language differences visible where they matter. If the replacement has not been published, it is not yet a live destination to validate. When the right answer is uncertain, keep the candidate in review rather than forcing a convenient mapping.
How do you check an approved change?
Review the precise redirect pairs and the requested operation before execution. The current Opsy workflow records results per item and reads back the created redirect. A failure on one item must not be reported as success for the rest. Inspect the resulting destination behavior as part of checking the chosen path.
Source-link repairs may also be needed. A redirect can help a visitor reach a moved page while an internal link still points at an outdated address. Record these as related but distinct tasks and verify each actual result.
The Opsy 404 workflow describes the current review and write boundaries. This guide explains that workflow; it does not perform an audit of your site. For help reviewing a migration or broken content path, see GRC's services and Discuss your project with the candidate URLs and their known history.
Use the contact page if you prefer to describe the task and available materials in a form.
