Even better ranking through 'expired items' functionality

We introduce a new way of offering "expired items" in a user-friendly way. The moment a visitor views an event that has already taken place, we show this clearly. We then offer the visitor inspiring alternative events that are yet to take place.

This is happening now:

If an event has reached its expiry date, the event will no longer be shown on the website. The page can still be found in Google search results, but then generates a 404 message (page not found). A 404 page is very annoying for a website visitor, because he does not get to see the information he was looking for. In addition, a large number of 404 pages also negatively affects the website's rating in search results. With the new "expired items" functionality, we offer visitors instant alternatives for the past event, and also reduce the number of 404 pages (which in turn improves ranking).

This is what we will do:

If an event reaches its expiry date, we will perform the following actions in the background:

1. Make expired items visible with a specific notification on the details page that the item has expired

If the website visitor lands on a page of an item that has expired, a notification will indicate that the item is no longer available (e.g. 'Sorry this event has expired'). The detail page of the item is therefore still accessible.

2. After 6 months, the item will automatically move from 'expired' status to 'not published' status and thus return a 404.

If a visitor navigates to the expired item via a search engine or external link (e.g. bookmark), the item can be viewed for 6 months. After 6 months, in base the status 'Expired' is converted to 'Unpublished'. At that point, the page will always still return a 404. In the search engines, the page is most likely no longer findable, so it has no impact on the indexing and scoring of the website.

3. Deactivate call-to-action (CTA) button for expired items

The moment the item expires, the CTA is hidden. It is then no longer possible to book/reserve.

4. Expired items cannot be marked as favourites

5. Expired items cannot get reviews

6. Expired items get a no-index

In the website's code, the expired item is given a 'no-index' tag. This instructs the search engine not to index the item and include it in the search results. We also include a meta-tag indicating the date from which the page has expired and should therefore no longer appear in search results.

7. Suggestions are made (through related items) for interesting alternatives

If the "Related items" module is purchased, related items are displayed on the expired page for inspiration. The visitor is shown that the event has already ended, but is also shown suggestions for other interesting activities.

Example of an expired event