The short answer
If the old address should send visitors to a replacement, consider a redirect. If both versions should stay accessible and contain duplicate or very similar content, a canonical can indicate the preferred version. Decide what should happen to the visitor first, then align the technical signals around that decision.
What should a visitor to the old address experience?
A redesign changes your service URLs. The old pages still receive visits from bookmarks and messages, so someone proposes adding canonicals to the new addresses. Another person suggests redirecting every old URL to the homepage.
These are different behaviours, and neither is a universal cleanup button. The right choice depends on whether the old page should still open and whether a relevant replacement exists.
Follow the person opening the old link
Imagine a customer opening an old link to a specific service. If the service has simply moved, reaching its new page is usually more useful than seeing an obsolete version. A redirect changes their destination automatically.
A canonical annotation does not send the visitor elsewhere. The old page remains available while indicating a preferred version to search engines. That can suit genuine duplicate versions, but it does not create the same customer experience as moving the page.
A worked example
Suppose a company's installation service moves to a new address while two tracking variants of its current product page remain accessible.
Where it goes wrong
Apply the same canonical rule to everything and leave old service links opening an obsolete page.
What to do instead
Redirect the moved service to its relevant replacement. Evaluate a canonical relationship for the genuinely duplicate product variants and align internal links with the preferred URL.
The two choices reflect different visitor behaviours. Moving a service and identifying equivalent versions no longer get treated as the same task.
Keep the preferred version consistent
If the website points to one address in navigation, lists another in its sitemap and names a third as canonical, the signals disagree. Decide which URL represents the current page and update the surrounding references consistently.
Google treats canonicalisation as a selection process. Your annotation expresses a preference; it does not guarantee that Google will choose it. A relevant, coherent relationship is more useful than adding a tag while leaving conflicting versions throughout the site.
A removed page still needs an honest outcome
Not every old page has a suitable replacement. Sending all removed pages to the homepage may avoid a visible error, but it can leave a visitor wondering where the promised information went. Review the original purpose and choose a relevant destination only when one exists.
Create a simple list of important old URLs and their intended outcomes before release. Test those exact addresses afterward, including direct visits. This turns a vague migration promise into a set of customer journeys that can be checked.
Take this into your next conversation
Questions to ask your agency
- Should the old page remain accessible?
- Is there a genuinely relevant replacement?
- Do navigation, sitemap and canonical point consistently?
- Have the important old URLs been tested after release?
Common questions
Does a canonical send visitors to the new page?
No. It is a signal about the preferred version. Use the appropriate redirect when the intended behaviour is to move a visitor to another address.
Can we point every old page to the homepage?
Review the purpose of each important page. A blanket homepage redirect often fails to answer the original visitor's question; a relevant replacement or an honest missing-page response may be more appropriate.
Source notes
Platform guidance behind this topic:
From explanation to implementation
This guide is published by NAVIFLARE, a website, CRM and AI workflow practice. Source notes identify the platform guidance; worked examples explain a method rather than claim a client result.
Explore website design and developmentYour next step
Bring a list of changing URLs and identify what should replace each page. We can discuss a migration plan around those concrete visitor journeys.
Discuss a website migration
