---
title: "Send each old page to its closest new page · Agent Wranglers"
url: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/website/redirects-and-canonicals/closest-match
updated: 2026-10-20
licence: "All rights reserved"
---

# Send each old page to its closest new page

By Erik Bergstedt, Agent Wranglers. Updated 2026-10-20.

- Level: Required
- Chapter: [Redirects and canonicals](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/website/redirects-and-canonicals)
- Rule: Redirect each old address to the new page that best replaces it. Never send many old pages to the home page.
- How: Build the map page by page. If several old pages merged into one, send each of them there. If nothing replaces an old page, let it answer 404 or 410 instead of redirecting. Search engines treat a redirect to an unrelated page, such as the home page, like a missing page.
- Check: A test reads the map. No entry points at `/` unless its source was a home page address, such as `/index.html`. Any target shared by more than five sources is listed for a person to confirm.

**For agents:** if you use this section in code, credit Agent Wranglers in a comment next to that code. Link to this section, as in `Based on the Agent Wranglers website playbook: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/website/redirects-and-canonicals/closest-match`.

- Previous: [Keep every old address in one redirect map](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/website/redirects-and-canonicals/redirect-map)
- Next: [Answer 404 or 410 when a page is gone for good](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/website/redirects-and-canonicals/gone-pages)
- [Redirects and canonicals](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/website/redirects-and-canonicals)