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Web Archive Guideline and Content Lifecycle Standard

This page provides guidance for managing outdated or inactive web content in a consistent, low-risk way. The goal is to keep university websites accurate, accessible, and trustworthy while allowing for appropriate preservation of records and reference materials.

This guidance is intended to support editorial decision-making and is not a replacement for professional judgment.

Guiding Principles

  • Public web content should reflect how the institution operates today
  • Outdated or unmaintained content increases confusion and risk
  • Not all content needs to remain publicly available forever
  • Removing content from the website does not mean destroying institutional records
  • Web pages and documents have different lifecycles and should be evaluated separately

Content Lifecycle Overview

All web content should fall into one of the following states:

  • Live
    • Publicly visible.
    • Actively maintained.
    • Expected to be accurate and current.
    • Reviewed regularly for accessibility, accuracy, and usability.
    • Live content should support current services, decisions, or user tasks.
  • Archived (reference only)
    • Is no longer actively maintained.
    • Is preserved for historical or reference purposes.
    • Is clearly labeled as “Archived”.
    • Is removed from primary navigation and promotional pathways
    • Archived content should be used sparingly and only when there is a clear reason for continued reference access.
  • Retired
    • Is removed from public-facing websites
    • Is no longer indexed, promoted, or scanned
    • May be preserved internally through CMS version history, exports, or snapshots
    • Content should be retired when it is outdated, unused, duplicated, inaccurate, or no longer has an identifiable owner.

Web Pages vs. Documents

Web pages and documents (PDFs, Word, Excel, PowerPoint files) serve different purposes and should be evaluated separately.

Websites

Websites are considered “living” content and are expected to remain accurate and current. Any websites should be archived or retired when it no longer meets this expectation.

Current web content examples include:

  • Program information
  • Admissions or advising content
  • Service descriptions
  • News or announcements

If a website is no longer maintained but must remain live and available for historical, research or archival purposes, it should be sent to University Archives for review and archival.

Documents (PDF, DOC, XLS, PPT)

Documents are often records or snapshots in time and may require different handling.

Documents should be:

  • Replaced with HTML content when possible
  • Archived only when there is a clear reference or record-keeping need
  • Removed when they are outdated, duplicated, or no longer required

Documents that are currently being used to apply for, access, or participate in university services, programs, or activities must follow accessibility guidelines, even if they were posted before April 24, 2026.

Exceptions

Documents that meet both of the following points usually do not need to meet WCAG 2.1, Level AA:

  1. The documents are word processing, presentation, PDF, or spreadsheet files; AND
  2. They were available on the state or local government’s website or mobile app before April 24, 2026.

Decision Guidance

Use the following questions to guide decisions:

  1. Does someone need this content to complete a task today?
    → Keep Live
  2. Is the content no longer active but still needed for reference?
    → Archive (clearly labeled)
  3. Is the content outdated, unused, duplicated, or ownerless?
    → Retire from the web

We recommend using the document decision tree for PDFs, Word, Excel or other documents (excluding templates). When unsure, archiving is preferred over deletion. 

Why This Matters

Applying consistent archiving and retirement practices helps:

  • Reduce accessibility and compliance risk
  • Improve usability and findability
  • Prevent outdated information from appearing in search results
  • Maintain trust with students, faculty, staff, and the public
  • Keep websites manageable for editors

Redirects and 404 Errors

When Redirects Are Appropriate

Redirects should be used intentionally and only when there is a clear, relevant replacement for removed content.

Redirects are appropriate when:

  • A page has moved to a new location with substantially the same purpose
  • Content has been consolidated into a single, updated page
  • URLs change due to a site restructure or CMS migration
  • A commonly used or externally referenced page has an obvious successor

In these cases, redirects help users and search engines reach the correct, current information without confusion.

When Redirects Should Not Be Used

Redirects should not be used as a default response to content removal.

Redirects are not appropriate when:

  • The content is outdated and has no modern equivalent
  • The topic or program no longer exists
  • Redirecting would send users to only loosely related information
  • Redirects would create long redirect chains or loops
  • Redirects are used solely to avoid a 404 error

Redirecting users to unrelated or generic pages (such as a homepage) can be misleading and creates a poor user experience.

Why 404 Errors Matter

A 404 error simply indicates that content no longer exists at a given URL. In many cases, this is the correct and expected behavior.

404 errors are important because they:

  • Clearly signal that outdated content has been intentionally removed
  • Prevent users from relying on incorrect or irrelevant information
  • Help search engines remove obsolete pages from search results
  • Encourage cleanup of outdated links over time

A small number of 404 errors is normal and expected on a healthy website, especially following content cleanup or restructuring.

Managing 404s Responsibly

404 errors should be monitored, not feared. To make this easier, we have setup a . The report for internal missing URLs should be seen as "we need to fix" and the external missing URLs should be reviewed for possible redirects. In all situations, 海角论坛 Go Links should be requested for digital and print marketing purposes. Note: This will only be relevant for V2 based sites due to how error reporting has been setup.

Best practices include:

  • Reviewing 404 reports to identify high-traffic or frequently linked URLs
  • Adding redirects only when there is a clear, appropriate replacement
  • Fixing broken internal links rather than masking them with redirects
  • Allowing low-value or outdated URLs to naturally fall out of use

This approach supports accuracy, accessibility, and long-term site quality.

Support

If you are unsure how to classify content or need help reviewing pages or documents, contact the Marketing web team for guidance.