Google never forgets a URL that ever existed. Even a script URL. Pay attention to those pages that impacted your organic performance. Broken but valuable pages should be 301-redirected for at least one year. Redirecting these pages to a relevant page is the best practice.
The difference between a 301 redirect & a JavaScript redirect. The original Heardle url still ranks in the SERPs when it has been redirecting to Spotify's url for a while now. But, it's a JS redirect. On the flip side, Wordle took only a few days to "take" & show the NYT url.
do you want speed and security for your #wordpress site? I just finished transferring a site to @StratticWeb it converts your wordpress site to a fully static site see @gtmetrix before and after
@mrkwordpress you are correct it was not the best hosting provider but the the results I got with @StratticWeb are still better then other sites I have on dedicated WordPress hosting with customized salutations for speed