If rows are deleted on the associated data page, the space is reused the next time a row is appended to that page. If rows are deleted from a data page that is no longer associated, the space is not reused. If all the rows on a non-associated data page are deleted, the page is immediately added to the free list and becomes available for reuse.

The reason that deleted space on a non-associated data page is not automatically reused is to speed the append operation. Appending to one particular page (the “associated data page”) is faster than tracking and checking all the available free space on non-associated data pages; appending to the associated data page also provides better key clustering when data addition occurs in sorted key order. Because appends generally occur more frequently than deletes, preserving the performance of the append operation seems wiser than reusing deleted space from non-associated data pages.