When to re-write and redirect a blog url?

[Emily.R.Monrovia]

What are best practices for rewriting (and then redirecting) blog URLs? I refresh old blog posts on our blog every month and many of them have URLs that are too long or could be improved. However, many of them also already get decent organic traffic and I don't want to lose traffic due to a URL redirect. Are there any best practices or "rules" I can follow when deciding whether to re-write and redirect blog URLs?
Thanks!

[Gfhjkmvjq123]

Redirect rules are typically used for old paths that you'd like to redirect to new ones. In contrast, a Rewrite rule does not change the original URL; it simply serves the content of the rule destination at the original path.

[alfabellezza]

Dear Emily:

For me these are the main reasons why i've decised to redirect an url:

• If it´s a website when the product is discontinued and exists another similar product.

• If it´s a blog if there's an important problem of cannibalization and i decide the final article will be a very best version of the original,

I hope this can clarified you.

Victoria

[pau4ner]

Hi, there are no "best practices" besides setting the 301 redirect (just make sure not to delete the "old" post). You'll probably lose traffic for some weeks until Google fully processes the redirect, but eventually you'll end up recovering the lost rankings (I have redirected many posts and websites and that has always been the case).

Hope that helps!