Moving content from CMS pages to a blog - 301 or rel canonical?

[CMC-SD]

Our site has some useful information buried in out-of-the-way CMS pages, and I feel like this content is more suited to our blog. What's my best method here?

1. Move the content to a blog post, delete the original page, and 301.

2. Move the content to a blog post, leave the original page up, and rel canonical.

3. Rewrite the content so it's not a duplicate, keep original page up, and post rewritten content on the blog.

4. Something else.

Some of this content has inbound links and some does not. Quite a bit of it gets long-tail traffic already. It just looks kludgy because it's on pages that really aren't designed for articles. It would look much nicer and be much more readable/shareable/linkable on the blog.

[TakeshiYoung]

Well, what do you think is the better experience for the user? Both 301s and canonicals will transfer (most) of your link juice. Do you want users to end up on your CMS or on your blog? Depending on the answer, choose the 301 or canonical.

[CMC-SD]

I would prefer that users end up on the blog version. So I am considering

CMS URL > 301 > Blog Post

CMS URL > canonical > Blog Post

Either way, the blog post would be the "correct" version of the content.

[TakeshiYoung]

I would go with the 301 then. That way if anyone lands on your old site (say through a link) they'll be redirected to your blog, where you want them to be.