Should we rename and update a page or create a new page entirely?

[Parker818]

Hi Moz Peoples!

We have a small site with a simple site navigation, with only a few links on the nav bar. We have been doing some work to create a new page, which will eventually replace one of the links on the nav bar.

The question we are having is, is it better to rename the existing page and replace its content and then wait for the great indexer to do its thing, or perm delete the page and replace it with the new page and content? Or is this a case where it really makes no difference as long as the redirects are set up correctly?

[GPainter]

Hello,

First off - does your old page have value? this could be via links to it, or via the content etc.  you may find it its adding value to your site removing it can change how your site works but that is all down to perspective and if you are improving the content aka. value the point is null. realistically is you set up correct 301 any old links etc. will resolve the issue. The problem you may have with 301 if the old page is about e.g. cars and the new page is about bikes the old link profile wont make sense, so be aware of that.

TL:DR

It's preference the short one is as long as you correctly 301 and structure it correctly on the site you'll be fine.

Hope this helps.

[Ria_]

How similar is the content/subject of the page? For example, if the page used to be about Cats and the URL was website.com/cats, then if you needed to replace it to be about Dogs then obviously you'll have to change the URL to website.com/dogs. Even a 301 redirect from /cats to /dogs doesn't really make much sense, as they're both completely different subjects. You'd be better off 301ing the old /cats to the homepage instead.

However, if the two subjects are similar or related at all, ideally you don't want to change the URL at all. You can change all the content on the page and replace everything if you need to, but the best solution would be to keep the existing URL. Especially if the page has value in terms of page authority/traffic/backlinks. For example, if the page isn't about Cats anymore but specifically Cats' Accessories. You have to ask yourself whether /cats still makes sense in context, and you can optimise everything else on the page for "cats accessories".

Otherwise, go ahead and 301 that bad boy.

Edit: I should note that the decision you make on this will heavily depend on the subjects of the two pages and your existing URL and site structure. Without seeing your site and having some idea on the replacement page, it's hard to give specific advice. Hopefully this response is helpful in that it will give you something to think about though.

[Parker818]

Thanks for the information!

I think at this point, we are going to leave the page as is and just change the site nav to link to the new page. We'll leave the other page there to keep doing what its been doing, but without the new traffic from the main site.