Changing my pages URL name - HELP NEEDED FAST

[mdmoz]

Hello,

I need to change the URL name for a few pages on my site. The site was launched just recently, so it has no obvious ranking and traffic.

My question is, what is the best practice for changing/deleting the page name? after deleting the page, should I go to Google webmaster tool and use URL Removal and remove the old page?

I know that I have to also create a new XML sitemap file, but not sure about the old pages in google search result

Thanks!

[mdmoz]

Ok, I just used 301 redirect old url to the new one.

created a new XML file too.

Now my question is, how long does it take before google recognize the new url and de-index the old one?

And when it is de-indexed, I should delete the old page, right?

Thanks

[HumConsulting]

That is the best approach, 301 the old to the new.

The length of time that it will take Google is dependent on a number of factors, and if the site is new, it can take a while.  Take a look at the crawl frequency in Webmaster tools to get an idea of how often Google is visiting your site.

As to when to get rid of the old page - Google might not be your only source of traffic, so keep an eye on the 301s in your web server logs, and you can delete the old one once it isn't hit any more.

Or you could leave it.  Ideally you would be using a CMS so that you don't need to spend a lot of time managing all this.  Most CMSs will let you just rename a page and add a 301 link to it, so there is only ever a single page.