What happens when a product or category name is edited?

[kwikstand]

I was wondering what happens when a product or category name is edited or changed. I see that the URL changes. Does this mean that a brand new page is created and the original page is "lost"? Will the search engines have to find the "new" page and index it and we start all over from scratch?

I am just wondering because I have some products that are misspelled and others I think might rank better in search engines if the name were changed a bit.

Any input would help,

Thanks,
Scott
http://www.contractors-solutions.net

[jmestep]

If the product id and category id stay the same, search engines will still be able to access the page. They might show up as duplicate content though, but if you don't have too many of them, that might not affect any SE rankings.
For example, these two links go to the same page:
http://www.directpaintball.com/Invert-M ... 23403.aspx
http://www.directpaintball.com/IChanged ... 23403.aspx

[kwikstand]

Won't the original url be "wiped" from the index after a while and solve the problem of duplicate content?

I see that Mazhar's comment says invalid. Does that mean you changed your mind?

---Scott

[mazhar]

If you change the name it means the product id will be same so if the search engine has you old page URL still your page will not break.

[jmestep]

I'm not sure if the old link will go away or not since it will still be working. I don't think it would be a big issue. If it is, I think you can ask Google to delete the link.