I want to test a few different url structures but I want to do it properly

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions G+ community.

• 
  Jon Dunn: The old page serves a 404 response, so you should 301 redirect it to the new page to minimise any impact on rankings. Just curious- why change url's?
• 
  Chris M Cloutier: Thanks  ;I didn&#39;t know if there was any other way, but I guess a 301 will fix anything that might happen.<br /><br />I guess the main reason I would change them is because site name and page name both have the KW.  ;I&#39;m wondering if its causing any problems when I have lots of pages doing this.<br /><br />I&#39;m not sure that I want to change them just yet.  ;But I&#39;m curious to see what will happen if I do.  ;I have a new site that I want to try lots of testing with.
• 
  Manikanta Reddy Doragacharla: Hi Chris M<br />I think there is no importance of keyword in URL 2days back penguin was updated it&#39;s wont giving any importance to EMD.
• 
  Jon Dunn: EMD applies to root domains not file names. Besides, he&#39;s talking about <b>removing</b> keywords from file names, not adding. <br />It may be worth doing if you are &quot;over optimised&quot;. And if you are going to change file names, better to do it on a new site before the pages build authority...
• 
  Chris M Cloutier:  ;that&#39;s a good point.  ;I guess the sooner the better, right.  ;I also, thought about just changing the titles tags.  ;That way they only show %page_name% ;
• 
  Jon Dunn: Its wordpress then? What are page titles currently- custom written? 
• 
  Chris M Cloutier: Yes, it&#39;s wordpress.  ;Sorry I should have mentioned that. I had them set as %pagename% %blogname%
• 
  Ranu Jain: If you just want to test them, why not to use  ;302 redirect?<br /><br />302 redirect tells that the page has changed but it is not permanent. So, the redirection will not pass any SEO link equity that you may have built up.<br /><br />This 302 redirect will continue to get you the traffic (those who have bookmarked or via a link in social media).  ;And when someone tries to get to the old page via a search engine, they’ll still get to the new page. Therefore, you won’t lose any traffic. But yes, you won’t get any SEO benefit of the link equity that you built.<br /><br />Setting 301 redirect again and again for just testing could be harmful for your site.
• 
  Chris M Cloutier: Thanks  ; thats something I hadn&#39;t thought about.  ;I definitely don&#39;t want to cause more harm than good. Thanks
• 
  Manikanta Reddy Doragacharla: +Ranu Jain ;<br /><br />I have a doubt<br />If i redirected more the 50+ different URLs to ; related category URLs.<br /><br />For how long i can redirect this URLs... ?<br /><br />If i got some positions for new URLs can i dissconnect the old URLs... ?<br /><br />Can i redirect some 20 URLs to my Home page URL.... ?<br /><br />Looking Forward.....
• 
  Jon Dunn: , what are you testing if you 302? You cant test impact on search engines through a 302 so it will make your &quot;test&quot; pointless....
• 
  Chris M Cloutier: I&#39;m so confused on this, I&#39;m thankful for all the responses.  ;It&#39;s given me a lot to consider, but in the end I wish there was a better easier way to do it.  ;I definitely want to keep the equity I&#39;ve already got.  ;I wonder if doing this would ever be necessary in a real situation...probably not. lol
• 
  W.E. Jonk: From the expert panel in this weeks SEO Questions hangout on air on 01:05:43 into the YouTube video: 
• 
  Chris M Cloutier: Thanks  ; and everyone who hepled.  ;the responses gave me a lot to consider.  ;And the hangout made me realize a few things as well.