When you rename, change, or delete a post’s URL slug, people might still be directed to and visiting the old URL or receiving an error message. Having 404 errors on your site not only leaves a visitor with a bad experience, but is also a bit unprofessional and could cause you to lose future customers and business leads. Further, search engines might also penalize your site SEO rank due to these 404 errors.
You can avoid this and further secure your site's success by redirecting the old URLs on your WordPress site. There are many types of redirects, from a 302, 307, to a 301 redirect. The 301 redirect is the one we’ll be using to permanently redirect an old URL to a new one of your choice. The 301 redirect essentially sends search engines and site visitors to a different URL than the original one selected from a link or search engine page.