Couldn't edit my above post.

Not sure why I was thinking redirect, when rewrite was clearly the way to go.

Implemented your recommendation #1, and works just as desired, for both the stock URL and for the SEO URL.

Thanks again for the assist!

Quote Originally Posted by Woodymon View Post
Thank you for your very informative response and your recommendations. I've numerous redirects and rewrites in htaccess already and all are working well. Indeed, under normal circumstances I would not redirect an old product to a new product. But after reviewing the pros and cons (specific to Google policy/algorithm) as far as I understand them, in the short term it appears a redirect is the way to go. I've already disabled the old product in Zen Cart. Once I see enough external links to the new URL, I'll kill the redirect.

Thanks again for your most excellent response. I bow in appreciation.