If two pages rank (residence web page and careers web page) however serve totally different functions, that’s high-quality, but when there’s overlap, it is best to repair it.
Consolidate, canonicalize, or redirect overlapping pages
When key phrase overlap reveals up, you’ve obtained three choices:
- Merge content material into the stronger web page and 301 redirect the weaker one
- Canonicalize if the content material should keep dwell however shouldn’t rank
- Go away each dwell in the event that they serve totally different intents or funnel phases
In a single case, we discovered pages rating at positions 12 and 35 for a similar key phrase. Neither was on web page one, so we merged them and redirected the lower-performing web page to consolidate authority and enhance the general rating.
Keep away from the temptation to deoptimize content material as a result of it weakens each pages. As an alternative, put that mixed firepower to higher use.
Construct a clear redirect technique
Redirects are a key a part of the repair, particularly throughout migrations or CMS modifications.
For instance, in Shopify, URLs typically default to /merchandise,/pages, or /collections. Once we transfer purchasers to headless setups or rebuild their URL construction, we arrange 301s to protect authority.
Finest practices embrace:
- Use 301 redirects for everlasting modifications
- Use 302 redirects for short-term updates (e.g., seasonal assessments)
- Use Screaming Frog to seek out and flatten redirect chains
- Manually evaluation all redirect guidelines earlier than launch
