Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Handling 301s: Multiple pages to a single page (consolidation)
-
Been scouring the interwebs and haven't found much information on redirecting two serparate pages to a single new page. Here is what it boils down to:
Let's say a website has two pages, both with good page authority of products that are becoming fazed out. The products, Widget A and Widget B, are still popular search terms, but they are being combined into ONE product, Widget C. While Widget A and Widget B STILL have plenty to do with Widget C, Widget C is now the new page, the main focus page, and the page you want everyone to see and Google to recognize.
Now, do I 301 Widget A and Widget B pages to Widget C, ALTHOUGH Widgets A and B previously had nothing to do with one another? (Remember, we want to try and keep some of that authority the two page have had.)
OR
do we keep Widget A and Widget B pages "alive", take them off the main navigation, and then put a "disclaimer" on the pages announcing they are now part of Widget C and link to Widget C?
OR
Should Widgets A and B page be canonicalized to Widget C?
Again, keep in mind, widgets A and B previously were not similar, but NOW they are and result in Widget C.
(If you are confused, we can provide a REAL work example of what we are talkinga about, but decided to not be specific to our industry for this.)
Appreciate any and all thoughts on this.
-
Woops lol. Had no idea. Was always under the impression using a canonicalization tag was only used to prevent duplicate content issues. Thank you.
-
Hi JU1985 - Yes, page C would get the link juice if you canonicalize pages A and B to page C. You should also make it very clear to your users that they should be using widget C.
The other option is to 301 redirect pages A and B to page C and implement a dynamically-generated message via cookie to let users know why they are being redirected. This would also enhance user experience.
-
Are you sure that canonicalization does not pass on link juice? My understanding has been that it does and our SEO vendor does as well. Reading from here and a few other places it appears it does (link below).
Just want to be sure my knowledge is current, any source you can provide would be helpful.
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/an-seos-guide-to-http-status-codes
-
Hi JU1985,
Good call from Donnie!
I would be keeping both pages live and adding a unique explanation to each page that lets them know that the product they searched for has been superseded by Widget C.
When deciding on the right solution for any issue like this, the first thing to consider is the effect your solution will have on the user. Ask yourself "If I search for Widget A and land on a page that offers Widget C, what will I think?".
The answer for me is that I will most likely assume the result is incorrect and return to the search engine looking for a better result. That is not the best user experience possible and therefore unlikely to provide the best conversion rate possible.
So for me, any solution that simply delivers the client to a different product without an explanation (301 or rel=canonical) is least preferred.
The key to good business is good customer service - essentially being as helpful to your potential customer as possible. If a customer arrived at your offline store and said "I'm looking for Widget A", would you push them quickly across the store and say "here's Widget C"? Or would you explain that "Widget A has now been superseded by Widget C" and provide Widget C for them to look at?
The more you can emulate the offline store experience in your online store, the better the chance that the customer will feel comfortable buying from you.
Incidentally, I would make sure that the Widget C description added to the pages includes a Buy button and sufficient information that the customer can proceed to purchase without having to go to the Widget C page.
Hope that helps,
Sha
-
Canonicalization does not pass any link juice, only 301 redirect will let Google know to pass any of your external linking sites to your new URL. This is why I would stay away from Canonicalization in this case.
-
If we keep pages A and B alive, and canonicalize BOTH to page C - in addition to linking to page C from A and B, would this be the right thing to do?
Would page C then get the link juice?
I'm trying to please the user first, while still keeping best SEO practices in mind.
-
Good Question,
I would keep them live, if its not broken dont fix it. You can keep them live and add widget C to both pages.
Or
If you really want everything on page C. 301 both A & B to C and be sure to include the keywords your ranking for in your: title, H1, and body. If you do not do a 301 all the link juice will stay on the pages A and B.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Should search pages be indexed?
Hey guys, I've always believed that search pages should be no-indexed but now I'm wondering if there is an argument to index them? Appreciate any thoughts!
Technical SEO | | RebekahVP0 -
Schema.org product offer with a price range, or multiple offers with single prices?
I'm implementing Schema.org, (JSON-LD), on an eCommerce site. Each product has a few different variations, and these variations can change the price, (think T-shirts, but blue & white cost $5, red is $5.50, and yellow is $6). In my Schema.org markup, (using JSON-LD), in each Product's Offer, I could either have a single Offer with a price range, (minPricd: $5, maxPrice $6), or I could add a separate Offer for each variation, each with its own, correct, price set. Is one of these better than the other? Why? I've been looking at the WooCommerce code and they seem to do the single offer with a price range, but that could be because it's more flexible for a system that's used by millions of people.
Technical SEO | | 4RS_John1 -
Handling Multiple Restaurants Under One Domain
We are working with a client that has 2 different restaurants. One has been established since 1938, the other was opened in late 2012. Currently, each site has its own domain name. From a marketing/branding perspective, we would like to make the customers [web visitors] of the established restaurant aware of the sister restaurant. To accomplish this, we are thinking about creating a landing page that links to each restaurant. To do this, we would need to purchase a brand new URL, and then place each restaurant in a separate sub folder of the new URL. The other thought is to have each site accessed from the main new URL [within sub folders] and also point each existing URL to the appropriate sub folder for each restaurant. We know there are some branding and marketing hurdles with this approach that we need to think through/work out. But, we are not sure how this would impact their SEO––and assume it will not be good. Any thoughts on this topic would be greatly appreciated.
Technical SEO | | thinkcreativegroup0 -
Is the Authority of Individual Pages Diluted When You Add New Pages?
I was wondering if the authority of individual pages is diluted when you add new pages (in Google's view). Suppose your site had 100 pages and you added 100 new pages (without getting any new links). Would the average authority of the original pages significantly decrease and result in a drop in search traffic to the original pages? Do you worry that adding more pages will hurt pages that were previously published?
Technical SEO | | Charlessipe0 -
Product Pages Outranking Category Pages
Hi, We are noticing an issue where some product pages are outranking our relevant category pages for certain keywords. For a made up example, a "heavy duty widgets" product page might rank for the keyword phrase Heavy Duty Widgets, instead of our Heavy Duty Widgets category page appearing in the SERPs. We've noticed this happening primarily in cases where the name of the product page contains an at least partial match for the desired keyword phrase we want the category page to rank for. However, we've also found isolated cases where the specified keyword points to a completely irrelevent pages instead of the relevant category page. Has anyone encountered a similar issue before, or have any ideas as to what may cause this to happen? Let me know if more clarification of the question is needed. Thanks!
Technical SEO | | ShawnHerrick0 -
Is pointing multiple domains to a single website beneficial for SEO or not?
A client has purchased many domains with keywords in each. They want to have us point each domain to their site for better SEO. Is this a good or bad thing to do?
Technical SEO | | thinkcreativegroup0 -
Multiple urls for posting multiple classified ads
Want to optimize referral traffic while at same time keep search engines happy and the ads posted. Have a client who advertises on several classified ad sites around the globe. Which is better (post Panda), having multiple identical urls using canonicals to redirect juice to original url? For example: www.bluewidgets.com is the original www.bluewidgetsusa.com www.blue-widgets-galore.com Or, should the duplicate pages be directed to original using a 301? Currently using duplicate urls. Am currently not using "nofollow" tags on those pages.
Technical SEO | | AllIsWell0