Subfolder cannibalization

[Sodimaccl]

Hello,

I looked through the forum but couldn't find an answer so here is my question:

A client have 2 subfolders that are selling the same things for example Furnitures, Office Furniture, Bedroom Furniture, etc.

The website looks like this :

• www.website.com/subfolder1/
• www.website.com/subfolder2/

But it's like 2 diferents brand, just that it sells the same kind of product.

The company wants to put evereything in subfolder1 and stop the subfolder2, which mean stop the second brand.

But the thing is that right now the subfolder2 have better positions in SEO than subfolder1 for most of the Keywords.

How could I make all the internet traffic goes from the subfolder2 to the subfolder1 ?
A 301 redirection could do the trick ? In addition of improving the SEO (Title, H1, Meta, etc) of the subfolder1 ?

Thanks for your help.

[Sodimaccl]

Hello,

I'm getting back to you about a point in your answer :

"So you have to make clear that it is not 90% branded traffic , it should be more unbranded keywords.  In this case - before I would do anything, I would try to figure out why subfolder 2 is ranking for these terms and why subfolder 1 is not."

I understood and one of the main Keywords is "muebles" (Furniture in english) but the pages are really similar.
Except for the basic "Title, Meta, H1, etc" are there others characteristics or feature I should look into ?

Thank you
Maxime

[Sodimaccl]

Hello Andreas,

Thank you for your answer.

Yes exactly, that's what I'm trying to do right now : Figure out why subfolder 2 is ranking better than subfolder 1.
Then I'll make the appropriate changes but because SEO can take a long time to update and if the company is in a hurry I wanted also like a backup plan to "accelerate" those changes if possible.

So right now I'm analyzing the pages (Title, Meta, H1, H2, speed, etc) to look for keywords and see the differences.

If you have any more advice I'll be glad to read it.

Thank you.

[paints-n-design]

Yep that would do it, but it is a little bit tricky with the brands. You know an "adidas predator" page will never rank for "nike air max" but both ar shoes.

So you have to make clear that it is not 90% branded traffic , it should be more unbranded keywords.  In this case - before I would do anything, I would try to figure out why subfolder 2 is ranking for these terms and why subfolder 1 is not.