Should i redirect this page?

[AshShep1]

Hi I have the following 2 pages:

http://www.over50choices.co.uk/Funeral-Planning.aspx

http://www.over50choices.co.uk/Funeral-Planning/Funeral-Plans.aspx

My dilema is that google sees the words "funeral planning" & "funeral plans" as the same thing, which might explain why the "funeral plan" page is not ranked v well.

My issue is that the "funeral planning" page is at category level and introduces the wider subject of funeral planning, which isnt just funeral plans, so if i 301 my "funeral plan" page i will have no where to talk about funeral plans.

My question is, Is the "funeral plan" page not ranked v well because of this or do i just need better optimisation of the funeral plan page so google is clear which is the key focus for each page?

Thanks

Ash

[JaneCopland]

Hi Ash,

This makes sense - I'd definitely lean towards getting some freelance or agency help, but on the surface of things, the noindex, follow meta tag could be very useful. Especially if the gateway page has no practical use from an SEO or conversion standpoint, there's no harm in either removing it from the index in this way or doing a minor restructure to get rid of it (although the first option would seem to be much simpler).

Best,

Jane

[AshShep1]

Hi Jane, no the category page is just the "gateway" into the subject, there is only one "money" page that converts.

We are currently looking at how this section of our site works and looking at competitors that are on page#1 there doesnt seem to be a magic formula!

I think we need to employ the services of an expert to help, I have a basic knowledge but my expertise is in the subject matter not the SEO side.

Ash

[JaneCopland]

Hi Ash,

To echo what Andy has said, adding a noindex / follow meta tag to a page ensures that whilst the page is not indexed, the other pages to which it links still receive PageRank / authority. Are there reasons why it is important that the category page is indexed, e.g. does it receive a decent amount of converting traffic?

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Hi Ash,

There are a few things you could do here, but you don't need to look at redirecting to fix this.

If you don't really need Google to index the category page, you could always 'noindex / follow' it and then concentrate on the more targeted inner pages. SEO these for longer tail key-phrases if you find the they are not ranking too well at the moment, but don't keep changing these too often as this will send the wrong signals to Google.

-Andy