If two pages rank (home page and careers page) but serve different purposes, that’s fine, but if there’s overlap, you should fix it.
Consolidate, canonicalize, or redirect overlapping pages
When keyword overlap shows up, you’ve got three options:
- Merge content into the stronger page and 301 redirect the weaker one
- Canonicalize if the content must stay live but shouldn’t rank
- Leave both live if they serve different intents or funnel stages
In one case, we found pages ranking at positions 12 and 35 for the same keyword. Neither was on page one, so we merged them and redirected the lower-performing page to consolidate authority and improve the overall ranking.
Avoid the temptation to deoptimize content because it weakens both pages. Instead, put that combined firepower to better use.
Build a clean redirect strategy
Redirects are a key part of the fix, especially during migrations or CMS changes.
For example, in Shopify, URLs often default to /products,/pages, or /collections. When we move clients to headless setups or rebuild their URL structure, we set up 301s to preserve authority.
Best practices include:
- Use 301 redirects for permanent changes
- Use 302 redirects for temporary updates (e.g., seasonal tests)
- Use Screaming Frog to find and flatten redirect chains
- Manually review all redirect rules before launch