Is it a problem to have multiple pages targeting the same keyword phrase?

• My site has different articles that are competing for the same keyword phrase. I'm starting to think this might be a problem and, if so, am wondering what would be the best approach. Can you offer any advice?

Answer:

Yes, it's likely that's a problem if you have multiple articles targeting the exact same thing. Let's say we're talking about a recipe. It doesn't make much sense to have 10 articles specifically on "Chocolate Chip Cookies". However, it's certainly okay to have 10 articles on different types of Chocolate Chip Cookies: Chunky Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chocolate Chip Cookies With Nuts, Extra Soft and Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookies... and so on.

Without seeing specifically what your content is, we can only make the general recommendation to consolidate the many pages into perhaps a single page or just a few pages depending on what you think is most appropriate. The pages you'd typically keep are the ones with the highest ranking, most traffic, most backlinks, highest ratings, etc.

Don't be afraid to use your gut instincts here. Let's say you have an article on personal fitness, and you think it's pretty good but it just never took off. Consider rewriting it, change the headline, update that body text and give it another shot. We'd recommend that you take that approach throughout your site.

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