Two posts cannibalizing each other? Don't pick a winner. Run this test first.

Two posts cannibalizing each other? Don't pick a winner. Run this test first.

Gut instinct says 301 the weaker page into the stronger one. Sometimes that nukes traffic you didn't know you had.

My test before merging:

— Pull both URLs' query lists
— If they overlap 70%+, merge (real cannibalization)
— If they overlap under 40%, they're DIFFERENT intents fighting over one string — split and clarify them instead

Last month I almost merged two pages that actually served different searchers. Splitting the angles fixed both. Merging would've killed one.

Overlap is the deciding number, not vibes. Pull it before you 301.