Q: I have four thin articles on the same topic. Should I merge them into one pillar or keep them separate?

Q: I have four thin articles on the same topic. Should I merge them into one pillar or keep them separate?

Short answer: merge when they compete for the same intent. A finance site had four overlapping posts on "how to build credit" (each 700-900 words, all ranking positions 8-15 and cannibalizing each other).

They consolidated into a single 2,800-word pillar, 301-redirected the other three, and folded in the unique sections from each.

Result after 7 weeks: the merged page hit position 3, and clicks to that URL went up 2.4x versus the combined clicks of the old four. They also reclaimed crawl attention for newer pages.

In practice: four pages splitting authority for one query usually beats nothing, but one strong page beats all four.

Wondering if your posts cannibalize? Send the URLs in.