Pages with similar keywords and similar rankings and redirects

[NICK_PATE]

I have several pages that rank high on google with very similar content should I redirect one of these pages to the other?

Example www.vanceautogroup.com/ford-inventory/

www.vanceautogroup.com/dealers-in-oklahoma-city/ford-dealer-in-oklahoma-city

Should I use a 301 Redirect?

[JaneCopland]

Hi Nick,

It certainly is best to avoid duplicate content like this. Duplicate content is very bad for a site's search engine performance. If you can avoid these duplicated pages being created altogether, that is the best option; however, there are things you can do to reduce and eliminate damage if they are unavoidable.

You can redirect one page to another (most definitely with a 301 and NOT a 302), but if both pages have a usability function on the site, you can also use the canonical tag. More about this tag is explained here: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/02/specify-your-canonical.html.

The page you choose as your canonical page should be the one most important to the site / its business. Remember that the page you don't use as the canonical page will most likely drop out of the index.

Cheers,

Jane