Combining two pages into one

[seo-hunter]

I've got two pages I'd like to combine into one.

These two URLs: widgets.com/about_us.php & widgets.com/contact_us.php

would become:  widgets.com/about-us

Two questions...

1. Is it okay to combine the content into one page and setup 301 redirects for both pages (without losing page rank)?

2. Do I keep the original pages in my sitemap.xml file or just take them out after I setup the redirect?

Thanks in advance!

[UnderRugSwept]

Yes, it's fine and a good thing to do that.

1. This is the best way to do it to preserve your rankings. There's never a guarantee, but doing it this way is your best bet.

2. Once you've combined them into one, take the old page out of your sitemap.

[RobertFisher]

Hello SEO Hunter

Just making sure you are creating a new page and both 301 to that as opposed to 301 one to the other for each? So your new page would be widgets.com/about-contacting-us and you would 301 from the two current to the new page. If so, that is great.

I agree with Marisa otherwise.

[jdossetti]

Just to understand this better. If using a 301 redirect loses 1-10% of the link juice, wouldn't it be better to use the same url for one of them and redirect the other?

[RobertFisher]

First, I've done a lot of full site 301's - meaning all pages on the site to new domain pages, not domain to domain - and never lost 10% (usually 1%). Second, the answer was based on how you wrote the question. You could simply redesign one page (one with less PR, PA, etc. would be suggestion) and redirect it to the other. Just do not change anything in that url.

Hope it helps,

Robert