Two pages on same domain - Is this a proper use of the canonical tag?

[andrewv]

I have a domain with two pages in question--one is an article with 2,000 words and the other is a FAQ with 300 words. The 300 word FAQ is copied, word-for-word and pasted inside of the 2,000 word article.

Would it be a proper use of the canonical tag to point the smaller, 300 word FAQ at the 2,000 word article?

Since the 300 word article is identical to a portion of the 2,000 word article, will Google see this as duplicate content?

Thanks in advance for any helpful insight.

[MikeRoberts]

This sounds like an ambiguous area. Your FAQ is your FAQ and should stand on its own. Now, technically speaking, if the article is what you want ranking for your FAQ you could consider a canonical tag telling Google that your FAQ is a subset of the Article's superset.

You could also, instead of including the 300 word FAQ copy/pasted into the article, link to the FAQ from the article where relevant and/or only include a sentence or two from the FAQ that is pertinent to the article.

[andrewv]

For our users it is ideal the entire FAQ is answered at the top (and within) the article and as a separate FAQ page living in a different area of our site.

We would also like the article to be the only page ranking for those questions, so as long as Google does not view using a canonical tag for pointing subsets to a superset of information as improper, the canonical solution would definitely be ideal.

Thank you for your answer, Mike. I believe by using the canonical to point a subset to a superset we should have a perfect solution.

[MikeRoberts]

Yes, pointing from a subset to a superset of information is one of the main reasons for the canonical. So Google would not view it as improper. Just remember... Canonicals are a suggestion NOT a directive. Google will choose whether to listen to you or not.