Can you canonical your homepage to a different URL on the same domain?

[andrewv]

I would like to know if it is acceptable (or even possible from Google's standpoint) to canonical your homepage to a different URL on the same domain?

For example, my homepage is www.grasscare.com (it's not) and I've built links to that page for years for terms like "grass seed" and "buy grass seed" because all I sold in the past was grass seed. If I then decide I want to sell both grass seed and sod, can I canonical my homepage (grasscare.com) to a new URL www.grasscare.com/grasss-seed.html to preserve the link value I've built up for "grass seed"?The new homepage would turn into a doorway page of sorts, forcing users to select either grass seed or sod before going further. Whatever content there is on the new homepage about grass seed would also be present on grasscare.com/grass-seed.html, though it would only be a small amount of content.

Can a canonical be used to point the homepage to this new page and also, will this canonical pass all of the link value and ranking signals it help in the past to the new URL?

Thank you in advance for any help or insight.

[Chstphrjohn]

Hi Andrew,

From my understanding of the canonical tag. It is used more for ensuring that google knows which URL is the one that you are wanting them to pay attention to. (To help with not having duplicate content etc)

Maybe if you investigate 301 redirects that would possibly be more what you are after. They do pass on metrics such as authority etc - but it won't be 100% of this. Moz has a pretty good article on it http://moz.com/learn/seo/redirection

Hope this helps.

[andrewv]

I appreciate the response.

The issue with a 301 is that the homepage needs to exist along with the new page, www.grasscare.com/grasss-seed.html. I don't simply want to redirect users to the new page from the home page, or vice versa.

The homepage is going from being our primary landing page for "grass seed" and related keywords to being a type of doorway page that splits traffic between those looking for grass seed or sod.

Since both pages need to exist (the homepage and newly created www.grasscare.com/grasss-seed.html), I'm looking for a way to transfer the link equity I have built up on the homepage to www.grasscare.com/grasss-seed.html without redirecting users or doing anything that might be considered cloaking in Google's eyes.

A small amount of grass seed related content (along with a small amount of content on sod) will be placed on the homepage--the only reason I mentioned a canonical is that if I duplicate this content on both the homepage and www.grasscare.com/grasss-seed.html, could I possibly get away with using a canonical to transfer link equity?

It would be kinda like using duplicate content to my advantage, if that makes any sense?

[andrewv]

Any other insights?

[Chstphrjohn]

Hi Andrew.

Sorry its taken me ages to get back to this. but this is a awesome resource, should help you out.

http://moz.com/academy/redirects