Selling same products under separate brands and can't consolidate sites...duplicate content issues?

[jluke.fusion]

I have a client selling home goods online and in-store under two different brand names in separate regions of the country. Currently, the websites are completely identical aside from branding. It is unlikely that they would have the capacity to write unique titles and page content for each website (~25,000 pages each), and the business would never consolidate the sites.

Would it make sense to use canonical tags pointing to the higher-performing website on category and product pages? This way we could continue to capture branded search to the lesser brand while consolidating authority on the better performing website.

What would you do?

[JordanLowry]

Hey there,

Yeah, I'd go ahead and Implement the canonical tags to the higher-performing website on category and product-level pages.

However, if you're feeling a little unsure I'd recommend testing it with a sample set of pages and just monitor the impact to your client's site and adjust accordingly.

That's a bummer they won't let you consolidate the sites though. 

The other thing I'd probably consider is investing a bit in local SEO since your client sells home good products.

Hope that helps.