Optimizing two site pages for the same keyword phrase

[EricVallee34]

If a keyword works really well for two pages on your site, is it OK to optimize both pages for that keyword?  Is it possible that Google will rank both pages?

For example, one of the companies I've worked with is a software developer.  They want to use the keyword phrase “simple project management software” for both the home page http://www.wennsoft.com/ and for the product page http://www.wennsoft.com/en/Solutions/By-Products/projectmanagement.aspx.  (I’ve got other alternatives that I can use, but optimizing both pages for the same keyword would be the path of least resistance).

[AdamThompson]

Yes and Yes! You can certainly get two pages ranked for the same keyword.

Check out these resources:

http://andybeard.eu/1376/google-double-indented-listing.html

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/draft-whiteboard-friday-getting-indented-listings

[CPU]

The key thing to do is to have unique content on both pages but the content may still be optimised or focused upon the same keyword or phrase as the other page.

Also make sure each page has unique titles, meta description etc so that the search engine has no reason to look at the pages and think that it would be best to just display the one page due to duplicate content issues.