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For each entity in my site I have a 'joint' section (~30%), and a sub-section (~70%) which has two different options, meaning I only display ONE of them at a time. Currently I have two different links both about the same entity, with a different sub-section. There is a toggle menu that moves from one link to the other.

The SEO problem I see here, is when searching for an entity, search engines will have two competing pages from my site, instead of one higher ranked page.

I understand the best solution would be to create one page that has both sub-sections, but it's an hard UX task. The solution I want advice on, is pre-loading both sub-sections, making one sub-section 'hidden' and toggling between them through the menu (instead of making it change the url) and mention that with a # in the URL.

Considering this toggle is changing most of the page (~70%) would Google Index both sub-sections? Should this improve SEO?

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It is absolutely fine in this day and age to hide elements so that pages are heavier but also liter at the same time - in fact it enables a more rich experience

Google understands display:none elements and takes this content into account when working out rankings. As long as you have JavaScript that gracefully displays the content on click or any other event then no problem whats so ever.

If you care about UX then you may also care about accessibility, not everyone has JavaScript enabled you could always make that content visible at all times if JS is disabled - which makes your site more accessible

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  • Would you estimate this will improve SEO (using one link with JS instead of two links)? Showing both sub-sections will be confusing, will need to figure some way to resolve issue for non-JS users
    – Noam
    Mar 21, 2013 at 16:56
  • Yes one link will improve SEO as well as better experience for your customers. You can adapt .no-js css styles which will make the design process easier.
    – Simon Hayter
    Mar 21, 2013 at 18:54

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