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Background: 6 months ago, I did a website migration. The old website had a products overview page, the new website does not. I decided to redirect the old products overview page to Product #1. This seemed great and gave product #1 a good boost in SEO (carrying over some of the link juice, and the power that the old overview page had)

Problem: This page is out-performing Product #2, and Product #3 for those products targeted keyword phrases.

Suspected Reasons: The page is more powerful.
Many of the backlinks to products overview page, had ties to products#2 and 3. At one point in time, the products overview page was the product page for Product#1, Product#2, and Product#3

Result: Even though there is NO on-page optimization for the other products keywords, Google is valuing product#1 higher than product#2 and product#3.

What Now?: I removed the products overview redirect (2 months ago), currently it goes nowhere. External Links: I've contacted many websites to update their old links, to bring product#2, product#3 pages when necessary. Internal Links: I am in the process of creating quality anchor text links on every page that is related to product#2, and product #3.

Need Advice, What else is there to do? ... I've been working on this problem non-stop for a month, and have pretty much done anything. Is there any way to cut the ties completely with the old products/overview page and the Product#1.... This to me seems like the main issue. Or does Google never forget:(

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  • I used to suggest looking at the search keywords of landing visitors and redirecting to the appropriate page for users that use product #2 or product #3 keywords. However, now with "not provided", that isn't a solution that works well anymore.
    – Stephen Ostermiller ♦
    Jul 9, 2016 at 10:12
  • Are you suggesting redirecting the old product/overview page? Instead of leaving it as a not provided? If i redirect to the homepage or one of the other product pages, will it help speed up the process?
    – Michael
    Jul 11, 2016 at 12:16
  • "Not provided" is what you see for the keyword for search visitors in Google Analytics. It is not a page status and you can't control whether or not Google sends those keywords (they tend not to any more.) You should never redirect something to the homepage. Google treats home page redirects the same as 404 not found errors. They call it a "soft 404".
    – Stephen Ostermiller ♦
    Jul 11, 2016 at 12:24
  • We have done extensive research in our market, and have already determined the targeted keyword phrases to optimize. We need Page #2 to come up in google for "phrase #2," it's not a matter of choosing a different keyword to target for (if I'm understanding you right). As for the redirecting to the homepage, I feel like Google is still connecting products/overview with the Product#1, so by redirecting to the homepage will this help to cut the tie with Product#1 page?
    – Michael
    Jul 11, 2016 at 13:18

1 Answer 1

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You shouldn't try to cut the ties with the old overview page. You need to redirect to a page that is most like the old page to still get the valuable link juice. That will likely be your home page. From there you should ensure you have good structure with internal linking to the different product pages. Gradually the indexing should become more aligned with the actual website structure that you have as you continue work on your landing pages and inbound linking.

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  • And by Redirecting the old overview page to the homepage, do you think this will help speed up the process, of cutting the ties between Product#1 and Product#2? -Thanks
    – Michael
    Jul 12, 2016 at 12:06
  • In fairness, you probably don't want to cut these ties if they are positive and drive traffic. If you optimise your pages correctly and implement correct internal linking, Google will pick up what each individual page is about and index them accordingly. So in that sense, yes, they will gradually become more distinct. Also, if you redirect a strong page to your home page, that page will become stronger and Google will be more likely to make any changes in their index more quickly - for both the home page and the internal pages it links to.
    – Agata - Business Ahead UK
    Jul 12, 2016 at 13:11
  • Ok, thanks. And last question; Do I have to worry about the Home Page indexing instead of Product#2 Page? Now that I'm sending the strong Redirect from the old products/Overview page.
    – Michael
    Jul 12, 2016 at 13:59
  • It could index the home page instead of your Product#2 page initially for some of the keywords. With time this should be resolved - Google's aim is to show the most relevant pages in search results. Ensure the product pages you want to push are linked to from the home page to help this process.
    – Agata - Business Ahead UK
    Jul 12, 2016 at 14:01
  • All the pages can be reached on the universal header drop-down menu. And on the homepage, is a image slider, with links to each of the product pages... I am worried to do this though, because if the link juice from old product overview was great enough to make Product#1 index for Product #2's keyword phrase, then surely won't the homepage index instead too?
    – Michael
    Jul 12, 2016 at 14:06

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