Question

Would you consider this competing pages? Homepage targeting the main keyword (Which is what I want) Inner page has a long tail keyword with the main keyword in it. Meta title for the inner page does not have the main keyword at all. However google wants to change the meta title to the main keyword for that inner page for some reason. When searching the long tail keyword, both the homepage and the inner page are in the top positions, one following the other. I'm thinking about de-indexing the long tail keyword page because I want the homepage to rank for the main keyword but I'm thinking google is having a hard time figuring out which page to give power to for that main keyword. Especially since google changes the meta title of the inner page to the main keyword. Few months ago I went in and took out all the content that would trigger the main keyword, but still no luck. Or instead of de-indexing, should I canonicalize the inner page to direct to the homepage

Answer 1

You have shown no compelling reason to deindex the inner page. I wouldn't canonicalize either. If you really hate the page and have just gutted it beyond all usefulness, redirect it to the home page. In my opinion you shouldn't have done anything.  

Answer 2

There may be an underlying issue of quality on the page or your site. Google typically changes titles when the titles are poor quality. Are your titles unique, not keyword stuffed nor clickbaity? Are they descriptive to the content on the page? Are they exact duplicates of the H1, or is the Title Tag different from the H1 on the page?