Question

Hey, SEO's.  Let's say I have 3 articles and 3 targeted keywords, as below: Article 1 - Keyword A1 Article 2 - Keyword A12 Article 3 - Keyword A123 All of the articles are pretty much the same, the only thing changed was the keyword (keyword A1 with A12, A123, and so on), internal/external links, images and videos.Hey, SEO's. Let's say I have 3 articles and 3 targeted keywords, as below: Article 1 - Keyword A1 Article 2 - Keyword A12 Article 3 - Keyword A123 All of the articles are pretty much the same, the only thing changed was the keyword (keyword A1 with A12, A123, and so on), internal/external links, images and videos. Now I want to create a new article targeting all of the 3 keywords. Should I give the rel=canonical tag to each of them pointing to the new article? Should I do a 301 redirect? I need to mention that these articles rank pretty well in serp. What's the best thing I can do in order to avoid duplicate content? Thanks.  

Answer 1

I don't think it's a good idea to do so. If the 3 pages rank well, you should not merge 3 distinct keywords into a single page. Are the keywords similar to one another? Are they like a variation of one another? The answer to your question depends on what are you trying to accomplish.  

Answer 2

"Should I give the rel=canonical tag to each of them pointing to the new article? " This meta directive is only intended for duplicate content - fully and completely duplicate content. So your use-case does not meet that expectation.  

Answer 3

Combine all 3 into one authority piece of content. Run a CORA or Surfer report on those keywords to help you optimize. Then, find internal linking opportunities where you can use variations of the kws you are targeting as anchor text.