No two indexable pages target the same primary keyword

Two pages targeting the same primary keyword split click-through, link equity, and ranking signals — Google arbitrarily picks one to surface and suppresses the other, and the winner rotates over time so neither page builds stable authority. Common causes are legacy blog posts overlapping with new pillar pages, or tag archives competing with category pages. The result is persistent rank volatility on your highest-intent commercial queries.

Consolidate overlapping pages into a single canonical URL and 301 the losers, or retarget each page to a distinct long-tail variant. When consolidation isn't viable, set alternates.canonical on the secondary page:

// app/blog/seo-tips/page.tsx
export const metadata = {
  alternates: { canonical: 'https://yoursite.com/resources/seo-guide' }
}