Targeting the Same Keyword

Hi guys,

My website's home page targets the keyword A, keyword B, and keyword C.
Keyword A is my main service, and the homepage is ranked for many variations of it.

At the same time, I have a webpage dedicated to keyword / service A only.

Do you think it will be a smart decision to add the homepage as a canonical version to the dedicated service page?

No, that wouldn’t be smart. Each page serves a unique purpose — your homepage targets multiple keywords, while the service page focuses on one. Canonicalizing the service page to the homepage could confuse Google and harm its individual ranking. Instead, keep both pages separate, interlink them naturally, and ensure distinct, optimized content for each keyword.

Jack Sparrow09 said:

Canonicalizing the service page to the homepage

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he meant the other way around (homepage to service page). But yeah, it would probably not be good either way

Also, @White Wave ...

White Wave said:

My website's home page targets the keyword A, keyword B, and keyword C.

Click to expand...

how is this even possible??

By "targets" do you mean that it mentions those keywords, or that it's optimized for them (and this is where my understanding is lacking as I can't figure out how you can optimize a page for 3 different keywords)?

If it only mentions those keywords randomly and a few times - but still outranks the service page that's (supposedly) optimized for keyword A - then this looks to me like your homepage has more authority, which is why it's outranking the service page.

Which means that you should build more links (both internal, and external ones) to the service page and - with the right optimization - you should be able to outrank your homepage which - if you're having a website about offline stuff (plumbing, roofing, etc) - should be optimized for your brand anyway instead of keywords...

yeah, your understanding is correct, that's the case:

"If it only mentions those keywords randomly and a few times - but still outranks the service page that's (supposedly) optimized for keyword A - then this looks to me like your homepage has more authority, which is why it's outranking the service page."

It's better to develop A as an alternative page for a keyword variation and link home page for the main keyword. So, Google funnels your traffic to home page and passes the link juice.

Your Home Page and webpage A should serve two distinct purposes, otherwise it's pointless to create multiple pages to rank for same keyword. Also keep in mind that Google ranks multiple pages from same website for a keyword. Sometimes it ranks 10+ pages from same website. So, there is no need to have a canonical version when both serve distinct purposes.

I wouldn’t set the homepage as canonical for the service page. Each should target its own intent the homepage can cover broader terms, while the service page focuses on keyword A specifically. Use internal linking instead to show relevance and help Google understand the hierarchy, rather than merging signals with a canonical tag.