Asking for SEO advice: redirect and merge issue
We've got a pair of subpages in our arsenal: one devoted to expounding on the tool's functionality (a wizard for work schedule generation), the other furnishing an Excel template for those preferring a hands-on approach to crafting their own work schedules. Naturally, both pages cater to the same query: "work schedule". While both pages used to show up on Google's search results for this query, the search engine behemoth now gives preference to the page boasting the template. Unfortunately, this arrangement doesn't exactly bode well for our business prospects. In an effort to improve the situation, our SEO agency proposed redirecting traffic from the template page to the function description page and embedding a "Download Template" button there. However, we're apprehensive that such a move could end up costing us traffic, considering that the template page is more highly favored by Google. What's your take on the matter? Has anyone saw a case like this before?
Bit late to the party so you may have gone ahead with what your agency suggested, but here's my 2 cents:
I definitely would not redirect the excel page. Here's why:
That page is a goldmine for your SEO. Your audience does not know that your product exists, they probably never knew that such a product could even exist, but they do know that excel exists and are probably looking for a solution to their problem.
The problem being "I need a way to manage my work schedule"
I disagree that it does not bode well for business prospects. That's because this could be a major lead generator, and there's a very natural CTA here: "Rather than use an excel template which is rigid and cannot be easily shared and worked on across teams, use this software product instead!" I'd set up an email sequence for people who convert on this page to get the excel template, and educate them about your product and how it solves the problem better than excel can.
I've worked with many companies in a similar space. Excel is the way their target market tries to solve the problem, so use this as an opportunity to give them what they think they want and show them a better way forward with your product.
Ultimately, Google will rank what it thinks matches the intent behind the query best and what performs best. This is Google's way of telling you that your target audience is familiar with excel, and you can get in front of them by giving them what they want. BUT you can educate them as well.
Content serves a purpose, whether it's a blog post, a pillar page, or a landing page. Think about how to leverage the traffic you get and maximize its impact and you will get more results out of it.
Google is crawling the entire internet and trying to make sense of it and it’s inevitable that it ranks one page above another one. Without the actual details it’s hard to give clear recommendations.
I think the real question is either you trust your agency and implement what they suggest or you source another agency.
Yes, you caught that. The answer is simple - I really don't trust the agency. They were supposed to notice that there was a switch between the sites that Google preferred, but they didn't. They have also caused us to have trust issues a few times before. We are currently finishing our contract with them and waiting for a strategy from another partner/agency. This new partner/agency is suggesting something different - optimizing both pages for different intents and linking them to each other clearly.
Frankly, I asked this question in a few other communities and everyone is giving me advice on agency partnerships instead of SEO. It's frustrating.
So I can understand why you are frustrated.
So you either need to go the technical route or you go the marketing route.
The technical route is where you either increase the power of you chosen page by building more internal links, external links and increasing content and at the same time as deoptimizing the ranking page so its less attractive to Google and so you do that by doing the opposite to optimising. You could go full nuclear and delete the ranking page however you may loose your rankings all together.
Another way to achieve this is to change from a flat site structure so the ranking page navigationally sits under the chosen page. (if that makes sense?)
The second route is the marketing route and improve how the current ranking page performs and make it so you can get the email address of the victors and just treat this keyword as earlier in the sales cycle.
The key thing is you got to be willing to try things and then adjust because no one can guarantee what will happen, including Google.
Hope this makes sense?