cx-content-consolidationlisted

# Consolidating overlapping articles Duplicate articles are not harmless clutter. **Search splits rank between two mediocre pages instead of one strong one**, agents bookmark the wrong version, macros link to different URLs, and customers find contradictory steps. Consolidation fixes that — but careless merges **404 bookmarks, break macros, and temporarily spike contacts** while search reindexes. The prize: **one canonical article per question, old URLs still resolve, and measured proof contacts did not rise.** ## When to merge vs keep separate | Situation | Action | | --- | --- | | Same question, overlapping answers, same audience | Merge | | Same topic, different audiences (customer vs developer) | Keep separate; cross-link | | Same topic, different products/plans | Separate with clear scoping in titles | | One is subset of the other | Merge into superset; retire subset | | Contradictory facts | Merge after policy owner picks truth — do not publish merge until resolved | | High views on both, low CAV on both | Merge + rewrite — duplication may be the clarity problem | Measure contact-after-view on candidates before merging. **Merging two leaky buckets without rewrite gives one bigger leaky bucket.** ## Choosing the canonical article Pick one survivor before writing merged prose: | Factor | Weight | | --- | --- | | Lower contact-after-view rate | Strong signal it actually helps | | Higher assisted + unassisted resolution | Proven answer | | More complete / accurate c