Replace indexed page on SERP, and maintain rankings

[Asassin]

I have optimised and built links to example.com for a competitive keyword, lets say "gadget", resulting in example.com ranking on page one for "gadget" search terms.

My strategy is to replace example.com on page one of the results with examplee.com/gadget/ [the relevant product page]. Currently this page ranks on page seven for "gadget" terms.

I'm still learning and recognise the error of my ways.
I also know it's going to be a painful process but I need to minimise the impact of the primary page dropping off before the secondary page has risen. In light of this can anyone give me some advice on the following issues (all help gratefully received!):

- all inbound links for "gadget" point to example.com. I assume these need to be moved over. Is it best to do this slowly, allowing the primary page to start slipping as the secondary page starts climbing, or as quickly as possible -taking it on the chin (hopefully) for a short period?

- both pages are optimised for the "gadget" search terms, I recognise that i need to tone down the former so the latter can rank independently for those terms. How do I do this without dropping the primary page like a stone?

- internal linking structure: if I link intelligently to the secondary page [/gadget/] from the primary page [example.com] will this help?

- a 301 redirect is not possible as example.com is not becoming redundant and will continue to rank for other terms.

Thanks guys

[edited by: tedster at 4:48 pm (utc) on Dec. 13, 2007]

[tedster]

This can be a frustrating experience. I spent nearly a year in a similar attempt before the fruits of my labor really kicked in. The first happy evidence was a "clustered" result, however with the home page first and the more targeted internal page second. Then after a while they flipped. Currently the home page has slipped onto page 2 and no longer clusters for this search - but as you mentioned, the domain root home page continues to rank for other important terms.

You're thinking here is sound. About changing links - yes, it helps. But if all inbound links using this anchor text are directly under your control, then Google probably knows about that anyway. Most important, I feel, is acquiring truly independent backlinks.

Linking from the Home Page certainly can help - but it also has the paradoxical effect of strengthening the home page for the search involved. The off-page factors are more important here than on-page factors, but a gentle and intelligent touch to raise the relevance signals from the internal page and lower them on the Home Page is worthwhile. For the Home Page, make sure that other links a keywords are RAISED in your on-page factors, don't merely try to devalue the terms you want to see go down.

[Asassin]

Thanks Tedster - appreciate your help a lot.

Do you think it's worth building the links for example.com/gadget independently before transfering existing links to example.com over i.e. to minimise the impact on the latter whilst the former starts to rise?

Understand your thoughts on natural inbound links and totally agree - unfortunately for the keywords I'm ranking for you can't rely on that alone.