During a recent Google Webmaster Hangout, John Mueller gave tips regarding how to fix a home page ranking for a keyword phrase when an internal page is the better choice.
“You said Google’s algorithm doesn’t automatically favor the homepage ranking above other pages. What should we do to let Google know that a blog post for example should be ranking for a certain page term rather than the home page.
Signals for web page to rank over the home page
If we have a small website, how do we present clear signals to show Google that this blog post is the better page for certain search terms even though the home page probably has most internal links pointing to it?”
If the home page is ranking over an inner page for a search term, this is a problem. This can be an issue especially if the web site is a blog, and the homepage features limited amounts of content from the inner pages.