A Guide on Detecting and Resolving Keyword Cannibalization

Wondering why your keyword rankings aren’t as high as they should be? Find out how content cannibalization might be hurting your website and learn effective strategies to combat it.

In a recent webinar moderated by me, I had the opportunity to chat with search experts Jon Earnshaw and Sophie Moule from Pi Datametrics. They shared insights on different types of content conflicts and how to resolve them to improve your search engine rankings.

Keep reading for a summary of the webinar, or click here to access the full presentation.

Understanding Keyword Cannibalization

Keyword cannibalization occurs when multiple pages on your website compete to rank for the same keywords. This creates confusion for search engines like Google, as they struggle to determine which page is the most relevant for a given search query.

Cannibalization is primarily a keyword issue, not a URL problem. It means that one page on your site may be competing against another page for the same keywords.

Main Types Of Cannibalization

There are various types of cannibalization, such as internal, international, and subdomain cannibalization. For the purpose of this article, we’ll focus on internal cannibalization.

In almost all cases, cannibalization occurs due to one of the following four reasons:

• Overlapping theme
• Authority injection
• Poor internal linking
• Non-contextual optimization

Identifying Different Types Of Cannibalization

Here’s how you can spot the common types of cannibalization:

• Suspicious Flux – Internal linking issues and capitalization inconsistencies
• Content Evolution – Conflicting pages created by rumors, releases, and review articles
• Inline Conflict – Conflicting pages based on search terms

Once you’ve identified the type of cannibalization affecting your site, you can take steps to fix it.

Fixing Cannibalization

There are several strategies you can implement to fix cannibalization:

• Downgrade theming by changing the title and strengthening with backlinks
• Merge similar pages using 301 redirects
• Redirect older content to a chosen “doorway” page
• Ensure internal links point to the desired page
• Noindex or archive competing content
• Create hubpages to consolidate related content

Monitoring Cannibalization

After resolving the cannibalization issue, it’s crucial to monitor keyword cannibalization on a regular basis. This involves tracking:

• All URLs
• Top 100 rankings
• Competitor rankings
• Historical data

Key Takeaways

Remember the following key points about cannibalization:

• Cannibalization can occur on your website
• Cannibalization affects individual keywords
• You need to make decisions on which pages to prioritize
• Cannibalization can be prevented with the right strategies

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Boost Your SEO with a Webinar on Keyword Cannibalization

Interested in learning more about keyword cannibalization? Take a look at the presentation from our webinar:

Image Credits:

Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal