Keyword Cannibalization?
-
I am not quite sure I totally understand the concept of keyword cannibalization. I have seen the SEO Moz Snowboard example... I tried to apply the concept but the on-page ranking sees a category page of mine with KW cannibalization. By the way, I still get an A for the targeted KW.
I have an e-commerce site, one category page targets 'wool sweaters' and a product page for example is : 'chunky-knit wool turtleneck sweater' (there are 8 products total in this category all are flagged Cannibalizers). I didn't think KWC would be an issue...ranking seems to be effected judging ranking for other category pages w/o KW cannibalization issues.
So, my question I guess is KW cannibalization really a big deal? What is taken into account when judging KW cannibalization. Title Tags? URLs?
Thanks in advance
-
thanks Takeshi really useful reply, but i would like to advise Eric, that he should not need to assign category canonical link tag in product pages as product has its own somehow authority.
If want to prioritize category page then you need to improve overall on-site with regard to increase more importance than product page for that specific search terms or phrases. -
Correct except for the nofollows. You almost never want to use nofollow links pointing to your own site. And try to put as much of the content you have on your product pages onto the category page.
-
So, suposing that I want to rank my category page and not my product page, You guys think that any of the follow measures are reasonable?
-
use a canonical tag in my product page pointing to my category page,
-
use nofollows links from my category page to my product pages and do the inverse concerning my product pages.
-
atribute a higher priority to my category page in my sitemap.
hugs,
-
-
Great, thanks a lot. That makes sense as to why I can get an on-page 'A' score yet ultimately could be doing more harm than good.
-
Keyword cannibalization in a nutshell: Google only shows 1 result from your site for any given query (unless it thinks you're REALLY relevant). That means you want the page that shows up to be the one with the greatest relevance and conversion potential. If you have multiple pages that target the same keyword, Google could end up confused and display the non-optimal page over your desired landing page.
Title tag, url, and on-page content all play a role in keyword cannibalization.
It's only a problem if you're finding that the non-optimal page is ranking over your optimal one. For example, if your category page ('wool sweaters') is outranking your product page ('knit wool turtleneck sweater') for the search team "knit wool turtleneck sweater", then you have a problem. In that case, make sure you improve your internal & external linking to the product page, and make sure it has higher quality, targeted content than the category page.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Why did our highly ranked keyword drop to 51+ for just one week?
One of our most important keywords (ranked 5) dropped to 51+ one week and then went back to 5 around the time we launched a new site. Why did that happen?
Technical SEO | | virtuance_photography0 -
Looks like keyword stuffing, but it isn't
(There was a similar older question on the forum, but it wasn't really answered so please forgive me if this looks like a repeated question) Looks like keyword stuffing, but it isn't We have a massive web store with 80k "commodity products" (and this amount will only increase) which aren't sold the same way normal products are sold (i.e. by brand and model). Commodity products are sold by specification, therefore their product names are actually descriptions of the product. In our case, industrial fasteners (nuts, bolts, washers, screws, etc) sold in bulk. If you click on the link below, you will see that our catalog involves a tremendous amount of repetition, where the products all appear the same, but are varying by dimensions and/or package quantities. The solutions the web store software offers to solve this problem cause issues for us (i.e. displaying the dimensions and quantities ONLY under a common header) but more importantly, we are concerned that search engines are seeing this as keyword stuffing and penalizing the pages. http://www.aspenfasteners.com/Step-Bolts-Inch-Standard-s/407.htm If we can't change the presentation of the page, should we be concerned and if so, how do we let a search engine know that the repetition is legitimate?
Technical SEO | | AspenFasteners0 -
3 Different Websites but Same Keywords
One of my client targeting same (5 Keywords) for 3 sites. Domain & Web Hosting is same for 3 sites. Site A - 50.72.134.29
Technical SEO | | krishnaxz
Site B - 50.72.140.227
Site C- 50.72.19.70 Some time ago, ranking dropped - but don't know if it is because on above things? Is it OK? What is the best way to target same keywords for 3 different sites.0 -
Wrong pages ranking for keywords?
I've just done a search using east england document storage site:ukdocumentstorage.com and found our specific east england document storage page is ranking really low down in our list of pages compared to others. How could this happen?
Technical SEO | | janc0 -
Choosing a company name to rank for with main keyword in it?
First question is in regard to the relevance of the main keyword in the company name when used in anchor texts for linkbuilding and also on the website on page seo title tags etc.. We used to call our selves "Isle Surfboards" but now call ourselves "Isle Surf & SUP" , sup is an acronym for "stand up paddle boards" as our core biz in now paddleboards If we are trying to target the main keyword of "paddle boards" should we reconsider and call ourselves on the web " Isle Surfboards & Paddle Boards" or "Isle Surf & Paddle" or does it even matter? Then when we link build should we be building links with our new name "Isle Surf & SUP" or just as "Isle Paddle Boards" or does it even matter? Any help out there? bottom line is we want to rank better for the phrase "paddle boards" & "stand up paddle boards" as those are the top keywords. And in closing since both above are the 2 most popular keywords and are very similar "stand up paddle boards" has "paddle boards" in the phrase should all my on page related seo target "stand up paddle boards" phrase since that would have both phrases or "paddle boards" or a combo of both?
Technical SEO | | isle_surf0 -
Use target keyword on several page titles or homepage only?
If I want my homepage to rank for a keyword (ie "red widgets"), does it support or dilute the homepage's rank if I use the keyword on other pages? I can see it working either way: The search engine looks at your site, sees that the target keyword is used throughout the site, and ranks the site higher as a result. Using the keyword on several pages makes it so none of them stand out, and ultimately it's harder to rank highly. Thoughts?
Technical SEO | | Kyle_M0 -
Is there a way I can track Arabic keywords on the Arabic version of Google Qatar using SEOMOZ Rank checker?
I have a Qatari website in Arabic and I would like to know if it is possible to track the Arabic keywords using google.com.qa in Arabic using SEOMoz rank checker. When selecting the three search engines, I have no choice over the language. Only the country can be modified. Any solution?
Technical SEO | | mrlee1 -
Website completely dropped off Google in our top keywords
Over the weekend, our website (http://www.esdandassociates.com) completely dropped off the google database in our top keywords. The only way that our site can be found is if you specifically type in the company name. Other search engines were unaffected and rankings remained the same or rose for the week. Previous keywords that we ranked in the first couple of positions (san antonio advertising agency, san antonio public relations) are now not in the top 50. We have not made any recent changes to our site besides basic content updates and all appears normal regarding crawler access. I have also not been able to find anything irregular in webmaster tools. Any ideas?
Technical SEO | | eriksimpson0