Avoid Keyword Self-Cannibalization
-
I'm still having issues with this self-cannibalization...it's referencing my tags as links that are doing this...
should i remove the tags on my posts that are exact keyword matches to my article?
for example, this post generates an 'a' through the on-page optimization tool for the keyword 'kw cares'...they only thing i receive a warning on is the self-cannibalization.
http://www.youdrivethesuccess.com/tag/kw-cares/
Cannibalizing link - "kw cares"
is it best practice not to have your tags match your primary keywords? any guidance is appreciated!
-
Yoast seems really cool, but I currently have Genesis from StudioPress. I installed Yoast and it removed all of my meta descriptions. I would have to go back and and re-enter all meta descriptions to use it....or do you know of a way to keep them when transferring from one plugin to the other?
-
so i need to go back and list all my tags as 'no index'?
-
thanks cody...i will take the tag advice and make those changes to my site.
i am, however, referring to self-cannibalization of the links. the on-page optimization tool is giving me grief because of the tag that is the same as my targeted keyword, saying that i shouldn't have another link with the same keyword. either way, once i change the tags to not have my target keywords in there, that warning will go away. thanks again!
-
I agree. You want to use the Yoast plugin and don't index your tag pages. That should help with cannibalizing keywords.
-
I think you mean canonicalization.
With the way your permalink structure is set up, no, you don't need to tag your posts with an exact match of the title. You're already going to have an exact match of the title in your URL.
In fact, I wouldn't ever recommend doing this. If you match the title of every one of your blog posts with a tag you're going to have a unique tag out there for every single blog post, with just one article in it. That's not very useful if you ask me and is definitely going to cause duplicate content issues.
I tend to think of tags as more of a way for my user to navigate my blog - which is what they're really meant for. If I click a tag (unless a blog is really young) I expect to see want to multiple articles related to that tag so I can read more about that topic.
One last tip - Check out theYoast SEO Plugin for some help with Wordpress canonicalization management. It really helps when you're using tags and categories - http://yoast.com/wordpress/seo/
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
-
How do I mprove site visibility and keyword ranking for new product site
Hi, Sorry if this is a ridiculous post as I am really new to SEO, but I haven't had this problem with other sites! We had a website www.r-dna.co.uk that was never promoted or used very much as it was early days in the product lifecycle. The product (is called R-DNA or Remote Data Network Analysis) is now live so we re-branded and re-launched the site - it has now been live since the beginning of September but we still only have 0.35% visibility and very little ranking in our keywords. We are also using Google Adwords to try and generate business and have registered with numerous online business directories. I have been blogging to update content, tweeting and updating our facebook page, but we still aren't getting the traffic or visibility increases that we have experienced with our other sites. The MOZ site crawl shows 5 medium priority issues (duplicate title page & missing meta description tag), but no major issues. I know its probably fairly early days for a "new" site, but wondered if anyone could advise if there is anything wrong which would explain our lack of visibility.
Moz Pro | | sharon.bathurst0 -
Question about how to do keyword research on SEOMoz
Is there a way I can check what are the Keywords that drive traffic to a specific website using SEOMoz?
Moz Pro | | theLotter0 -
How do i target keywords locally
I am working for a cosmetic surgeon with clinics in three geographic places. I would like to give him specific keywords that he can go after successfully. When I use the keyword tool with terms like botox cosmetic staten island or breast augmentation tarrytown, I get competitive rankings like 36% or 37%, but it doesnt tell me if there are only a few searchers doing this per month. In Google's Adwords tool, it thinks that the number fo searchers with these same terms is too small to measure, literally giving me back a dash (= insignificant traffic). However, it I use Google Adwords with more general terms, say breast augmentation surgeon, and get a medium/110 global monthly searches, when I come back to SEOmoz tool and assess the same keyword, I find that the traffic picks up doctor sites in Arizona and elsewhere, where clearly no one who wants cosmetic surgery in new York is going to fly to Arizona for it. So, how do I ensure a balance between targeting too little traffic but including the names of specific towns, and targetting more general terms but not having local prospects. Has anyone tackled this in a specific medical niche?
Moz Pro | | DianeDP0 -
Do you track both plural and singular variations of your keywords?
Howdy, In trying to make the most of the keyword tracking slots we get with the SEOmoz tool our discussion turned to the importance of tracking both variations of search terms that could be plural or singular. The example is that we run a local business search database so we target search terms like "chicago pet stores" and "chicago pet store", however the language of our site almost always uses the plural version of the business category. On one hand we want to know exactly how we rank for variations of search terms, but on the other, with the number of categories we have we could be tracking thousands upon thousands if we included every variation ("pet store chicago", "pet stores in chicago", etc.) So what say ye fellow optimizers? Is it worth tracking variations of search terms or do you find that Google is smart enough in coalescing the intent of similar search variants that tracking against the most commonly searched one is enough? Thank you all!
Moz Pro | | qurve0 -
Colors in keyword Difficulty Report
Hi Everyone Two quick questions today 1. How can I find out hat the different colors within the keyword Difficulty Report represent and how can I see examples of how this information can help us with our data analysis? 2. The second question I have is regarding the Term Extractor. Seems when I ran a domain it provided the wrong data. For example, it stated that a certain keyword exists certain number of times within the description and title of the page but when I looked at the source this was not the case so it made studying the competition harder.
Moz Pro | | DRTBA
Any suggestions or has anyone else noticed this? Thanks in advance for all your help.0 -
SEOmoz keyword difficulty tool
Is anyone else having problems with this? Every search I do seems to throw up an error in the traffic fields.
Moz Pro | | neooptic0 -
Question about difficulty score of keywords
I have a question regarding keyword selection and the difficulty score. I get the idea that you need to temper your desire to go after keyword phrases that generate lots of traffic with the reality of competition for that keyword, which is conveyed by the difficulty score. But how do we know when the difficulty score is too high? And isn't this relative to a website? If my website is in the top 1% of traffic, can't I go after more difficult keywords than if my traffic is in the top 10%? Are there guidelines or best practices to help with this decision? How do I know whether my website is "strong" enough to compete for a keyword that has a high difficulty score. If we already rank on page one of Google for numerous keywords with difficulty scores of 50 or so, is that an indicator that we can try to rank for other keywords with a difficulty score of 50? When do we know that we can start trying to rank for more diffcult keywords?
Moz Pro | | espressob2b0