Help on Avoid Keyword Self-Cannibalization
-
i ran the on page test and i got the avoid keyword self-canabilzation alert
one example is for http://www.deporvillage.com/shimano
maybe is because a'm not a native speaking english person but i do not understand what it exactly means
the targeted keyword for this page is shimano and the alert i got for the links like the one below that i have in my page
http://www.deporvillage.com/ciclismo/zapatillas-shimano which has a anchor text like zapatillas ciclismo shimano
-
I think Sven's essentially correct, although I suspect the word "Shimano" is what we're flagging. You've got the main Shimano page that splits out into sub-pages, and every link for the sub-pages has "Shimano" in the anchor text. The problem is that it IS keyword cannibalization, in a sense, and yet it also makes perfect sense in this situation.
I think this is pretty common in search pages, and probably isn't a big issue. Honestly, internal search pages and Google don't always get along in general, so it can be tricky. You could draw "Shimano" out into a header and then not use it in every piece of anchor text (it could start to look excessive), but practically speaking, I doubt it's going to have much impact either way.
-
Indeed!
In case of problematic keyword selfcannibalization you can choose from two options:
- Combine two landing pages into one of the two, and deleting (or noindex) the other one.
- Avoid overlap as much as possible by making sure the exact query you want to rank for on page A does not appear on page B (and vice versa).
I think it depends on the situation whether you want to go for option 1 or 2. In your case it seems pretty much okay, but to be sure you could cut down on the word ciclismo on the general shimano page.
Best of luck!
Sven Witteveen
Expand Online
-
thanks sven. so do you recommend me to do any action like delete some ciclismo instances on the shimano pages?
x
-
I did a quick check on both pages:
http://www.deporvillage.com/ciclismo/zapatillas-shimano
and
http://www.deporvillage.com/shimanoBoth get an A for on-page optimization for the word: shimano. Also on the page /shimano there are 41 instances of the word ciclismo. You might want to avoid this word on the general /shimano page if you have a separate landing page for 'zapatillas ciclismo shimano'.
However, generally speaking there isn't much to worry about if you do not in fact rank with both pages for one keyword.
Sven Witteveen
Expand Online -
thanks expand online team, but i wonder why is considering it self canibalization if there are different keywords
shimano is pointing to http://www.deporvillage.com/shimano
and zapatillas ciclismo shimano (shimano cycling shoes) to http://www.deporvillage.com/ciclismo/zapatillas-shimano
there are different keywords so they might have different url's no?
-
Rand has said the following about it in his blog:
....Keyword self-cannibalization - the practice of heavily targeting the same keyword phrase on multiple pages of a site....
Having multiple pages for one keyword or phrase is not ideal since this means you are competing with yourself. All the backlinks, content, internal linkjuice etc. is devided over multiple pages instead of concentrating it on one page.
Ofcourse, if these pages are on position one and two in the SERP this situation is perfectly fine. However, if they hold position 11 and 15 the combined force of these two pages may be enough to rank 5th or 6th. That would generate a lot more traffic since results after postion 10 generate virtually no traffic.
I hope this helps!
Greets,
Sven Witteveen
Expand Online
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
-
Should I optimize my home-page or a sub-page for my most important keyword
Quick question: When choosing the most important keyword set that I would like to rank for, would I be better off optimizing my homepage, or a sub page for this keyword. My thinking goes as follows: The homepage (IE www.mysite.com) naturally has more backlinks and thus a better Google Page Rank. However, there are certain things I could do to a subpage (IE www.mysite.com/green-widgets-los-angeles ) that I wouldn't want to do to the homepage, which might be more "optimal" overall. Option C, I suppose, would be to optimize both the homepage, and a single sub-page, which is seeming like a pretty good solution, but I have been told that having multiple pages optimized for the same keywords might "confuse" search engines. Would love any insight on this!
On-Page Optimization | | Jacob_A2 -
Optimizing Product Keywords (that are similar)
Hi Guys Could someone let me know how varied my product keywords need to be? I'm about to add a variety of products to my site, and the only true way of differentiating them is by colour. Brown Hooded JacketGreen Hooded JacketRed Hooded JacketBlack Hooded JacketBrown Hooded Utility JacketGreen Hooded Utility JacketRed Hooded Utility JacketBlack Hooded Utility JacketAlso, am I optimizing my site correctly?Key Word - Brown Hooded JacketMy keywords are included in H1Enigma - Brown Hooded JacketPage TitleProduct Name & Key Word - London - Company NameURL,www.companyname.co.uk/brown-coats/enigma-hooded-jacketBody ContentThe key word "brown hooded jacket" is included and very described within the body of this specific pageImage TagBrown-Casual-Hooded-JacketMeta DescriptionKey word is used, should I choose to opt for this approach?I would really appreciate your help. Thanks, Faye
On-Page Optimization | | Faye2340 -
Webmaster tools content keywords conundrum
I'm working on optimising a phrase that is made up of two words. I've noticed in webmaster tools that the two words are listed separately under the content keywords section. This is fine apart from the two words are listed at very different significance levels, 2 and 18. Drilling deeper it shows that both these words have two variants. The word in position 2 occurs 483 times and the word in 18 occurs 60 times. Sadly the phrase is commercially sensitive as I'd like to just be able to share it here but can't. Should I be looking to include the weaker word more frequently on the site? In anchor text? Or is this normal distribution? Would optimising the weaker word risk the wrath of Panda? moz-question.jpg
On-Page Optimization | | Hannahm240 -
Should a keyword be optimized on One page only?
I have a niche website that focusses on selling pizza delivery bags, the search keywords that are used by users are about 7 and their are another 15 long tail keywords. The question is do i optimize every keyword per one page only? i have a blog on the website www.prodelpizzabags.com/blog/ if i write a blog post that would "compete" internally with another keyword, what should i do, what are the best practices I would be thankful for any insights regarding keyword/page optimization
On-Page Optimization | | akramsabra0 -
2 keyword title tag best format
I have a client that does ski and snowboard rentals in lake tahoe and not sure what the best way to optimize the home page title tag. Lake Tahoe Ski and Snowboard Rental
On-Page Optimization | | tahoemedia
Lake Tahoe Ski & Snowboard Rental
Ski & Snowboard Rental Lake Tahoe
Ski Rental | Snowboard Rental | Lake Tahoe Which one of these is the best or is it not even listed??? Thanks!0 -
Keyword canibalization
Hi, I'm ranking for 'bodybuilding schema' with two separate pages (see attachment). Is this a problem? I heard that's it's better to only have one page ranking per keyword. If so, how do I prevent this? Thanks! Jasper MhcOI
On-Page Optimization | | Japking0 -
Is it necessary to add keywords to all of your pages?
Hi Everyone he company I work for has just built a new website with approximately 87 pages/sub pages. Should i be looking to add keywords and descriptions to all of these pages, via the allocated areas in the back end of the site? I am using "google's key words" tool to generate relevant key words. If any one has any advice it would be much appreciated. Thanks for you help Regards Pete
On-Page Optimization | | dawsonski0 -
Strange Keywords Google Webmaster Tools
Hey, I have a website about "coffee machines". Since a few months I added a vBulletin forum with vbSEO installed. The keywords Google found before I added the forum where highly related to the topic of my website (e.g. "coffee", "machine" etc), which I checked through the webmaster tools. However, I recently checked again and noticed that Google finds mostly keywords like "post", "forum", "thread", "share" etc. with high significance. Those "keywords" only appear on the forum. Now I'm a bit worried since Google states "These should reflect the subject matter of your site." Any advice how to solve that issue? Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | netminds0