How to fix keyword self-cannibalization?
-
page in question: www.bison-builders.com/lots-plans/bison-meadows-lots-1-6/
This page is the landing page for 6 custom home lots, available via Bison Builders.
I fixed the overstuffing of 'Bison Meadows', it was on all image title, alt, etc. Should be right around 15.
We are using 'Bison Meadows' as a keyword, because that's the name of the custom community. I don't want to change the names of the links, and I don't want to change the name of the keyword. How do I fix this self-cannibalization?
FYI, I was thinking of directing all canonical URLs for individual pages to this page, but will wait til I know how to fix this first...
Thank you!
-
Avoid Keyword Self-Cannibalization
Easy fix
<dl>
<dt>Cannibalizing link</dt>
<dd>"Bison Meadows Lot 1", "Bison Meadows Lot 2", "Bison Meadows Lot 3", "Bison Meadows Lot 4", "Bison Meadows Lot 5", and "Bison Meadows Lot 6"</dd>
<dt>Explanation</dt>
<dd>It's a best practice in SEO to target each keyword with a single page on your site (sometimes two if you've already achieved high rankings and are seeking a second, indented listing). To prevent engines from potentially seeing a signal that this page is not the intended ranking target and creating additional competition for your page, we suggest staying away from linking internally to another page with the target keyword(s) as the exact anchor text. Note that using modified versions is sometimes fine (for example, if this page targeted the word 'elephants', using 'baby elephants' in anchor text would be just fine).</dd>
<dt>Recommendation</dt>
<dd>Unless there is intent to rank multiple pages for the target keyword, it may be wise to modify the anchor text of this link so it is not an exact match.</dd>
</dl>
<a class="more expanded">Minimize</a>
-
-
In short - if you're unwilling to change the link text or the target keywords then you're not going to fix it.
You already have 'Bison Meadows' on the page you're targeting and it's in the URL. My advice is to have the next level of pages just Lot 1, Lot 2, Lot 3... etc as you really don't need to be linking down another level with that keyword if you're doing effective SEO of the URL above.
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
-
Keyword stuffing as per the on-page grader
Hi Moz Community, I've recently become a Moz Pro user and I very impressed with the insights that it has to offer. However, I have been using the on-page grader to evaluate this page and it suggests that I am using the keyword "kiln dried logs" too many times and not to use more than 15 times. I have a slight dilemma because my product titles all contain this keyword and I wanted to get somebody's take on where the "15 repetitions" comes from and if it is better for me to strip this keyword out of my product titles to fall within the guidelines? Should I optimize just my main category page for this keyword at the expense of potentially losing traffic for my product pages? Any input would be much appreciated.
On-Page Optimization | | RicharCampbell0 -
Home page keyword in url
I have been looking into SEO for a few weeks now trying to perfect a homepage. Going through various sources on MOZ, and other examples out there on the internet, I keep seeing that you should have your keyword in the URL of the page. The homepage is the page most people want to rank the highest in google searches, however, you cannot put the keyword in the URL as most home page URLs are simply /. Should I actually make the home like this: www.example.com/key-word-example? I would imagine this would not be the normal for many users and would seem like it's not the home page.
On-Page Optimization | | Matthew_smart0 -
What is the best way to change keywords?
I have a client who is moving and I'll need to redirect their site to a new city. Taking local out of the picture, what is the best way to convert the site? Here are somethings I've already done. Changed the title keywords Ensured the page grade is an A for the new keywords. Changed the alt tags on images on the front page. Since I made these changes, the website has actually fallen in ranks from what it was initially ranking for the new city (the website was already ranking organically on page 2 and has dropped to mid page 3.) Thanks in advance
On-Page Optimization | | jonnyholt0 -
Keyword density and it's impact?
How beneficial is properly optimised text on your website? I have been reading copy blogger and they seem to think it's almost the foundations and can have a massive impact - thus their software for improving optimised text. So... The way I see it, content can fit into 3 areas: 1. Over optimised - keyword stuffed 2. Produced without the keyword in mind and then small changes, maybe the keyword used once or twice within 500 words, slotted into the h1 tag. 3. Optimised - At the front of the h1 tag, density of roughly 3-4%, emphasised with bold and italic. What kind of impact can number 3 really have on rankings? If your position 7/8 could it be possible to see position movement from content changes? Cheers
On-Page Optimization | | activitysuper0 -
Spammy link for each keyword
Some people believe that having a link for each keyword and a page of content for each keyword (300+ words) can help ranking for those keywords. However, the old approach of having "restaurant New York", "restaurant Buffalo", "restaurant Newark" approach has become seen as a terrible SEO practice. I don't know whether this was because it's spammy or because people usually combined it with thin content that was 95% duplicate. Which brings us to; http://hungryhouse.co.uk/ Why does such a major company have the following on the site (see the footer); Aberdeen Takeaway Birmingham Takeaway Brighton Takeaway Bristol Takeaway Cambridge Takeaway Canterbury Takeaway Cardiff Takeaway Coventry Takeaway Edinburgh Takeaway Glasgow Takeaway Leeds Takeaway Leicester Takeaway Liverpool Takeaway London Takeaway Manchester Takeaway Newcastle Takeaway Nottingham Takeaway Sheffield Takeaway Southampton Takeaway York Takeaway Indian Takeaway Chinese Takeaway Thai Takeaway Italian Takeaway Cantonese Takeaway Pizza Delivery Sushi Takeaway Kebab Takeaway Fish and Chips Sandwiches Do they know something I don't? [unnecessary links removed by staff]
On-Page Optimization | | JamesFx0 -
Anyone have any good strategies for keyword scalability?
As more pages are added to a site, what are some good strategies and tactics for ensuring that those pages are optimized based on keywords.
On-Page Optimization | | RiseInteractive780 -
2 URLs, same content, 1 with keywords. Does this hurt me?
I'm in the process of adding some new features to our site and have a question about our URLs. Most of our URLs consist of either sitename.com/contentname or sitename.com/content/contentid I'm in the process of building a directory to those pages. The directory has a number of filters which will ultimately point to the destination page. sitename.com/filter1/filter2/contentid or sitename.com/filter1/filter2/contentname The destinations will have references. From an SEO perspective, I would think I want the filter1/filter2 version of the link indexed since this will add keywords that someone might search for. However, since the filters are dynamic, if someone just searches for contentname I would want to have sitename.com/contentname returned in the search results. Do I get any SEO benefit out of building those filter links as described if they are not the canonical links?
On-Page Optimization | | JoeCotellese810 -
Whats the best way to rank high for several different keywords?
I Have a print website www.print.dor2dor.com and we print 100's of products. I was wandering what is the best way to rank high for severall keywords as we dont want to just rank high for printing because when people are searching they normally type in the product they are looking for with printing at the end of it.
On-Page Optimization | | WillFrank0