Avoid Keyword Self-Cannibalization
-
I'm working on the SEO for a page on my website for using a specific keyword.
When I do the on page grader, It has unticked - 'Avoid Keyword Self-Cannibalization'.
What is the best way to sort this issue? I've noticed that the page is using 2 URLs - does this play a role with this and my ranking in Google?
-
Julian,
As TextureMediainc says keyword cannibalization occurs when you target the same keyword on multiple pages. It may also occur when different keywords/key phrases are very similar or share the same words, "67 mustang" and "67 ford mustang", for example or "pink wedding dresses" and "pink wedding dresses with straps"
Keep in mind, too, that the On-page Grader report you are looking at is specific to the keyword you entered into the keyword field when you run the report If you change the keyword, you may get a different result. For example, you may grade one of your category pages for the keyword "wedding dress" and find that it indicates you need to address cannibalization (and you get a grade of "A") but if you grade the same page for "pink wedding dress, you'll may find that it doesn't (but that you grade of "F").
Be sure to look at your site's keywords hierarchically, with your most competitive keywords toward the top of the hierarchy (homepage); that each category of the site has a specific keyword reason for being it's own category; and that the keywords of category sub pages fit logically and distinctly within the category.
-
Hi Julian,
Can you explain what you mean by "the page is using 2 URLs" ? Usually keyword cannibalization occurs when you target the same keyword on multiple pages. If Moz is showing this unticked box it is probably because it found an instance of this on your site.
I recommend limiting your keyword targeting to one page. If you want to build a lot of content around one keyword, do this carefully. Aim for long tail keywords, different variations, and support content. Example: I am targeting the keyword "dance shoes" for a page that sells "dance shoes." I want to create extra content to support this page, so I write a couple of blog posts about "how to keep your dance shoes clean" or "ways to extend the life of your dance shoes." etc.
Hope this helps.
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
-
Reusing an already 301 redirected URL for a very important keyword
I have a question about reusing an already 301 redirected URL Till now I never reused an URLs that has been already redirected with a 301 redirect. However, I just started working on a website where in past they created a lot of 301 redirects without thinking about the future, and now certain URLs, that are currently redirected with a 301, would be very useful (exact match) and needed (for some of the most important keywords for this specific business), to maintain an optimal, homogeneous and "beautiful" URL structure. Has any of you ever reused a URL that was previously redirected with a 301 redirect? If yes what are your experiences with it? Can content on the reused URL (that was previously 301 redirected and than the redirect removed) normally rank if the page is reestablished and the redirect is removed (and you do great content, on page, internal linking, backlinking, .... ) or is such an URL risky / not recommended / "burned" forever and not recommended to be reused again... especially for very important keywords since it present the exact match ?! Thank you very much for all your help! Regards
Technical SEO | | moz46y0 -
Old homepage in google on branded keyword
Hello there, I have a strange problem: if you search "probike" (romanian google.ro), i get an OLD homepage with https://www.probike.ro , and my new homepage is https://probike.ro, the real problem is that title/meta description are not available (see attachment). Redirect 301: Ok
Technical SEO | | Shanaki
Robots.txt: Ok
Sitemap: Ok Help, is annoying 🙂 With respect, Andrei I33gThc0 -
Use keywords that has another keyword in it for another link
Hi, I have these two links: A1 & A2 and the keywords for them are these: Pest control for A1 Pest control service for A2 is google smart enough to differentiate these two & rank the exact page for them accordingly? or does google guess pest control keyword in A2 link as well? please help me with this issue. & the same with these : termite inspection & termite inspections Arizona!! many thanks Shervin
Technical SEO | | Shervin0 -
Using meta keywords
Hello, I've read conflicting opinions regarding the use of meta keywords. I know Matt Cutts stated a few years ago that Google does not use them as a ranking signal but many still use them. This raises a few questions: 1. Is there any reason to still use meta keywords? 2. Isn't it just a way to let your competitors know what you're optimizing for? 3. How do other search engines treat meta keywords? Thanks!
Technical SEO | | mirel0 -
Keyword targeting by page, site, or both?
Hi, We recently discovered that a product we sell has a misnomer, and that a ton of people take to Google and use variations of that misnomer while trying to find us. Unfortunately we don't rank in Google for this keyword, and its costing us thousands in lost sales. I've been slowly building the misnomer into the content of our site in hopes that the spiders will pick up on it. It has started to work in the last couple weeks, but we're nowhere near the top (and we are #1 and #2 for most of our other prime keywords.) The site which sells the product is specialized, and only sells this specific product (in different models, but they're all the same product essentially.) With that in mind, I'm trying to figure out the best way to attack a new keyword. I know that normally you would dedicate a specific page (in an eCommerce store probably that product's own page) to employ your SEO tactics. However, because this site specializes in this product and offers different models and information about it I'm confused about the best approach. Does Google take into consideration the entire site a s whole, or are the pages within my site competing against each other for rank?
Technical SEO | | ninjaprecision0 -
Avoiding duplicate content with national e-commerce products and localized vendors
Hello 'mozzers! For our example purposes, let's say we have a national cog reseller, www.cogexample.com, focusing on B2C cog sales. The website's SEO efforts revolve around keywords with high search volumes -- no long tail keywords here! CogExample.com sells over 35,000 different varieties of cogs online, broken into search engine friendly categories and using both HTML and Meta pagination techniques to ensure adequate deep-linking and indexing of their individual product pages. With their recent fiscal success, CogExample.com has signed 2,500 retailers across the United States to re-sell their cogs. CogExample.com's primary objective is B2C online sales for their highly-sought search terms, ie "green cogs". However, CogExample.com also wants their retailers to show up for local/geo search; ie "seattle green cogs". The geo/location-based retailer's web-content will be delivered from the same database as the primary online store, and thus is very likely to cause duplicate content issues. Questions 1. If the canonical meta tag is used to point the geo-based product to the online primary product, the geo-based product will likely be placed in the supplementary indexed. Is this correct? 2. Given the massive product database (35,000) and retailers (2,500) it is not feasible to re-write 87,500,000 pages of content to sate unique content needs. Is there any way to prevent the duplicate content penalty? 3. Google product feeds will be used to localize content and feed Google's product search. Is this "enough" to garnish sizable amounts of traffic and/or retain SERP ranks?
Technical SEO | | CatalystSEM0 -
Several Keywords Dropped Completely
On December 14th one of my sites dropped completely for multiple keywords. I cannot figure out why this happened. I have been adding content more in the past few months than ever before... www.howtomac.com is the website I am attaching a few webmasters screenshots so you can see the drop. Any help is much appreciated. htm-webmasters-0.jpg
Technical SEO | | 38wesley1 -
Outranking a competitor when their domain name is the keyword
Hi I'd just like to ask the opinion of my fellow members here : We are currently ranking second for a very important keyword and would obviously like the top spot on the SERP - the site that is ranking first has the domain name as the keyword phrase(along with a good amount of quality links from a variety of domains) - now I know it is possible to outrank them since I do remember reading about this in one of Rands posts(I think it was the whole white hat black hat one he posted recently) - bascially we have more domain authority, slightly less links but from double the amount of root domains and a higher page authority too! Does having the keyword as your domain make THAT much of a difference when we are(imo) quite close in terms of great content and link profiles(and all the onpage factors) ? Thanks!
Technical SEO | | DanHill0
