Is this keyword cannibalization?
-
I have a product page and our home page ranked for the same keyword.
On August 6th the product page was ranked #14 then plummeted to #60. On August 13th our home page was in the #2 spot (line just appears out of nowhere) and it is now in the #1 spot.
I also see the same pages appearing for some keywords ranked in multiple positions then plummeting and one coming back up. I'm having a hard time understanding how the Keyword tool in Moz is reporting exactly. Thanks!
To add to this: From Oct 8th to the 15th we jumped up from #60 to #16 for one keyword and then by Oct. 22nd are back down to #60. I have a huge spike on the 15th. Wondering if that had anything to do with any algorithm updates?
-
SearchMetrics would be a good place to start - you won't get individual keyword historic performance but it will show your website's overall SEO visibility over time. Particularly useful for tying in with Google algorithmic updates.
George
-
Thanks everyone. I have to report on keyword progress and just noticed those things and wanted to be sure it was ok. I'm having a hard time reporting on the progress of keywords as I can only go back to August in Moz. If anyone has any other suggestions for a way to see historical progress I'm all ears. Thanks!
-
Hi Sika,
What you're seeing isn't anything to be concerned about, and Moosa has already answered the cannibalisation part. I'd advise against tracking positions for individual keywords using a single tool from one week to the next. If you imagine there's a natural fluctuation of rankings and Moz is taking individual snapshots that might be up one day and down the next so they're only really meaningful when tracked over a longer period of time. You're also not taking into account the long tail - bunches of keywords that are similar which may not be fluctuating nearly as much as the one you're tracking.
The real indicator of where you rank should be the organic traffic to the page. I doubt that traffic will be fluctuating even nearly as much as the positions for the few keywords you are looking at.
As for algorithmic negative impact - you would probably see significant drops across multiple tracked keywords if this was the case - and those drops would be sustained until you diagnosed and fixed the problem.
Regards,
George
-
The situation you have mentioned didn’t really sound much terrifying and I think two pages if naturally targeting the same keyword should not be a problem. By definition this is exactly for Keyword Cannibalization is!
Keyword cannibalization (no matter how awfully terrifying it may sound) is a widely-spread website internal information structure problem that occurs when multiple subpages are (heavily) targeting one and the same key term.
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
-
Keyword ranking stuck in neutral... Suggestions needed
Hi everyone. I wanted to make a post in hopes of getting some opinions on my next course of action when it comes to SEO. I have worked for my current company for 3 years and raised their keyword ranking from 39% to 55% (according to MOZ's keyword tracker). I did this mostly through improving on-page SEO for each keyword. I think the on-page SEO is as good as it can get? Just so you guys know there are 101 keywords they want to rank for nationally. We currently rank for 56. My current company has really starting to ask me more about the percentage we are at and they of course want it to grow (or show consistent growth) as time passes. Since May 2014 it seems to have fluctuated each week from 50% to 58%. Some other info: We are well known in our industry We post on social media almost every day We are at event trade shows We are a global company We have tons of ads in industry magazines etc. We have industry news sites write about us and link to us We are consistent with press releases (a few a month) With that being said, where should I go from here to get those number to grow? As I mentioned, my company is starting to look at these numbers more.
Keyword Research | | trumpfinc0 -
Low Competition Keywords
My blog, which started in May, is doing really well except with Google. My traffic is growing and so are my subscribers etc but my keywords have very high competition. I don't really like google's new keyword research tool. Any advice for finding keywords I have a chance with? I am only ranking in the top 50 for one keyword (#1-2 spot) but it doesn't give me a lot of traffic. Thanks!
Keyword Research | | blogger20130 -
How can I "target keywords"?
Hello everyone, Could you please explain how can I "target keywords"? So from my understanding, I do a research on keywords, then find those which I can rank for easily, and then what? Do I build links to my website pages with these keywords? Or do I create different articles on the website with this keyword?
Keyword Research | | moneywise_test0 -
Different or Same Keywords for Second Site
Hello, We're flushing out a second site for a client that's a second site in the same niche. How do I know when to use the same keywords for both sites and when to use entirely different keywords. One site is fairly strong, and the other will be less strong, though we're going to strengthen it quickly.
Keyword Research | | BobGW0 -
Keyword ranking tool?
I am looking for a tool that would show ranking keywords for my website - except Google Anlaytics and Webmaster. I don't want to enter the keywords to see if my website is ranking I'd like to see if there are any keywords that rank already Thanks!
Keyword Research | | Rubix0 -
How does SEOmoz account for articles (a, the) and transitions (in, on) in keywords?
For instance, if I want to track traffic for a sports memorabilia store in Miami, and I only have "sports memorabilia shop Miami" as a keyword to track, will it track traffic of people who visited the shop's site after searching for "sports memorabilia shop IN miami"? Or would I have to use both "sports memorabilia shop Miami" AND "sports memorabilia in Miami"? I know Google doesn't show results with "in", "and", "the", etc., but Google Analytics tracks them, so I'm curious about how SEOmoz does it. Thanks in advance.
Keyword Research | | simply1800 -
Is it bad to optimize for tier one keywords only?
Hello, My site is about personalized cards, and I have optimized (rank A) each sample page to the main topic of the card (eg: sapo pepe). So when people search for that keyword (sapo pepe), my page ranks high. Now, if instead of checking the optimization for "sapo pepe" I check for "cards sapo pepe" I get an F, because the keyword is not there. Thing is that people search for different tier 2 keywords, like "cards, models, examples, etc" and I cannot put that many keywords in the page... My question is: does Search Engines rank you high if you optimize your page for a subset of the keywords people search for? I understand that if someone optimizes for "cards sapo pepe" they would get higher than my site. Hope I was clear, any comment is appreciated! Thanks, MAriano
Keyword Research | | regalatufoto0 -
Targeting Keywords from the homepage
I tend to focus on two or three main keywords to target from the homepage. In fact come to think of it from all pages. Do you target up to 10 keywords of more from one page. Taking longer tail keywords into consideration. Granted the limits to any phrase or keyword group.
Keyword Research | | onlinemediadirect0