Wondering why you don’t seem to be ranking high for keywords you’re definitely targeting?

Do you want to know what costs content cannibalization could cost you and how you can effectively counteract it?

On June 28th, I hosted a webinar with search experts Jon Earnshaw, Chief Product Evangelist, and Sophie Moule, Head of Product & Marketing at Pi Datametrics.

Earnshaw and Moule showed different types of content conflicts and how to resolve them to optimize your site for better search engine rankings.

Here is a summary of the webinar. To access the entire presentation, fill out the form.

What is keyword cannibalization?

Keyword cannibalization occurs when different websites try to rank for the same keywords. This can make it difficult for Google to decide which page to show in search results.

This can lead to cannibalization when Google cannot distinguish which content to prioritize.

This issue is about keywords, no URLs. This means that one page may be competing with another for the same keywords on your site.

[See what cannibalization looks like] Access the on-demand webinar immediately →

Main types of cannibalization

There are different types of cannibalization:

• Internal
• International
• subdomain

But today we’re going to focus on internal cannibalization.

99% of the time your pages cannibalized is due to one of these issues four cases:

1. Overlapping Theme.
2. authority injection.
3. Bad internal linking.
4. Non-contextual optimization.

[Discover what it looks for each case] Access the on-demand webinar immediately →

How to identify different types of cannibalization

Here’s how to recognize that common types of cannibalization:

• suspicious river – Internal linking has not been clarified, capitalization.
• content development – Conflicting pages due to content such as rumours, publications and review articles.
• inline conflict – Conflicting pages based on search terms.

[Get examples] Access the on-demand webinar immediately →

Once you identify the type of cannibalization, you can fix it.

How to fix cannibalization

You can fix cannibalization through different strategies:

• Demote the topic by changing the title and then reinforce it with links.
• Merge 301 pages or merge two pages into one.
• 301 legacy content to your chosen door.
• Link to the page that will serve as a starting point.
• Noindex/archive content that competes.
• Create hub pages.

[See these tactics action] Access the on-demand webinar immediately →

Image created by Pi Datametrics, June 2023

How to monitor cannibalization

Once you’ve fixed the problem, it’s important to monitor keyword cannibalization on a daily basis by effectively tracking:

• All URLs.
• top 100
• All rivals.
• The past.

[Discover the tools to track] Access the on-demand webinar immediately →

The central theses

• Cannibalization occurs.
• It works at the keyword level.
• You have to make the decision.
• It can be prevented.

[Slides] Boost Your SEO: How to Spot and Eliminate Keyword Cannibalization

Here is the presentation:

Photo credit:

Featured image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal