Content cannibalization is a technical SEO and content organizational issue that negatively impacts a web page and/or a blog posts performance. Content cannibalization occurs when you have multiple pages – or posts – that target the same, or a very similar, targeted keyword.
When content cannibalization exists, a website is likely sending very mixed messages to search engines, like Google and Bing, on what page to rank for a given query.
When a search engine ranks a page, and is forced to choose between multiple options. When this is done, it generally negatively impacts a piece of contents ranking. A website’s content is literally working against itself, and multiple pages are losing equity and value.
Content Cannibalization Resources:
- How Do H1s Impact Content Cannibalization?
- What Do The SERPs Say?
- What Should I Do If My Site Has Content Cannibalization?
- Does URL Architecture Impact Content Cannibalization?
- How Can I Check to See If Content Cannibalization Is Impacting My Site?
- Is Content Cannibalization Hurting My Website?
How Do H1s Impact Content Cannibalization?
For the purpose of this post we will use a real injury attorney and have changed their name. This commonly represents an example of URL titles or slugs for an attorney in San Diego, CA. This attorney has an excellent track record and numerous awards and recognition. Let’s call this individual Mr. Jones.
Mr. Jones is a good attorney but his website is being penalized by Google for components including poor organization and docked visibility for a less than ideal user experience (UX).
The content on Mr. Jones’ site is improperly optimized and content cannibalization is occurring. Mr. Jones has likely paid an SEO legal marketing company for his 100+ indexed pages in the SERPs. Unfortunately, the site architecture and poorly optimized content is hurting rankings.
Mr. Jones’ website has an issue. Mr. Jones has pages that target the same keyword and are essentially competing against each other.
The home page and /practice-areas/personal-injury/ both target the same keyword.
San Diego Personal Injury
The only variation is San Diego personal injury attorneys on the home page and San Diego personal injury lawyers on the internal page.
When searching for an exact match of:
- San Diego personal injury attorneys – (ranking on 4th page)
- San Diego injury lawyers (ranking on 6th page)
Neither of Mr. Jones’ pages have high visibility in the SERPs.
Why?
Simply put it’s his content is competing against itself. It also includes a differently weighted aggregate of:
- H1s
- Content
- Internal linking strategy
- Backlinks
- Technical SEO
- GBP reviews
- And much more
However – for smaller to medium sized markets – pages that are properly optimized and leverage existing internal and external linking strategies can obtain first page rankings quite quickly. Depending on the specifics of the target keyword and market, reaching a top three ranking can be achieved in many markets under 250k people for competitive keywords in as little as a few months.
For Mr. Jones’ website, The H1s that are essentially the same query of “San Diego personal injury attorneys” and “San Diego injury lawyers” are too similar to have two separate pages.
A better approach would be to combine the usable, non-duplicate, to whatever page is ranking better and set up a redirect to the new destination. In this specific scenario the home page is ranking for both queries.
A best practice would be to set up a redirect from the internal PI page to the home page and send existing link equity to the home page. A simple fix like this can platoon organic rankings up in the search result pages.
What Do The SERPs Say?
When performing a query for “San Diego personal injury attorneys”, Mr. Jones appears on the fourth page and sixth page for San Diego personal injury attorneys and San Diego injury lawyers respectively.
It appears from the size of the website and niche practice area pages that Mr. Jones has paid lots of money for this website but Mr. Jones’ site is not ranking in part because of content cannibalization. This site is not properly optimized and is missing some very important options to enhance UX.
Within the SERP results, Google Bots are unsure what page to rank on his site. Adding fuel to the fire, is poorly organized anchor text that is sending additional mixed signals to the search engine.
As a result of the site and content organization, this site is being penalized by Google as Google recognizes the need for the site to improve UX. When a human can’t understand what page is what, how is a Google Bot supposed to differentiate the options?
What Should I Do If My Site Has Content Cannibalization?
Having multiple pages optimized with very similar H1s sends confusing messages to search engines.
Removing cannibalizing content and setting up proper redirects that target the highest visible page ranking for a given query can cause a surge in positive rankings, improved web traffic and more conversions.
A free audit can identify issues and opportunities within a site.
Improperly optimized web content can cause entities to be buried on the fourth – or worse – page of google.
In the event of low web visibility and content cannibalization, aha SEO is here to help! Even websites that have great content can experience content cannibalization. aha SEO will clean up a site to ensure that it is properly optimized for Google’s index.
Does URL Architecture Impact Content Cannibalization?
It’s astounding how frequently content cannibalization occurs to websites. Even businesses that have contracted their marketing services to so-called “experts”. From subdomains – do not do this – to URL slugs that have very similar architecture, poorly organized content and confusing URL structures negatively impact the visibility of a website or given piece of content.
Over the better part of the last decade, aha SEO has seen numerous websites cross the desk that have been plagued by improper URL structures and content cannibalization. Our experience and insight provides the tools needed to combat content cannibalization.
When a website is experiencing the ill effects of content cannibalization, the search index does not properly understand what page to rank as the organization is less than ideal.
At aha SEO, we have seen several websites for legal professionals that are plagued by content cannibalization. A common example of URL architecture is below:
/personal-injury/
/personal-injury/car-accident/
/personal-injury/car-accident/multi-car-accident-attorney/
/personal-injury/car-accident/t-bone-accident-attorney/
For a query like San Diego t bone accident attorney, the page for /personal-injury/car-accident/ will likely appear in the search results.
Why?
Because Google is confused and the /personal-injury/car-accident/ page may have more internal links, a stronger page authority and a higher word count on the page. Google may recognize that the /car-accident/ page is better than the /t-bone-accident-attorney/ page and thus rank it higher in the search results.
Pages that have been generated to capture exact match queries may be buried within a search result. Improper site structure, linking strategy, lack of images and content organization can benefit a site to combat content cannibalization.
How Can I Check to See If Content Cannibalization Is Impacting My Site?
There are a ton of fancy expensive SEO software and web applications that outline cannibalization issues. However, anyone using Google Chrome web browser can also pull this from the google index. With a few chrome plugins including detailed SEO extension and link klipper – anyone with a chrome browser and access to the internet can pull some helpful data that helps identify content cannibalization.
There are a number of SEO software applications that can pull data to help identify content cannibalization. However, for most individuals, this requires a decent understanding of different SEO applications.
Keep an eye out for very similar slugs (URL structure) that are targeting very similar keywords. Once the URLs are identified, take a look at the H1s and H2s on a given page to see if this is existing.
It is possible however to get a good deal of information from the SERPS. The video below outlines how to do this!
Is Content Cannibalization Hurting My Website?
Does your website have a large content footprint but is it outside of the desired position in your targeted local or hyperlocal market? If so, content cannibalization may be impacting the site.
If you suspect your website is experiencing content cannibalization, please contact aha SEO for a free SEO audit. We are happy to outline areas of improvement on any given site.
Discuss your options with an experienced content cannibalization SEO. Free quotes are available.