What are the dangers of cannibalization in SEO and how to avoid it...

What are the dangers of cannibalization in SEO and how to avoid it

Posted 2024-09-09 18:52:34

Pages of the same site can compete with each other in search results. This is due to the cannibalization of requests. This phenomenon is undesirable in SEO, as it leads to a decrease in search engine positions and organic traffic, so it needs to be monitored and eliminated.

Query cannibalization occurs when multiple pages are optimized for the same or similar keyword phrases. Because of this, they can start competing for a place in the search results, and search engines have to choose which document to show in response to a request. As a result, one page seems to "eat" another, which is why this phenomenon is called cannibalization.

Let's give an example. The online toy store has a blog, it contains two articles: "Top 10 educational toys for children" and "The best toys for children's development". The topics are similar and the articles are optimized for similar keywords, so the pages can compete in the search results.

It seems that there is nothing wrong with optimizing two or more pages for one keyword phrase and thus taking up more places in the search results. But search engines usually choose only one page of the site for a user's request. Therefore, such a strategy will not work and will even harm. Let's list what cannibalization leads to:

The landing page will receive less traffic. Search engines may show a less important page in the search results, so the target page will not be able to get maximum traffic and conversions. This reduces the overall effectiveness of the SEO strategy.
The relevance of the pages will decrease. If several pages of the site are optimized for the same queries, algorithms have to choose which of them is the most relevant. This leads to the dispersion of the "weight" of the key query between several pages, which reduces their positions.
Loss of organic traffic. Instead of one page consistently ranking high and attracting a significant number of users, multiple pages can rank lower for less traffic in total.
Blurring of the link profile. Pages that compete for the same query may receive fewer external and internal links, compared to a single landing page. This reduces their potential link juice.
Deterioration of behavioral factors. For a user's query, search engines may show a less relevant page that does not meet the intent well. This will reduce CTR and increase bounce rates. In addition, several similar pages on the site can confuse users.

The reasons for cannibalization are often related to the semantic core — a list of keywords that are used to promote the site.

If the semantics were not collected before the development of the site, the likelihood of similar pages increases. Especially if pages are added without any strategy, there is no clear optimization for keywords, no analysis of queries and their intentions has been carried out.

It happens that the semantics are collected, but the clustering is carried out incorrectly. Similar queries that could be covered by a single page are divided into two separate clusters. Because of this, two pages with similar content are created on the site, for example, "Pizza Recipe" and "How to Make Pizza".

The wrong structure can lead to duplicate sections and is often found in large online stores. For example, the site has two sections for choosing sneakers: by gender and purpose. As a result, two categories appeared: "Men's running shoes" and "Running shoes for men". Pages are aimed at a single user query, so they can compete with each other even if they have different meta tags and descriptions.

In title and h1, overly general high-frequency phrases are sometimes used. Because of this, titles can overlap and "confuse" search engines. For example, the website of a law firm has two pages called "Civil Disputes", the first commercial with a description of the service, and the second is an informational article.

There is no specific tool that would clearly indicate cannibalism. But if you regularly monitor the site's parameters, you will notice some signs that indicate a problem:

Positions on one or more related keys fall by 5-20 points.
The page is "stormy", that is, it drops out and returns to the top again.
Traffic drops on one or more pages, while overall traffic on the site is stable.
The relevant page for the query has changed — this is the most obvious signal indicating cannibalization.

There are two ways to solve the problem of internal competition: connect pages or, conversely, separate them more significantly in terms of content and optimization, so that algorithms understand that they are responding to different user search queries.

Choosing the most important page and supplementing it with content from a less important one. Thus, we create a more powerful landing page that better satisfies the user's request and has a higher chance of successful ranking. Remove less important pages. But if they have traffic and links, then we leave and set up redirects to redirect visitors.

This method is suitable if both pages are important and bring good traffic. Choose the target one, increase the occurrences on it, add additional relevant content, for example, videos. And we optimize the other page for a lower frequency query. For example, we have two pages: "Facial Skin Care" and "How to Care for Facial Skin". We choose the first one as the target for the high-frequency query "facial skin care", and the second one we optimize for a more specific query "how to care for facial skin in winter".

It is not easy to fight cannibalization, especially if the project is large. Finding and fixing competing pages is time-consuming. Therefore, instead of correcting mistakes, it is better to try to avoid them.

Here are the main recommendations:

Before creating a site, assemble a semantic core, develop a structure based on it. Each page should have its own goal and its own set of keywords.
Correctly distribute queries into groups, take into account semantic connections, analyze the top search results, and adhere to a single strategy.
Build a logical site structure. The SILO structure is especially effective against cannibalization, it organizes content into separate thematic blocks and thereby reduces the risk of internal competition.
For each page, write a unique title, description and h1, avoid duplication.
Make a relevance map. This is the name of the site content optimization plan. It contains key phrases, titles, and meta tags of pages. A relevance map helps to avoid overlaps in content, as well as confusion in the work of optimizers and copywriters.

Use internal linking. Distribute the weight between pages correctly. This will help search engines understand which of the pages is the main one for the query.
When you create a new page, check if there are any similar or similar ones.

Cannibalization of requests is a frequent occurrence, and it is impossible to insure against it one hundred percent. Therefore, even if you follow the listed guidelines, still regularly monitor how pages rank in search engines. This will allow you to identify problems in time and maintain a high site rating.