Estimated reading time: 11 minutes
What is the concept of Cannibalization in SEO
In the context of SEO, cannibalization refers to having similar or identical pages and content on a website that reduces the power of keywords for each page and directs visitors to other pages.
For example, imagine a website with two pages that talk about a similar product, but with different titles.
In this case, we can refer to cannibalization because these two pages compete to attract visitors searching for similar keywords, and due to the similarity of content, the power of keywords is reduced for both pages.
In other words, without proper optimization, both pages can compete in Google searches, and instead of ranking higher, they can reduce their ranking due to each other’s presence.
To prevent cannibalization in SEO, it is better to optimize each page’s content specifically and with accurate titles for related keywords.
Also, it is better to avoid duplicate content strategies and strive to make each page benefit from unique and useful content for visitors.
Cannibalization refers to the situation where two or more pages compete for a similar keyword on a website.
This issue can lead to a reduction in page rankings, power and quality of content within the page, the value of the relevant page, diluted backlinks and anchor text, conversion rate reduction, and budget loss in crawling and click-through rate reduction.
Resolving this issue is possible through various methods such as page consolidation, content modification, the use of redirects, and content marketing.
What is the concept of Cannibalization in marketing?
Cannibalization is an economic concept that refers to a decline in the sales of a product due to the presence of substitute products. In other words, Cannibalization means that a new or improved product from your previous product replaces it and leads to a reduction in sales of the previous product.
For example, suppose you are a mobile phone manufacturer and you introduce a new model with better features.
If this new model replaces the previous model, it is possible that the sales of the previous model may decrease. Specifically, customers who had previously purchased your previous model may prefer to update and buy the old model instead of buying the new model. This can be referred to as Cannibalization.
Cannibalization can occur in various industries, including car sales, information technology, and even food industries.
Overall, Cannibalization can be one of the most apparent drawbacks to the growth of companies, as it may reduce the company’s profits and affect the value of its stocks.
However, some companies still choose this path for growth and improving their products.
One of the most famous SEO experts, Rand Fishkin, believes that Cannibalization is common in search engines and will have a significant impact among your competitive rivals. He also emphasizes that in terms of overall value, Cannibalization is highly undesirable, and it is better to use other methods such as SEO and content optimization.
– Rand Fishkin
When does cannibalization cause problems?
Cannibalization can cause problems when pages with similar or almost identical content are used simultaneously on a website with the same goals.
For example, if there are two pages on a site that both have content about a specific topic and their goal is the same keyword, they may lead to cannibalization and not help compete with themselves and increase the ranking of their respective pages.
Additionally, if external links are referred to two different pages on the site, the likelihood of cannibalization increases.
Therefore, cannibalization causes problems when different pages with similar content are used simultaneously with the same keyword goal.
What impact does cannibalization have on website SEO?
Cannibalization has a very negative impact on a site’s ranking and visibility in search engines.
With similar or duplicate pages, search engines cannot allocate a good and appropriate rank to each page, and as a result, none of the pages have a higher chance of being seen in search results.
Additionally, due to the repetition of keywords across pages, improving the content and optimizing each page for specific keywords becomes difficult, which can lead to a reduction in the overall keyword vocabulary of the site.
Overall, cannibalization can lead to a decrease in ranking and the disappearance of site pages in search engine results.
Therefore, it is better to optimize each page according to its specific keywords and unique content and avoid using similar or duplicate pages in order to achieve the best results in your site’s SEO.
Cannibalization has the following impacts on website SEO
Self-competition: Instead of having different pages with different content for different keywords, your pages will compete with each other, which can lead to a decrease in ranking and even the disappearance of pages from search engine results.
Page ranking decrease: With similar or repetitive pages, search engines cannot assign a good and appropriate ranking to each page, and as a result, none of the pages have a higher chance of being seen in search results.
Reduced page power and content quality: Due to keyword repetition between pages, improving the content and optimizing each page for specific keywords becomes difficult, and this can lead to a decrease in the site’s keyword set.
Reduced page value: Due to the division of page rankings, the value of the corresponding page decreases, and search engines cannot show the best result to users.
Weakened backlinks and Anchor Text: With more page divisions, backlinks are also divided, and Anchor Texts are also used collectively between pages, which can lead to a decrease in the value of backlinks and Anchor Texts.
Reduced conversion rate: By creating repetitive and similar pages, the user experience also decreases, and this can lead to a decrease in the conversion rate.
Wasted crawling budget: By producing repetitive and similar pages, search engines may inadvertently spend their budget and time on pages that they have seen before, leading to wasted crawling budget, which can cause problems for website SEO.
Decreased click-through rate: With repetitive and similar pages, users may lose interest in your site due to the unclear and repetitive titles and content of those pages, leading to a decrease in the click-through rate and user entry to your site.
Therefore, Cannibalization can reduce the credibility of the site and increase SEO costs.
To prevent cannibalization, it’s important to carefully optimize the content of your website and create pages with valuable and unique content instead of repetitive and similar ones.
Additionally, it’s crucial to use professional and strategic approaches for planning and managing website content.
Neil Patel is also one of the most famous SEO experts and believes that cannibalization is a wrong outcome of improper and ineffective SEO. He suggests that to prevent cannibalization, it’s better to write content in a way that encourages users to visit different pages of the website.
Neil Patel
What are the ways to detect cannibalization?
The best way to determine if your website is suffering from cannibalization is to use the following search phrase in Google:
Site:example.com “keyword”
Here, example.com should be replaced with your website’s address and keyword with your desired keyword.
Using this method, Google will display results that include articles with similar content.
If two or more articles with similar or nearly identical content and goals exist on your website simultaneously, there may be cannibalization.
In this case, you should review and optimize the articles to help them compete with each other and reduce the ranking of pages.
Other ways to detect cannibalization on your website include:
Using the search console: Another method to identify cannibalized pages is to use the search console. First, access the search console and go to the performance section to see all indexed keywords, clicks, and impressions.
Then, click on each desired keyword and select “pages.” Finally, you can view the pages that rank in Google for the selected keyword.
It should be noted that displaying several pages of a website indexed with a keyword is not always cannibalization, and to determine this, all existing pages must be carefully examined to see if their keywords overlap or not.
Using analytical tools such as Google Analytics and SEMrush can help you analyze user behavior on your site and how they search, and help you identify duplicate and cannibalized pages.
Examining page titles can help you identify and correct similar-looking pages.
Similar page titles for different pages can lead to cannibalization.
Examining the keywords used on different pages can help you identify pages with similar content and prevent them.
If similar keywords are used for different pages, it may lead to cannibalization.
Examining the content of different pages can help you identify pages with similar content and prevent them.
If similar content is used for different pages, it may lead to cannibalization.
Examining the links on different pages and how they link to other pages can help you identify pages with similar links and prevent them.
Examining site traffic and how users enter different pages can help you identify pages that receive less traffic and may be cannibalized with other pages.
Checking the Google ranking of different pages in search results can help you identify pages with lower rankings that may be cannibalized with other pages.
Brian Dean, the founder of Backlinko website and another famous SEO expert, believes that cannibalization occurs due to inappropriate website structure, and by improving the site structure and optimizing content, you can prevent it. He also recommends precise planning of content and keywords and allocating suitable content to suitable places to prevent cannibalization.
Brian Dean
How can we solve the issue of content cannibalization?
To solve the problem of content cannibalization on your website, you can use the following solutions:
1- Site analysis: First, you need to analyze your site to become aware of cannibalization issues. For this, you can use site analysis tools such as Google Search Console and Google Analytics.
2- Content improvement: You need to improve the content on your site so that you produce diverse and creative content instead of repetitive content. Also, try to diversify your site content based on different keywords.
3- Internal page management: You need to use every page on your site to improve your ranking and try to optimize each page for different keywords.
4- Site structure review: A suitable site structure can also prevent cannibalization. For example, optimizing the site structure in a way that every page of the site logically and efficiently refers to other pages can help improve SEO and prevent cannibalization.
5- Use of Canonical Tag: Use the canonical tag to declare the main and valid page of the site content to prevent repetition of a page’s content on other pages.
6- Use appropriate page titles: Choose an appropriate and unique name for each page based on its content and keywords.
7- Removal or consolidation of pages: If there are pages with repetitive content, you can remove them or merge them with other pages that have similar content.
8- Optimization for different keywords: To prevent cannibalization, it is better to specify a primary keyword for each page of the website and focus on it. This will prevent different pages of the website from competing against each other and result in better outcomes for the site.
Additionally, relevant and secondary keywords should also be used on each page of the site.
9- Improving backlinks: By improving your backlinks, you can prevent cannibalization.
For example, if you have multiple backlinks to a specific page, you can create diversity by selecting different text for each link and prevent cannibalization.
10- 301 Redirect: 301 redirect is another way to address cannibalization.
In this method, instead of having two similar pages with the same keywords on the site, one of the pages is redirected to another page that has more relevant and comprehensive content with the desired keywords.
For example, let’s say page X of a website has a good ranking on Google for the keyword “evening dress,” and a new page Y on the same website has also been ranked separately for the same keyword.
Here, cannibalization has occurred.
To solve this problem, it is better to redirect the newly ranked page Y, which has been ranked for the keyword “evening dress,” to page X, which has more comprehensive content about evening dresses.
This redirection can be done using a 301 redirect.
As a result, with the implementation of the redirect, duplicate content is eliminated and the focus is on a page with more comprehensive and better content for the desired keyword, which leads to an increase in the website’s web page ranking on search engines.
Final words
In general, cannibalization can have negative effects on website SEO, as it reduces the quality of content, increases competition with itself, decreases page value, conversion rate, and click-through rate.
Therefore, to address this issue, methods such as internal optimization, quality and valuable content, working with appropriate anchor text, strategic link building, monitoring and analyzing user behavior, using redirects, and more should be employed.
For this reason, to have a website with good SEO status, it is necessary to pay attention to issues such as cannibalization and consider solutions to address it.
FAQs
Cannibalization occurs when pages on a website compete for similar keywords, which reduces the value of the website and lowers its ranking on search engines.
To detect cannibalization, you can use the Site:example.com “keyword” command in search engines to see if pages on your website are competing with each other for a particular keyword.
Solutions to address cannibalization issues include removing or changing duplicate content, using redirects, and changing similar page names and URLs. Additionally, improving site structure and creating appropriate linking can also help address cannibalization issues.
