June 2, 2025 • 25 mins
In this episode of the Digital Rage podcast we **explain content cannibalization**, a situation where multiple website pages target the same keywords, harming SEO. The article **defines the problem**, contrasting it with duplicate content, and **outlines common causes**, such as poor keyword planning and inconsistent linking. It further **details the negative impacts** on search rankings, click-through rates, and crawl budget. Finally, the piece **offers methods for identifying and fixing** content cannibalization, including content consolidation, differentiating intent, and using canonical tags, as well as preventative strategies.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Welcome back to the all new digital rage. I'm Jeff the producer here at Byer Company.
(00:04):
Today we explain content cannibalization, a situation where multiple
website pages target the same keywords, harming SEO. We define the problem,
discuss common causes, show negative impact, and offer methods for identifying
and fixing cannibalization issues. Here we go. Hey everyone, welcome back. Today we're
(00:26):
going to tackle something that I think a lot of website owners don't even realize
as a problem. Yeah, it's one of those sneaky SEO issues. Content cannibalization.
Right. It's not as obvious as some other SEO mistakes, but it can really
quietly sabotage your rankings. And we're going to make sure that doesn't
get into you. Absolutely. So in this deep dive, we'll really break down what
exactly content cannibalization is, you know, how it can happen, why it's bad for
(00:50):
your SEO, and most importantly, how to fix it and prevent it from happening again.
Where are you actionable steps you can take right away? All right, so to get us
started, we've got a great article here by Jeff Byer titled content cannibalization,
what it is, how it hurts your SEO, and how to fix it. And it was just published this
past April. So it's right up to date. Perfect. So our goal today is to make sure that
(01:13):
you come away from this deep dive fully understanding content cannibalization
and have a game plan to make sure it's not holding back your website. No more
accidental self sabotage. Exactly. All right. So let's jump right in. What
exactly is content cannibalization? So basically content cannibalization
happens when you have multiple pages on your site that are all trying to rank
(01:37):
for the same keywords. Or, you know, they're all trying to answer the same
question that someone might type into a search engine. So instead of having one
really strong page that's super focused on that topic, you have a bunch of
pages kind of all competing with each other. So it's like splitting your votes
almost. Yeah, exactly. And Google gets confused like which page is the most relevant,
(01:58):
which one should I show to searchers? And in the end, none of them really win.
Right. And that's how your rankings can take a hit without you even realizing
it's happening. Now, the article made a really important distinction between
content cannibalization and duplicate content. Yeah. And it's easy to mix those
up. Right. So just to be super clear, can you explain the difference?
Absolutely. Duplicate content is literally when you have the exact same text or
(02:23):
almost the same text on different pages. It can happen accidentally like if you
have product description that's copied across multiple retailer websites.
Or sometimes, you know, people try to do it intentionally to manipulate
search engines, which is a big no no. Definitely a bad idea. Yeah. Google is
very smart about detecting that. Now, content cannibalization on the other
hand. It's not about having identical text. It's more about having multiple
(02:47):
pages that cover the same topic, even if they use different words.
Okay. I see. So it's not about the wording. It's about the intent. Yeah.
It's like, what is the purpose of this page? What question is it trying to answer?
And if you have multiple pages trying to answer the same question, that's when
you run into trouble. The article had a good example with a fitness blog, right?
Yes. They talk about a blog that had one article on, let's say, the best running
(03:10):
shoes for beginners and another article on top running shoes for new runners.
Now, those titles are different. The articles themselves might have completely
different wording, but they're both essentially targeting the same keyword.
Best running shoes. Exactly. And they're both aimed at the same audience,
people who are new to running and need advice on shoes.
So even though they might look different on the surface, they're actually
(03:32):
competing against each other. Right. And neither one might end up ranking as
high as it could. If all that effort was focused on just one really awesome
guide to running shoes for beginners, that makes a lot of sense.
And this isn't just a problem for blogs, right? Nope, not at all.
It can happen on any type of website, like imagine an e-commerce site.
You might have a category page for say dog collars, right?
(03:56):
But then you also have individual product pages for all the different kinds
of dog collars you saw. And some of those product pages might also be targeting
the keyword dog collars. So you've got your category pages fighting with your
product pages. Exactly. Or you might have a services business and you've got
different pages for each of your locations. And they could all be optimized for
(04:17):
something like plumber and city name. Exactly. So it can definitely be a sneaky
issue. It's not always as obvious as just looking for duplicate content.
You really need to think about the keywords and the search intent behind those
keywords. Right. What is the searcher actually trying to find?
And are you sending mixed signals with multiple pages that are all kind of
(04:38):
vying for that same search term? Okay. So now that we have a good handle on what
content cannibalization is, let's talk about how it happens. Yeah.
Like how does this even start? It's not like people were sitting down saying,
I'm going to create content that competes with itself. Right. Exactly.
So what are some of the most common causes? Well, the article highlighted a few
key culprits. One is poor keyword research or planning.
(05:02):
Meaning you don't have a solid strategy in place before you start creating
content. Yeah. And that's so important. Like if you haven't taken the time to
figure out what keywords you're targeting with each page, you can easily end up
with a bunch of pages that are all unintentionally competing for the same
terms. The article gave the example of like a content team that rushes to put
out an article on how to train for a marathon. And then later publishes another
(05:26):
one called like marathon training tips. Right. And they might not even realize
that those two topics are essentially the same thing from a keyword perspective.
Yeah. So you end up with two pieces of content that are both trying to rank
for those same marathon training keywords. And another common cause is
overlapping topics, which I think is something that happens naturally as a
website grows. Right. You start out with a few basic articles. And then as you
(05:50):
create more content, you naturally start to explore those topics in more depth.
Exactly. And you might end up with multiple pages that, you know, they're not
identical, but they do cover a lot of the same ground. Like maybe you start out
with a basic overview article on, let's say SEO basics. Right. And then later on
you add more introductory content like SEO for beginners or introduction to SEO.
(06:13):
Again, the titles are different, but they're all essentially targeting that same
core audience and those same fundamental SEO keywords. Right. And then another
big one is inconsistent internal linking. Yes. Internal linking can be tricky.
So how does that contribute to content cannibalization?
Well, your internal links, those are the links that point from one page on your
(06:36):
site to another page on your site. Those are really important signals for Google.
They help Google understand the structure of your website and what pages are the
most important for different topics. Okay. But if you're using the same keyword
to link to multiple different pages, that can send mixed signals to Google.
Like if you're using the anchor text SEO tips to link to three different blog
(06:56):
posts, yeah, Google's going to be like, wait a minute, which one of these is the main
SEO tips page? Right. So inconsistent internal linking can definitely make the
content cannibalization problem worse. And then the last major cause that the
article talked about was scaling without structure. And I think this is a
really big one for e-commerce sites, especially. Yeah. As e-commerce stores
(07:17):
add new products and categories, it's really easy to end up with a lot of
pages that are all kind of vying for the same keywords.
Like we were saying before, you've got category pages that might be competing
with product pages. Exactly. And without a clear keyword strategy and a
well thought out site structure, it's almost inevitable that you're going to run
(07:37):
into some content cannibalization issues. Now, the article also gave a couple of
really specific examples to illustrate these causes. Do you remember the pet
store example? Oh, yeah, that was a good one. They had a category page for was
it dog collars? Yes, dog collars. And they had optimized that page for the
keyword dog collars. But then they also had a blog post on like best dog collars
(08:00):
for training. Right. And then of course, they had individual product pages for all
the different training collars they sold. So they had three different types of
pages that were all essentially targeting the same keyword. Exactly. And as
result, none of those pages were ranking particularly well. They were all kind
of stuck in the middle of the search results because they were splitting the
potential ranking power. Right. And then there was the travel blog example.
(08:24):
Yeah, with the two posts on things to do in Paris. One was called things to do in
Paris. And the other one was Paris activities for tourists.
Mostly again, pretty much the same intent, very similar keywords, and
probably a lot of overlap in the actual content. Yeah. And again, that's just
going to lead to deluded ranking potential. So these examples, you know, they
(08:45):
really show how easy it is for content cannibalization to happen. If
you're not careful. Absolutely. Okay. So we've talked about what content
cannibalization is and how it happens. Now let's get to the why should we care
part. Right. Because knowing what it is is one thing, but understanding why it's
bad is what's really going to motivate you to fix it. Exactly. So how does
(09:07):
content cannibalization actually hurt your SEO performance? Well, there are a few
key negative impacts at the article outline. Okay, let's go through them one by
one. The first one is deluded keyword rankings. Yeah. And that's really the
core problem here. When you have multiple pages competing for the same keyword,
Google has a hard time deciding which one is the most relevant and authoritative.
(09:28):
And so instead of all those ranking signals being concentrated on one really
strong page, they get spread out across multiple pages. Exactly. And as a result,
all of those pages might end up ranking lower than they would if you just had
one really focused page. So you're basically working against yourself. Right.
You're dividing your own ranking power. And then that leads to the second
(09:51):
negative impact, which is reduced click through rates. Yeah. Because if a user sees
two or more of your pages in the search results for the same keyword, they might not
know which one to click on. Right. It's confusing. Like, are these pages the same?
Are they different? Yeah. And if they're not sure, they might just skip over your
pages altogether. And plus, because your pages are probably ranking lower due to
(10:12):
the diluted authority, they might be further down the search results page
anyway. Right. So they're less visible and less likely to get clicked on. Less
visibility equals less traffic. Exactly. And then there's the issue of
wasted crawl budget. Now, for people who are not familiar with the term crawl
budget, can you explain what that is? Sure. So crawl budget refers to the amount of
(10:35):
time and resources that Google is willing to spend crawling and indexing your
website. It's like Google has a limited amount of attention to give to each
site. And if it's spending all its time crawling through multiple pages that
are basically the same. And it might not have time to find an index other
important pages on your site. So it's a waste of Google's time and a waste of
your potential traffic. Right. And then finally, there's the issue of confused
(10:58):
user experience. And this one just makes intuitive sense. Yeah. If someone clicks on
a link in the search results, expecting to find information on a specific
topic. And then they land on a page that doesn't really give them what they
were looking for. They're probably going to leave pretty quickly. Right. And
that high bounce rate, that's a signal to Google that your page might not be a
very good match for that search query. Which can then hurt your rankings even more.
(11:22):
So vicious cycle. So the article really stress that the real-world
consequences of content cannibalization can be pretty brutal. Yeah. This isn't
just some theoretical SEO problem. It can have a real impact on your website's
performance. Like for a blogger, it could mean that your traffic just stagnates.
Even if you're putting out new content consistently. And for an e-commerce site,
(11:44):
it could mean lower sales. Because your product pages never quite make it to the top of the
search results where people are actually buying. Right. And over time, that can really erode
your website's authority. Yeah. If Google is constantly seeing these mixed
signals from your site, it's going to start to think, well, maybe this website isn't the best
source of information on this topic. And that's exactly what you don't want. Definitely not.
(12:07):
The article had a really good case study about a tech website that was struggling with this.
Oh, yeah. The one with the laptop articles? Yes. They had two separate articles, one on
like best budget laptops and another one on affordable laptops under $500.
And they were both ranking, but not very well. Right. They were both kind of stuck on page two
of the search results. So they decided to merge those two articles into one really comprehensive
(12:32):
guide. And the results were pretty amazing. Yeah. They saw huge jump in rankings. They went from
page two all the way up to the top five. And their organic traffic tripled within a few weeks.
That's a pretty compelling case for taking content cannibalization seriously. Definitely.
All right. So now we know how to recognize the problem. But how do we actually go about
finding it on our own websites? Yeah. What are some practical tips for identifying content
(12:57):
cannibalization? Well, the good news is that there are a few different methods you can use.
Okay. Great. Let's talk about them. The article mentioned a new AI-powered tool from Kevin
Indig that sounds really promising. I think I saw something about that. Yeah. It's supposed to make
it super easy to identify content cannibalization issues. You just enter your websites URL
(13:18):
and the tool does the rest. So that could be a real time saver. Yeah. Especially if you have a
large website with a lot of pages. But even if you don't have access to fancy AI tools,
there's still plenty of other ways to find content cannibalization. Like what? Well, you can use
good old Google search console. That's a free tool from Google. Yep. And it gives you a ton of
(13:39):
valuable data about your website's performance and search results. Okay. So you can use the
performance report in Google search console to see which pages on your site are ranking for the same
queries. Oh, I see. Yeah. And you could also use paid SEO tools like Arrests or Semrush. Those are
great for doing in-depth keyword research and site audits. Right. And those tools can help you spot
(14:01):
any overlapping rankings and potential content cannibalization issues. And then there's always the
manual approach, right? Oh, yeah. You can always just use Google itself. Just type in your TART
keywords and see what comes up. Exactly. And you can use specific search operators to make your
search even more precise. Like site.yourdomain.com followed by the keyword you're checking.
(14:22):
Right. So that'll show you all the pages on your site that Google has indexed for that keyword.
Okay. Good to know. And then on top of all that, you can also just keep an eye out for certain
signs that might indicate content cannibalization. Like what kinds of signs? Well, if you see that your
rankings for a particular keyword are fluctuating a lot, that could be a sign. Like if you have
(14:42):
multiple pages that are all kind of bouncing around in the rankings, but none of them are consistently
in a top position. Okay. That makes sense. Or if you have a bunch of pages ranking for a keyword,
but none of them are breaking into the top five, that's another red flag. And then of course,
if you see an unexpected drop in organic traffic to a key page, that's definitely something to
investigate. Right. Because content cannibalization could be the culprit. Okay. So if we suspect we might
(15:07):
have a content cannibalization problem, what's the best way to approach it? Is there like a step-by-step
process we can follow? Yeah. The article outlined a really good process for auditing your content.
Okay. Perfect. Let's walk through it. So the first step is to map your keywords to your URLs.
So that means creating a spreadsheet or something where you list out all your important pages.
(15:29):
Yeah. And next to each page, you list the primary keyword that you're targeting with that page.
And then you go through that list and look for any instances where you have the same keyword
assigned to multiple pages or even very similar keywords. Right. Like running shoes versus
best running shoes. Okay. So that's step one keyword mapping. What's next? Once you have your keyword
(15:50):
map, then you need to analyze the ranking performance of those potentially competing pages. Okay.
So you can use your SEO tools to see which pages are actually ranking for those keywords you
identified. So if you see that you have two or more pages showing up in the search results for
the same keyword, that's a pretty clear indication that they might be cannibalizing each other.
(16:12):
Exactly. And then the last step is to check your internal linking. Right. Because we talked about how
inconsistent internal linking can make the problem worse. Yeah. So you can use a website crawler
like screaming frog to see how your internal links are structured. Okay. And you're looking for
instances where you're using the same keyword as the anchor text to link to multiple different pages.
(16:32):
Gotcha. So if you're doing that, that's a sign that you might need to clean up your internal
linking to make it more consistent. Right. And that will help to reduce the content cannibalization
problem. All right. So we've identified the problem areas. Now let's talk about how to fix them.
What are the best solutions for dealing with content cannibalization? Well, the article offered
(16:55):
several strategies depending on the specific situation. Okay. Great. Let's go through them.
So one of the most common and effective solutions is to consolidate your content. So if you have
multiple pages that are all kind of covering the same topic, you can just merge them into one
really awesome comprehensive page. Exactly. Take the best parts of each page, combine them at any
(17:16):
new information or insights, and then redirect the old pages to the new consolidated page.
That makes sense. Yeah. Like in that running shows example, we talked about earlier. Yeah.
They could just take those two separate articles and merge them into one ultimate guide to running
shoes for beginners. And that way all the ranking power is concentrated in one place. Exactly.
No more splitting the vote. But what if merging the content isn't the best solution?
(17:39):
Yeah. Sometimes it might not make sense to combine everything.
Right. Like if the pages are actually different enough that they warrant separate URLs.
Yeah. In those cases, what you want to do is differentiate the intent of each page.
Okay. So how do you do that? Well, you need to really think about what specific question each page
is trying to answer. And then you need to refine the content and keywords to make sure that each page
(18:03):
is super focused on that specific question. So instead of having two pages that both broadly target
running shoes for beginners, you could have one page that specifically focuses on running shoes
for beginners who are training for a marathon. And another page that focuses on running shoes for
beginners who just want to jog a few miles a week. Exactly. You're creating more targeted niche pages
(18:26):
that are less likely to overlap. Okay. That makes sense. And another technique you can use is
canonical tags. I've heard of those, but I'm not really sure what they do. So a canonical tag
is a piece of code that you can add to the HTML of a page. And it basically tells Google,
hey, this page is similar to another page on my site. But this is the main version that I want you
(18:47):
to focus on. So it's like saying, this is the original and this is the copy. Right. And by using
canonical tags, you can consolidate the ranking signals and prevent Google from getting confused
about which page to prioritize. And then of course, we have to talk about internal linking again.
Yep. Internal linking is super important for preventing content cannibalization. So once you've
(19:08):
identified your primary pages for each keyword, you need to make sure that you're consistently linking
to those pages from other relevant content on your site. Exactly. Use those keywords as the anchor
text for your internal links. And that will send a strong signal to Google about which page is
the most important for that particular topic. Okay. That'll make sense. But what about larger websites?
(19:30):
The article mentions some more advanced fixes that might be necessary in those cases. Yeah. If you
have a really big site with tons of pages, you might need to take some extra steps. Like what?
Well, one thing you might need to do is use 301 redirects. Those are permanent redirects, right?
Yep. So if you have pages that are outdated or redundant, you can use a 301 redirect to send all
the traffic from that old page to a more relevant page. So you're not just deleting the old page,
(19:56):
you're actually telling Google, Hey, this page no longer exists. Go here instead. Right. And that
helps to preserve your link equity. So you don't lose any of the ranking power that you've built up.
Okay. And then another thing you can do is use Noindex tags. So what do those do? A Noindex tag basically
tells Google, don't show this page in the search results. Okay. So if you have pages that are really
(20:19):
thin content or pages that are automatically generated, you can use a Noindex tag to prevent them
from showing up in the search results. That way, you're not cluttering up the search results with
pages that aren't really valuable to users. Right. And then finally, you might want to consider
restructuring your site architecture. So that means reorganizing your content into clear content silos.
(20:39):
Yeah. So you're grouping related content together in a way that makes sense both for users and
for search engines. Like having a separate section for your blog, a separate section for your
product pages, a separate section for your resources, that kind of thing. Exactly. And that can go
a long way in preventing content cannibalization from happening in the first place.
The article had an example of an e-commerce site that used some of these advanced fixes, right?
(21:02):
Yeah. They had a category page for women's sneakers and a blog post on best women's sneakers,
which were basically competing with each other. Right. So what they did was they took all the good
stuff from the blog post, like the product recommendations and the insights, and they merged that
into the category page. So they made the category page more comprehensive and valuable? Exactly.
(21:24):
And then they used a canonical tag on the blog post to point to the category page. And they redirected
the blog post to URL to the category page. Yep. And as a result, their organic traffic to the
category page increased by something like 40%. Wow. That's impressive. So fixing content cannibalization
can really make a difference. Absolutely. But ideally, we want to prevent it from happening in the
(21:46):
first place. Right. Prevention is always better than cure. So what are some proactive strategies we
can use? Well, the most important thing is to develop a solid keyword mapping strategy. We talked
about that earlier as part of the audit process. Right. But you need to do this before you even start
creating new content. Okay. So take the time to do your keyword research and figure out which key
(22:08):
words you want to target with each page on your site. That way you can avoid accidentally creating
multiple pages that target the same keywords. Exactly. And it's also really helpful to use content
silos. We talked about that earlier too, right? Yep. So you're organizing your content into those
clear, thematic groups, which helps to create a logical structure for both users and search engines.
(22:30):
And it makes it much less likely that you'll end up with overlapping content. Makes sense. And
then of course you need to do regular content audits. Right. To make sure that things haven't
gotten out of control. Yeah. Even with the best planning content cannibalization can still sneak
in over time. Especially if you have a large team creating content. So it's important to schedule
regular audits maybe quarterly to review your content and make sure that you're not accidentally
(22:56):
cannibalizing yourself. And speaking of content teams, are there any best practices that content
creators can follow to prevent content cannibalization? Yeah. Communication and clear guidelines are key.
So content writers need to be aware of the overall SEO strategy. Right. They need to know what key
words they should be targeting and what keywords they should avoid. And it's helpful to have some
(23:17):
editorial guidelines in place. Yeah. Like a rule that says one primary keyword per page.
That way everyone's on the same page. No pun intended. All right. So I think we've covered a lot of
ground here. Just to quickly summarize, the main takeaway is that content cannibalization is a
serious SEO problem that can really hurt your website's performance. It can prevent your pages from
(23:37):
ranking as high as they could. It can lead to lower click-through rates. It can waste your crawl budget.
And it can create a confusing experience for users. And the good news is that there are things you
can do to fix it and prevent it from happening again. Yeah. Like consolidating content,
differentiating the intent of your pages, using canonical tags, and cleaning up your internal
(23:59):
linking. And don't forget about those proactive measures. Keyword mapping, content silos,
and regular content audits. By taking those steps, you can make sure that your website is sending
clear, consistent signals to Google, which will ultimately help you rank higher and attract more
organic traffic. All right. So as you're listening to this, I want you to think about your own website
(24:20):
for a minute. Are there any topics or keywords where you might be cannibalizing yourself?
What's one thing you can do today to start investigating those areas? Take a look at your Google
Search Console data. Run a site audit with your favorite SEO tool or just do some manual searches
on Google. And most importantly, start thinking about your keyword strategy and how you can make sure
(24:42):
that each page on your site is serving a clear and unique purpose. Thanks for joining us for this deep dive.
We'll see you next time. Reach out to us at jbuyer.com for comments and questions.
Follow us at buyer company on social media. And if you'd be so kind, please rate and review us
in your podcast app.
Welcome back to the all new digital rage. I'm Jeff the producer here at Byer Company.
(00:04):
Today we explain content cannibalization, a situation where multiple
website pages target the same keywords, harming SEO. We define the problem,
discuss common causes, show negative impact, and offer methods for identifying
and fixing cannibalization issues. Here we go. Hey everyone, welcome back. Today we're
(00:26):
going to tackle something that I think a lot of website owners don't even realize
as a problem. Yeah, it's one of those sneaky SEO issues. Content cannibalization.
Right. It's not as obvious as some other SEO mistakes, but it can really
quietly sabotage your rankings. And we're going to make sure that doesn't
get into you. Absolutely. So in this deep dive, we'll really break down what
exactly content cannibalization is, you know, how it can happen, why it's bad for
(00:50):
your SEO, and most importantly, how to fix it and prevent it from happening again.
Where are you actionable steps you can take right away? All right, so to get us
started, we've got a great article here by Jeff Byer titled content cannibalization,
what it is, how it hurts your SEO, and how to fix it. And it was just published this
past April. So it's right up to date. Perfect. So our goal today is to make sure that
(01:13):
you come away from this deep dive fully understanding content cannibalization
and have a game plan to make sure it's not holding back your website. No more
accidental self sabotage. Exactly. All right. So let's jump right in. What
exactly is content cannibalization? So basically content cannibalization
happens when you have multiple pages on your site that are all trying to rank
(01:37):
for the same keywords. Or, you know, they're all trying to answer the same
question that someone might type into a search engine. So instead of having one
really strong page that's super focused on that topic, you have a bunch of
pages kind of all competing with each other. So it's like splitting your votes
almost. Yeah, exactly. And Google gets confused like which page is the most relevant,
(01:58):
which one should I show to searchers? And in the end, none of them really win.
Right. And that's how your rankings can take a hit without you even realizing
it's happening. Now, the article made a really important distinction between
content cannibalization and duplicate content. Yeah. And it's easy to mix those
up. Right. So just to be super clear, can you explain the difference?
Absolutely. Duplicate content is literally when you have the exact same text or
(02:23):
almost the same text on different pages. It can happen accidentally like if you
have product description that's copied across multiple retailer websites.
Or sometimes, you know, people try to do it intentionally to manipulate
search engines, which is a big no no. Definitely a bad idea. Yeah. Google is
very smart about detecting that. Now, content cannibalization on the other
hand. It's not about having identical text. It's more about having multiple
(02:47):
pages that cover the same topic, even if they use different words.
Okay. I see. So it's not about the wording. It's about the intent. Yeah.
It's like, what is the purpose of this page? What question is it trying to answer?
And if you have multiple pages trying to answer the same question, that's when
you run into trouble. The article had a good example with a fitness blog, right?
Yes. They talk about a blog that had one article on, let's say, the best running
(03:10):
shoes for beginners and another article on top running shoes for new runners.
Now, those titles are different. The articles themselves might have completely
different wording, but they're both essentially targeting the same keyword.
Best running shoes. Exactly. And they're both aimed at the same audience,
people who are new to running and need advice on shoes.
So even though they might look different on the surface, they're actually
(03:32):
competing against each other. Right. And neither one might end up ranking as
high as it could. If all that effort was focused on just one really awesome
guide to running shoes for beginners, that makes a lot of sense.
And this isn't just a problem for blogs, right? Nope, not at all.
It can happen on any type of website, like imagine an e-commerce site.
You might have a category page for say dog collars, right?
(03:56):
But then you also have individual product pages for all the different kinds
of dog collars you saw. And some of those product pages might also be targeting
the keyword dog collars. So you've got your category pages fighting with your
product pages. Exactly. Or you might have a services business and you've got
different pages for each of your locations. And they could all be optimized for
(04:17):
something like plumber and city name. Exactly. So it can definitely be a sneaky
issue. It's not always as obvious as just looking for duplicate content.
You really need to think about the keywords and the search intent behind those
keywords. Right. What is the searcher actually trying to find?
And are you sending mixed signals with multiple pages that are all kind of
(04:38):
vying for that same search term? Okay. So now that we have a good handle on what
content cannibalization is, let's talk about how it happens. Yeah.
Like how does this even start? It's not like people were sitting down saying,
I'm going to create content that competes with itself. Right. Exactly.
So what are some of the most common causes? Well, the article highlighted a few
key culprits. One is poor keyword research or planning.
(05:02):
Meaning you don't have a solid strategy in place before you start creating
content. Yeah. And that's so important. Like if you haven't taken the time to
figure out what keywords you're targeting with each page, you can easily end up
with a bunch of pages that are all unintentionally competing for the same
terms. The article gave the example of like a content team that rushes to put
out an article on how to train for a marathon. And then later publishes another
(05:26):
one called like marathon training tips. Right. And they might not even realize
that those two topics are essentially the same thing from a keyword perspective.
Yeah. So you end up with two pieces of content that are both trying to rank
for those same marathon training keywords. And another common cause is
overlapping topics, which I think is something that happens naturally as a
website grows. Right. You start out with a few basic articles. And then as you
(05:50):
create more content, you naturally start to explore those topics in more depth.
Exactly. And you might end up with multiple pages that, you know, they're not
identical, but they do cover a lot of the same ground. Like maybe you start out
with a basic overview article on, let's say SEO basics. Right. And then later on
you add more introductory content like SEO for beginners or introduction to SEO.
(06:13):
Again, the titles are different, but they're all essentially targeting that same
core audience and those same fundamental SEO keywords. Right. And then another
big one is inconsistent internal linking. Yes. Internal linking can be tricky.
So how does that contribute to content cannibalization?
Well, your internal links, those are the links that point from one page on your
(06:36):
site to another page on your site. Those are really important signals for Google.
They help Google understand the structure of your website and what pages are the
most important for different topics. Okay. But if you're using the same keyword
to link to multiple different pages, that can send mixed signals to Google.
Like if you're using the anchor text SEO tips to link to three different blog
(06:56):
posts, yeah, Google's going to be like, wait a minute, which one of these is the main
SEO tips page? Right. So inconsistent internal linking can definitely make the
content cannibalization problem worse. And then the last major cause that the
article talked about was scaling without structure. And I think this is a
really big one for e-commerce sites, especially. Yeah. As e-commerce stores
(07:17):
add new products and categories, it's really easy to end up with a lot of
pages that are all kind of vying for the same keywords.
Like we were saying before, you've got category pages that might be competing
with product pages. Exactly. And without a clear keyword strategy and a
well thought out site structure, it's almost inevitable that you're going to run
(07:37):
into some content cannibalization issues. Now, the article also gave a couple of
really specific examples to illustrate these causes. Do you remember the pet
store example? Oh, yeah, that was a good one. They had a category page for was
it dog collars? Yes, dog collars. And they had optimized that page for the
keyword dog collars. But then they also had a blog post on like best dog collars
(08:00):
for training. Right. And then of course, they had individual product pages for all
the different training collars they sold. So they had three different types of
pages that were all essentially targeting the same keyword. Exactly. And as
result, none of those pages were ranking particularly well. They were all kind
of stuck in the middle of the search results because they were splitting the
potential ranking power. Right. And then there was the travel blog example.
(08:24):
Yeah, with the two posts on things to do in Paris. One was called things to do in
Paris. And the other one was Paris activities for tourists.
Mostly again, pretty much the same intent, very similar keywords, and
probably a lot of overlap in the actual content. Yeah. And again, that's just
going to lead to deluded ranking potential. So these examples, you know, they
(08:45):
really show how easy it is for content cannibalization to happen. If
you're not careful. Absolutely. Okay. So we've talked about what content
cannibalization is and how it happens. Now let's get to the why should we care
part. Right. Because knowing what it is is one thing, but understanding why it's
bad is what's really going to motivate you to fix it. Exactly. So how does
(09:07):
content cannibalization actually hurt your SEO performance? Well, there are a few
key negative impacts at the article outline. Okay, let's go through them one by
one. The first one is deluded keyword rankings. Yeah. And that's really the
core problem here. When you have multiple pages competing for the same keyword,
Google has a hard time deciding which one is the most relevant and authoritative.
(09:28):
And so instead of all those ranking signals being concentrated on one really
strong page, they get spread out across multiple pages. Exactly. And as a result,
all of those pages might end up ranking lower than they would if you just had
one really focused page. So you're basically working against yourself. Right.
You're dividing your own ranking power. And then that leads to the second
(09:51):
negative impact, which is reduced click through rates. Yeah. Because if a user sees
two or more of your pages in the search results for the same keyword, they might not
know which one to click on. Right. It's confusing. Like, are these pages the same?
Are they different? Yeah. And if they're not sure, they might just skip over your
pages altogether. And plus, because your pages are probably ranking lower due to
(10:12):
the diluted authority, they might be further down the search results page
anyway. Right. So they're less visible and less likely to get clicked on. Less
visibility equals less traffic. Exactly. And then there's the issue of
wasted crawl budget. Now, for people who are not familiar with the term crawl
budget, can you explain what that is? Sure. So crawl budget refers to the amount of
(10:35):
time and resources that Google is willing to spend crawling and indexing your
website. It's like Google has a limited amount of attention to give to each
site. And if it's spending all its time crawling through multiple pages that
are basically the same. And it might not have time to find an index other
important pages on your site. So it's a waste of Google's time and a waste of
your potential traffic. Right. And then finally, there's the issue of confused
(10:58):
user experience. And this one just makes intuitive sense. Yeah. If someone clicks on
a link in the search results, expecting to find information on a specific
topic. And then they land on a page that doesn't really give them what they
were looking for. They're probably going to leave pretty quickly. Right. And
that high bounce rate, that's a signal to Google that your page might not be a
very good match for that search query. Which can then hurt your rankings even more.
(11:22):
So vicious cycle. So the article really stress that the real-world
consequences of content cannibalization can be pretty brutal. Yeah. This isn't
just some theoretical SEO problem. It can have a real impact on your website's
performance. Like for a blogger, it could mean that your traffic just stagnates.
Even if you're putting out new content consistently. And for an e-commerce site,
(11:44):
it could mean lower sales. Because your product pages never quite make it to the top of the
search results where people are actually buying. Right. And over time, that can really erode
your website's authority. Yeah. If Google is constantly seeing these mixed
signals from your site, it's going to start to think, well, maybe this website isn't the best
source of information on this topic. And that's exactly what you don't want. Definitely not.
(12:07):
The article had a really good case study about a tech website that was struggling with this.
Oh, yeah. The one with the laptop articles? Yes. They had two separate articles, one on
like best budget laptops and another one on affordable laptops under $500.
And they were both ranking, but not very well. Right. They were both kind of stuck on page two
of the search results. So they decided to merge those two articles into one really comprehensive
(12:32):
guide. And the results were pretty amazing. Yeah. They saw huge jump in rankings. They went from
page two all the way up to the top five. And their organic traffic tripled within a few weeks.
That's a pretty compelling case for taking content cannibalization seriously. Definitely.
All right. So now we know how to recognize the problem. But how do we actually go about
finding it on our own websites? Yeah. What are some practical tips for identifying content
(12:57):
cannibalization? Well, the good news is that there are a few different methods you can use.
Okay. Great. Let's talk about them. The article mentioned a new AI-powered tool from Kevin
Indig that sounds really promising. I think I saw something about that. Yeah. It's supposed to make
it super easy to identify content cannibalization issues. You just enter your websites URL
(13:18):
and the tool does the rest. So that could be a real time saver. Yeah. Especially if you have a
large website with a lot of pages. But even if you don't have access to fancy AI tools,
there's still plenty of other ways to find content cannibalization. Like what? Well, you can use
good old Google search console. That's a free tool from Google. Yep. And it gives you a ton of
(13:39):
valuable data about your website's performance and search results. Okay. So you can use the
performance report in Google search console to see which pages on your site are ranking for the same
queries. Oh, I see. Yeah. And you could also use paid SEO tools like Arrests or Semrush. Those are
great for doing in-depth keyword research and site audits. Right. And those tools can help you spot
(14:01):
any overlapping rankings and potential content cannibalization issues. And then there's always the
manual approach, right? Oh, yeah. You can always just use Google itself. Just type in your TART
keywords and see what comes up. Exactly. And you can use specific search operators to make your
search even more precise. Like site.yourdomain.com followed by the keyword you're checking.
(14:22):
Right. So that'll show you all the pages on your site that Google has indexed for that keyword.
Okay. Good to know. And then on top of all that, you can also just keep an eye out for certain
signs that might indicate content cannibalization. Like what kinds of signs? Well, if you see that your
rankings for a particular keyword are fluctuating a lot, that could be a sign. Like if you have
(14:42):
multiple pages that are all kind of bouncing around in the rankings, but none of them are consistently
in a top position. Okay. That makes sense. Or if you have a bunch of pages ranking for a keyword,
but none of them are breaking into the top five, that's another red flag. And then of course,
if you see an unexpected drop in organic traffic to a key page, that's definitely something to
investigate. Right. Because content cannibalization could be the culprit. Okay. So if we suspect we might
(15:07):
have a content cannibalization problem, what's the best way to approach it? Is there like a step-by-step
process we can follow? Yeah. The article outlined a really good process for auditing your content.
Okay. Perfect. Let's walk through it. So the first step is to map your keywords to your URLs.
So that means creating a spreadsheet or something where you list out all your important pages.
(15:29):
Yeah. And next to each page, you list the primary keyword that you're targeting with that page.
And then you go through that list and look for any instances where you have the same keyword
assigned to multiple pages or even very similar keywords. Right. Like running shoes versus
best running shoes. Okay. So that's step one keyword mapping. What's next? Once you have your keyword
(15:50):
map, then you need to analyze the ranking performance of those potentially competing pages. Okay.
So you can use your SEO tools to see which pages are actually ranking for those keywords you
identified. So if you see that you have two or more pages showing up in the search results for
the same keyword, that's a pretty clear indication that they might be cannibalizing each other.
(16:12):
Exactly. And then the last step is to check your internal linking. Right. Because we talked about how
inconsistent internal linking can make the problem worse. Yeah. So you can use a website crawler
like screaming frog to see how your internal links are structured. Okay. And you're looking for
instances where you're using the same keyword as the anchor text to link to multiple different pages.
(16:32):
Gotcha. So if you're doing that, that's a sign that you might need to clean up your internal
linking to make it more consistent. Right. And that will help to reduce the content cannibalization
problem. All right. So we've identified the problem areas. Now let's talk about how to fix them.
What are the best solutions for dealing with content cannibalization? Well, the article offered
(16:55):
several strategies depending on the specific situation. Okay. Great. Let's go through them.
So one of the most common and effective solutions is to consolidate your content. So if you have
multiple pages that are all kind of covering the same topic, you can just merge them into one
really awesome comprehensive page. Exactly. Take the best parts of each page, combine them at any
(17:16):
new information or insights, and then redirect the old pages to the new consolidated page.
That makes sense. Yeah. Like in that running shows example, we talked about earlier. Yeah.
They could just take those two separate articles and merge them into one ultimate guide to running
shoes for beginners. And that way all the ranking power is concentrated in one place. Exactly.
No more splitting the vote. But what if merging the content isn't the best solution?
(17:39):
Yeah. Sometimes it might not make sense to combine everything.
Right. Like if the pages are actually different enough that they warrant separate URLs.
Yeah. In those cases, what you want to do is differentiate the intent of each page.
Okay. So how do you do that? Well, you need to really think about what specific question each page
is trying to answer. And then you need to refine the content and keywords to make sure that each page
(18:03):
is super focused on that specific question. So instead of having two pages that both broadly target
running shoes for beginners, you could have one page that specifically focuses on running shoes
for beginners who are training for a marathon. And another page that focuses on running shoes for
beginners who just want to jog a few miles a week. Exactly. You're creating more targeted niche pages
(18:26):
that are less likely to overlap. Okay. That makes sense. And another technique you can use is
canonical tags. I've heard of those, but I'm not really sure what they do. So a canonical tag
is a piece of code that you can add to the HTML of a page. And it basically tells Google,
hey, this page is similar to another page on my site. But this is the main version that I want you
(18:47):
to focus on. So it's like saying, this is the original and this is the copy. Right. And by using
canonical tags, you can consolidate the ranking signals and prevent Google from getting confused
about which page to prioritize. And then of course, we have to talk about internal linking again.
Yep. Internal linking is super important for preventing content cannibalization. So once you've
(19:08):
identified your primary pages for each keyword, you need to make sure that you're consistently linking
to those pages from other relevant content on your site. Exactly. Use those keywords as the anchor
text for your internal links. And that will send a strong signal to Google about which page is
the most important for that particular topic. Okay. That'll make sense. But what about larger websites?
(19:30):
The article mentions some more advanced fixes that might be necessary in those cases. Yeah. If you
have a really big site with tons of pages, you might need to take some extra steps. Like what?
Well, one thing you might need to do is use 301 redirects. Those are permanent redirects, right?
Yep. So if you have pages that are outdated or redundant, you can use a 301 redirect to send all
the traffic from that old page to a more relevant page. So you're not just deleting the old page,
(19:56):
you're actually telling Google, Hey, this page no longer exists. Go here instead. Right. And that
helps to preserve your link equity. So you don't lose any of the ranking power that you've built up.
Okay. And then another thing you can do is use Noindex tags. So what do those do? A Noindex tag basically
tells Google, don't show this page in the search results. Okay. So if you have pages that are really
(20:19):
thin content or pages that are automatically generated, you can use a Noindex tag to prevent them
from showing up in the search results. That way, you're not cluttering up the search results with
pages that aren't really valuable to users. Right. And then finally, you might want to consider
restructuring your site architecture. So that means reorganizing your content into clear content silos.
(20:39):
Yeah. So you're grouping related content together in a way that makes sense both for users and
for search engines. Like having a separate section for your blog, a separate section for your
product pages, a separate section for your resources, that kind of thing. Exactly. And that can go
a long way in preventing content cannibalization from happening in the first place.
The article had an example of an e-commerce site that used some of these advanced fixes, right?
(21:02):
Yeah. They had a category page for women's sneakers and a blog post on best women's sneakers,
which were basically competing with each other. Right. So what they did was they took all the good
stuff from the blog post, like the product recommendations and the insights, and they merged that
into the category page. So they made the category page more comprehensive and valuable? Exactly.
(21:24):
And then they used a canonical tag on the blog post to point to the category page. And they redirected
the blog post to URL to the category page. Yep. And as a result, their organic traffic to the
category page increased by something like 40%. Wow. That's impressive. So fixing content cannibalization
can really make a difference. Absolutely. But ideally, we want to prevent it from happening in the
(21:46):
first place. Right. Prevention is always better than cure. So what are some proactive strategies we
can use? Well, the most important thing is to develop a solid keyword mapping strategy. We talked
about that earlier as part of the audit process. Right. But you need to do this before you even start
creating new content. Okay. So take the time to do your keyword research and figure out which key
(22:08):
words you want to target with each page on your site. That way you can avoid accidentally creating
multiple pages that target the same keywords. Exactly. And it's also really helpful to use content
silos. We talked about that earlier too, right? Yep. So you're organizing your content into those
clear, thematic groups, which helps to create a logical structure for both users and search engines.
(22:30):
And it makes it much less likely that you'll end up with overlapping content. Makes sense. And
then of course you need to do regular content audits. Right. To make sure that things haven't
gotten out of control. Yeah. Even with the best planning content cannibalization can still sneak
in over time. Especially if you have a large team creating content. So it's important to schedule
regular audits maybe quarterly to review your content and make sure that you're not accidentally
(22:56):
cannibalizing yourself. And speaking of content teams, are there any best practices that content
creators can follow to prevent content cannibalization? Yeah. Communication and clear guidelines are key.
So content writers need to be aware of the overall SEO strategy. Right. They need to know what key
words they should be targeting and what keywords they should avoid. And it's helpful to have some
(23:17):
editorial guidelines in place. Yeah. Like a rule that says one primary keyword per page.
That way everyone's on the same page. No pun intended. All right. So I think we've covered a lot of
ground here. Just to quickly summarize, the main takeaway is that content cannibalization is a
serious SEO problem that can really hurt your website's performance. It can prevent your pages from
(23:37):
ranking as high as they could. It can lead to lower click-through rates. It can waste your crawl budget.
And it can create a confusing experience for users. And the good news is that there are things you
can do to fix it and prevent it from happening again. Yeah. Like consolidating content,
differentiating the intent of your pages, using canonical tags, and cleaning up your internal
(23:59):
linking. And don't forget about those proactive measures. Keyword mapping, content silos,
and regular content audits. By taking those steps, you can make sure that your website is sending
clear, consistent signals to Google, which will ultimately help you rank higher and attract more
organic traffic. All right. So as you're listening to this, I want you to think about your own website
(24:20):
for a minute. Are there any topics or keywords where you might be cannibalizing yourself?
What's one thing you can do today to start investigating those areas? Take a look at your Google
Search Console data. Run a site audit with your favorite SEO tool or just do some manual searches
on Google. And most importantly, start thinking about your keyword strategy and how you can make sure
(24:42):
that each page on your site is serving a clear and unique purpose. Thanks for joining us for this deep dive.
We'll see you next time. Reach out to us at jbuyer.com for comments and questions.
Follow us at buyer company on social media. And if you'd be so kind, please rate and review us
in your podcast app.
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