Understanding SEO Cannibalisation

SEO cannibalisation is a term that is used to describe a negative phenomenon where a website’s pages compete with each other for search engine rankings, resulting in reduced traffic and revenue. This issue can arise when a website has multiple pages targeting the same keywords, or when the content on different pages overlaps. In this blog post, we will guide you through understanding SEO cannibalisation, identifying it on your website and how to fix it.

What Is SEO Cannibalisation?

SEO cannibalisation is a problem that can cripple your website’s ability to rank among search engine results pages. It occurs when two or more pages of a website target the same keywords or have the same content, causing them to compete with each other. This creates confusion for search engines as they struggle to identify which page to rank higher. High levels of SEO cannibalisation can lead to a decreased click-through rate, rank drops, and loss of traffic and revenue.

Identifying SEO Cannibalisation

Identifying SEO cannibalisation on your website can be done through conducting a website audit. An audit involves examining all pages on your website, assessing their SEO value and, identifying any duplicate or similar content targeting the same keywords. Additionally, it would help if you paid attention to internal linking, making sure that pages targeting the same keyword link to the correct original page. Lastly, you should check for any unnecessary redirects that may be redirecting traffic away from the targeted pages.