The Nightmare of Content Cannibalisation: How It Affects SEO and How to Avoid It

As the spooky season creeps upon us, there's a terrifying SEO monster lurking in the shadows, waiting to devour your search rankings. No, it's not an algorithm update or a dreaded penalty from Google—it’s the nightmare of content cannibalisation.

Content cannibalisation may not involve actual bloodthirsty ghouls, but for marketers, it can be just as scary. If you’ve ever wondered why your pages aren’t ranking as well as you expected or noticed that your rankings are fluctuating for no apparent reason, content cannibalisation might be the invisible culprit.

In this guide, we’ll explore what content cannibalisation is, how it negatively impacts your SEO, and most importantly, how to avoid it to keep your site ranking high in the search results.

What is Content Cannibalisation?

Content cannibalisation happens when multiple pages on your website target the same or very similar keywords. In this situation, these pages are essentially competing with each other in search engine rankings, which can result in none of the pages performing as well as they could. Instead of working together to boost your site's authority on a topic, these pages divide your ranking potential, weakening the overall impact.

Let’s say you have an eCommerce website that sells Halloween costumes. If you have multiple pages all optimised for “vampire Halloween costumes,” such as:

• A blog post about the best vampire costumes of the year

• A product category page dedicated to vampire costumes

• A landing page for vampire costume deals

Google may struggle to understand which of these pages is the most relevant to show in search results. As a result, these pages “cannibalise” each other, and none of them perform as well as they could if you had just one optimised, focused page.

Why Content Cannibalisation is a Horror for Your SEO

While it might seem logical to create multiple pieces of content around a popular keyword, this is where many digital marketers unknowingly fall into the content cannibalisation trap. Here’s why this SEO monster can hurt your rankings:

1. Split Page Authority: Google relies on signals like backlinks and user engagement to determine which pages should rank for a given search query. When you have multiple pages targeting the same keyword, those signals are divided among the competing pages. Instead of consolidating authority in one page, you spread it thin, making it harder for any single page to rank well.

2. Keyword Confusion: Google’s algorithm might have a hard time determining which page to prioritise when multiple pages on your site seem to target the same keyword. This leads to fluctuating rankings or, in the worst-case scenario, Google ranking the wrong page for your targeted query.

3. Poor User Experience: Cannibalisation can create a confusing user journey. If different pages on your site target the same search intent, users may land on a page that doesn’t exactly match what they were looking for. This leads to higher bounce rates and lower engagement, which, in turn, can hurt your rankings.

4. Wasted Crawl Budget: Search engines have a limited amount of crawl budget to allocate to each site. If Google is spending time crawling multiple pages that offer the same or very similar content, it may overlook other important pages that could bring in traffic.

How to Identify Content Cannibalisation on Your Website

Before we dive into the solutions, the first step is to diagnose whether your website is suffering from content cannibalisation. Here’s how you can identify the problem:

Google Search Console is one of the best tools for checking whether multiple pages on your site are competing for the same keywords. Go to the Performance tab and search for keywords that are important to your business. If you notice that multiple URLs from your site are ranking for the same keyword, content cannibalisation could be at play.

Simply type site:yourwebsite.com "keyword" into Google. This will show you which pages on your website rank for that specific keyword. If you see more than one page listed, it could be a sign of cannibalisation.

Use tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Moz to perform a content audit and track your keywords to see if multiple pages from your site are appearing for the same search terms. Many of these tools also allow you to view the search engine result pages (SERPs) so you can see which pages are competing for the same keywords..

If you have a smaller site, a manual audit can help. List out all your top-performing pages and their target keywords. Look for overlap where two or more pages are optimised for the same keyword.

How to Avoid or Fix Content Cannibalisation

Once you’ve identified content cannibalisation issues, it’s time to fix them. Here are some tried and tested strategies to avoid or remedy the issue:

One of the most effective ways to solve content cannibalisation is by consolidating competing pages into one, comprehensive page. This strategy works particularly well if you have multiple blog posts or landing pages targeting the same keyword.

• Example: If you have three separate blog posts about different aspects of "zombie makeup," consider merging them into one authoritative guide that covers the topic in depth. This way, you can combine their ranking power and provide a better resource for your readers.

Steps to consolidate:

• Identify the best-performing page or the page with the highest authority (based on backlinks, traffic, etc.).

• Merge the content of lower-performing pages into the best page.

• Set up 301 redirects from the old URLs to the new consolidated page.

If you need to have multiple pages with similar content for a valid reason (e.g., products with slight variations), you can use canonical tags to signal to Google which page should be prioritised in the rankings. A canonical tag tells search engines, “Hey, this is the main page for this content, and the other page is just a variant.”

To add a canonical tag, you simply place it in the HTML section of the variant pages. The canonical tag tells search engines which page is the primary version of the content. Here’s how you can do it:

For instance, if you have separate pages for "vampire costume size small," "vampire costume size medium," and "vampire costume size large," but you want search engines to prioritise the main "vampire costume" category page, you would add this line of code to the HTML of each variant page.

This tag signals to search engines that the "vampire costume" page is the main one, while the size-specific pages are variants. It helps consolidate ranking signals and avoids potential issues with duplicate content.

3. Differentiate Your Pages

In some cases, you may need to keep multiple pages targeting similar keywords for valid business reasons. In these instances, it's crucial to make sure each page serves a distinct purpose or targets different search intents. Here are a few ways to differentiate your content:

• Target Long-Tail Keywords: Instead of having multiple pages optimised for “vampire costumes,” try targeting long-tail variations like “best budget vampire costumes” or “vampire costumes for kids.”

• Unique Content Focus: Ensure each page addresses a different angle of the topic. For example, one page could focus on the history of pumpkin carving, while another page provides a product guide for how to make one.

• Specific Audience Targeting: Tailor content to different segments of your audience. You could create one-page targeting “scary Halloween decorations for kids' parties” and another targeting “scary decorations for extreme haunted house enthusiasts.”

Internal linking plays a huge role in helping search engines understand the hierarchy and relationship between your pages. If you have multiple pages that cover similar topics, you can use internal links to signal to Google which page should be the “main” one and which are supporting pages.

For example, if you have a comprehensive guide on “Halloween costumes” but also smaller blog posts about specific costume categories, you can send links from the smaller posts to the main Halloween Costumes guide. This helps Google see that the main guide is the authoritative page on the topic.

Sometimes, you may find that older content is cannibalising newer, more relevant pages. In such cases, it’s often better to remove or “prune” outdated content that no longer serves your SEO strategy. Here’s how to do it:

• Evaluate Traffic: Use Google Analytics to see if the old content is still driving traffic. If not, it may be time to remove it.

• Redirects: If the content still has some value but is no longer relevant, set up 301 redirects to the newer, more optimised page.

Lastly, ensure that your on-page SEO elements (like title tags, meta descriptions, headers, and alt texts) are unique for each page. If multiple pages have the same or very similar metadata, it can confuse both search engines and users, exacerbating the cannibalisation issue.

Make sure that:

• Each page has a unique title tag that accurately reflects the content and its keyword target.

• Meta descriptions are written to reflect the specific purpose of each page.

• Use H1, H2, and H3 tags to differentiate the topics covered on different pages.

The Importance of a Well-Structured Content Strategy

Content cannibalisation often stems from a lack of planning. To avoid it in the future, it’s crucial to have a well-thought-out content strategy that includes:

Keyword Mapping: Create a keyword map to ensure that each page targets a unique keyword or set of related keywords. This helps you avoid the overlap that leads to content cannibalisation.

Content Calendar: Plan your content well in advance to ensure that new pieces of content don’t overlap with existing ones. Regularly update your calendar to reflect changes in your keyword strategy.

Ongoing Audits: Make regular SEO audits a part of your routine. Content cannibalisation is something that can crop up over time, especially as your site grows. An audit helps catch these issues before they become a major SEO problem.

Need Help Slaying the Content Cannibalisation Monster?

If the nightmare of content cannibalisation is haunting your SEO strategy, who ya gonna call? Cadastra!

Our content and technical SEO specialists are equipped with the tools and expertise to help you overcome this and other SEO challenges. Whether you need help mapping your content strategy, optimising for search engines, or aligning your website with the latest SEO best practices, we’ve got you covered.

Don’t let content cannibalisation or technical SEO issues hold your website back. Reach out to us and let our experts create a custom data-driven strategy to boost your rankings, drive more traffic, and enhance your online visibility.