Potential keyword cannibalization?

[jim_shook]

Hi, I'm doing an audit of a site for a very competitive term (project management software).

The site ranks for its root domain on the second page. They have a lot of other non-blog pages that are geared towards longer tail versions that include that term (project management software pricing, project management tool comparison, etc).

My question is: are those pages cannibalizing potential search traffic? Should they just stick to the one page (root domain) and include those longtail keywords on the page instead of creating various pages that seem to possibly be cannibalizing traffic? Is this a fair conclusion that these other pages is causing them to rank lower for the main head term?

[GastonRiera]

Hi James,

Lets get something clear: Canibalization is when the same page, competes for several keywords.

As you shared, there are many pages, each of them ranking on single or few SERPs. Keep it that way, make sure that optimization on those pages are correct and well targeted for the long tail.
The thing is: Work every page to get it ranked in just few keywords, included the root domain (that is also a page).

As the root domain and the correlation with long tails SERPs: No, it doesnt harm its ranking.

Hope it helps.
GR.

[Tymen]

Hi James,

I have good experience with BIG pages. This means 1500+ words and infographics, pics and video all on the one page. The most important longtail keywords you can make paragraphs for with H3 headers. On this page you only put 2-3 internal links and 1 outbound to a Wikipedia or other source you gather information from. These pages get high "time-on-page" scores and you will notice the improvement in rankings rapidly (2-3 weeks).

Good luck!

Tymen

[BlueCorona]

Hi James,

By having several pages that target similar yet distinct keywords, the site is maximizing its web real estate and not harming its root domain's rankings. It is possible that both the root domain and a more narrowly targeted page can both rank for the same keyword; however, if you don't mind which one shows up above the other because they both take you to the same site, you don't risk hurting the results of either page.

Long story short: the pages targeting longer-tailed, more specific keywords should help capture additional traffic that a more general page (like your root domain) would not.

Hope that helps!

[Nobody1556904963398]

"Canibalization is when the same page, competes for several keywords." This statement is incorrect.

One of the many articles that you can check about it:

https://moz.com/ugc/how-to-keep-keyword-cannibalism-from-robbing-your-sites-performance