Cannibal Content - Stop Your Website From Eating Itself | Brighton SEO 2015

Cannibal Content#CannibalContent #BrightonSEO

Chris Green SEO & Content Manager

@chrisgreen87 www.strategiqmarketing.co.uk

I want you to take away three things


1) To be aware of the cannibals


2) The tools to fight cannibalisation with


3) To spur you on to do something about it


What is cannibal content?


Content that eats itself


Like this...?



No


It is web pages that compete with each

other in search


Or...


Sites (web properties) that you own that

overlap


This can be very bad news...





Most often it is pages which are similar/ same

as other pages


Isn't this duplicate content?


Yes and No


Cannibalisation can be caused by duplication...


… but you can have cannibalisation without

duplicate content


The key to understanding it,

is to identify it


Which means tools





Rank Tracking





Track the URLs ranking for specific key terms

over time


Google Analytics





Check ranking shifts against organic landing

page traffic


Search Console(Google Webmaster Tools)


Use search analytics reports for ranked

pages insights


So you think you have a cannibal content

problem?


Time to identify the cause(more tools!)


Screaming Frog*

*other site auditing tools are available


Full site audit -introduce Google Analytics data too


Majestic*

*you get the idea...


Backlink audit - which are your most linked to

pages?


Social Crawlytics


Do the same as backlinks,

but with social signals


All these will help you understand your website,

what ranks & why


Or find a tool that does all this for you

(Ask Jon)


Once you're armed and ready, time to fight back





Canonical tags


Internal linking


Content


Off-page Signals


Lets put it all together!


Step 1 : Rank tracking




Imagine this...


I have two pages ranking for the same term over

the last week...


… but overall we're losing ground!


Step 2: Site Audit




What are your pages targeting?


Think Urls, Titles, <H1>s etc


Then look at external signals


Reflection - what are you dealing with?


Do either of these sound familiar?


My less important page has more internal links


My less important page has more inbound links &

social shares



Step 3: Fixing it



Change keyword targeting


Change site structure


Add canonical tags(or other duplication

control)


Change (or even add) internal links


Give your preferred page more marketing love


Step 4: Track & Refine




Do more of what works, less of what doesn't


But!


Prevention is MUCH better than a cure!




Linking signals are hard to change


Sister sites/brands don't just go away over

night!


Re-structuring sites can be a nightmare!


Do it right first time!




Thorough keyword research


Classify terms (primary, secondary &

long-tail)


Assign them to your site map


(Build it in Excel or Google Docs)


But remember:Logical keyword mapping!


Now take a step back


Look for potential overlaps


For Example:Sub-categories with

little difference


This page?


WorkwearOnline

Shop by Product Shop by Sector

Construction Vests

Hi-Vis Hi-Vis



Or maybe this page?


WorkwearOnline

Shop by Product Shop by Sector

Construction Vests

Hi-Vis Hi-Vis



For Example:B2B & B2C pages

targeting same terms


This page?


Animal Control

CommercialAnimal Control

DomesticAnimal Control

Animal Removal Animal Removal



Or this page?


Animal Control





Animal Control





How do you avoid these?


Restructure(Maybe there's a better

way of doing it)


Content(Because content

differentiates!)


Internal linking(Make it clear what your

important pages are)


Canonical tags(Where the pages are needed for the user)


And Finally


Put your effort behind those pages you want to

rank!


To wrap up




Cannibal content can ruin your day


Be watchful of it, and take a step back


There is a lot you can do to fix it


But doing so is often easier said than done!


Prevention is alwaysbetter than a cure!


What are you waiting for?


Any Questions?


References:

AWR Cloud - www.awrcloud.comGoogle Analytics - ww.google.com/analytics/Google Search Console - www.google.com/webmasters/Screaming Frog - www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/Majestic - majestic.comSocial Crawlytyics - socialcrawlytics.comPi Datametrics - www.pi-datametrics.com

Get In touch:

[email protected]/chrisgreen87

Cannibal Content - Stop Your Website From Eating Itself | Brighton SEO 2015

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