You are struggling to increase your rankings for a keyword
Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 5:50 am
Sometimes you think you should see an increase in your rankings, but your website seems stagnant.
Especially when you know you've built great links and created great content.
It can be very frustrating, but it is a very common problem caused by keyword cannibalization.
What's essentially happening is that your pages' authority is split between two or more, instead of one, and none of the pages are ranking as well as they should.
Links are one of the primary ranking factors, and when link authority is split between multiple URLs, it can cause even more confusion with conflict signals.
If your positions are not increasing, start an analysis of cannibalization philippines number list problems.
Ranks the wrong URL
Sometimes, you'll find the wrong URL for a keyword.
It could be a product that ranks for a word you associate with a category or subcategory, or it could simply be a different piece of content than you think you should be ranking for, or even one you published years ago.
Here's a great example of an article from 2011 ranking first, rather than a recently launched page:
Keyword Cannibalization - Example of an Old Post Ranking
When this happens, it is almost certain that cannibalization is the cause of the problem and that the “wrong” URL is considered more relevant than the one you are trying to rank for.
In turn, it can have a negative impact on conversion rates if users are landing on the wrong page.
Problems that are not actually keyword cannibalization
It is as important to understand the problems caused by keyword cannibalization as it is to understand when we are not facing such a problem.
Remember we used Apple as an example right at the beginning of this guide?
In the search for “Macbook Pro”, Apple has positions 1 and 2 without it being keyword cannibalization.
Especially when you know you've built great links and created great content.
It can be very frustrating, but it is a very common problem caused by keyword cannibalization.
What's essentially happening is that your pages' authority is split between two or more, instead of one, and none of the pages are ranking as well as they should.
Links are one of the primary ranking factors, and when link authority is split between multiple URLs, it can cause even more confusion with conflict signals.
If your positions are not increasing, start an analysis of cannibalization philippines number list problems.
Ranks the wrong URL
Sometimes, you'll find the wrong URL for a keyword.
It could be a product that ranks for a word you associate with a category or subcategory, or it could simply be a different piece of content than you think you should be ranking for, or even one you published years ago.
Here's a great example of an article from 2011 ranking first, rather than a recently launched page:
Keyword Cannibalization - Example of an Old Post Ranking
When this happens, it is almost certain that cannibalization is the cause of the problem and that the “wrong” URL is considered more relevant than the one you are trying to rank for.
In turn, it can have a negative impact on conversion rates if users are landing on the wrong page.
Problems that are not actually keyword cannibalization
It is as important to understand the problems caused by keyword cannibalization as it is to understand when we are not facing such a problem.
Remember we used Apple as an example right at the beginning of this guide?
In the search for “Macbook Pro”, Apple has positions 1 and 2 without it being keyword cannibalization.