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Introduction
To earn and maintain good page ranks, landing pages must be designed to serve users' search intents effectively. The presence of two or more similar landing pages addressing the same search intent confuses the search engine as to which one to display in the search results. As a result, two pages of the same website compete with each other and might alternately appear in the search results for the same keywords, at different positions. With each page switch, one page drops in position, making it impossible for either page to keep or grow its ranks. This issue, called keyword cannibalization, can be spotted by analyzing ranking data from the Rank Tracker.
Content Audit (through its integration with the Rank Tracker) collates these issues, or optimization opportunities, to make it easier for you to analyze them and take necessary actions, such as re-organizing content, or de-indexing pages with overlapping content. It shows you if there are more than one URLs of your website ranking for the same keyword. It also provides key information to prioritize these issues, so that you can invest your efforts in the best opportunities.
To ensure reliable identification, employ cross-validation techniques such as running manual SERP checks alongside SEOmonitor's report validations. Look for discrepancies or anomalies that could misrepresent the actual competition between landing pages. To determine whether ranking URL changes are due to true cannibalization or a misunderstanding of tool functionalities, follow these steps:
Check the Performance Tab:
From the Performance tab (or a dedicated export), note the landing page(s) reported for the dates in question.
Review the Keyword Details Sidebar:
For the same dates, open the Keyword Details sidebar and check the Competition tab.
Hover over the rank to see which URL actually ranked on each date.
Validate with a Manual SERP Check:
Compare the above findings with a manual check of today’s SERP to confirm whether different pages ranked on different dates (indicating cannibalization) or if it was a misunderstanding of what each tab reports.
On the Content Audit dashboard, you can see the list of cannibalization issues that have been flagged based on the keyword data from the last 30 days.
How it works
Content Audit shows all the keywords that have two or more landing pages that ranked for the same keyword in the past 30 days, accompanied by keyword data such as search volume and % Clicks.
You can see a rank range that indicates the highest and lowest ranks of the competing landing pages in the last 30 days which gives you a quick glance of how serious the issue is. Alongside this, the relevant metrics, such as Opportunity, help you decide which ones to address first based on the improvement they would bring.
Clicking on the keyword opens a sidebar that gives you a more detailed view of the issue, with the number of page changes that have happened in the past month, and the corresponding change in ranks. You can also download the HTML of the crawled pages that had the best rank of all time, and in the past 30 days.
The sidebar also shows 'from' and 'to' landing pages, where the 'from' indicates the page that previously ranked for the keyword, and the 'to' represents the new page that has superseded it. This information is useful for understanding ranking shifts and can include associated rank gains or losses that help analyze their impact. The 'from' landing page represents the URL that the keyword stopped ranking for, while the 'to' landing page indicates the URL that started ranking for the keyword at a specific point in time. The report also highlights the ranking impact associated with each change, such as gains or losses in positions, and reflects these changes in the chart.
SEOmonitor's Rank Tracker provides the ranks and the landing pages of all the tracked keywords on a daily basis. If a different landing page ranks for the same keyword, it registers the event. If the landing pages for the same keywords change two or more times in a 30-day window, the Rank Tracker flags a cannibalization issue. All such events are collated under the Content Audit section, so that you can see the issues and key metrics for each, all in one place.
For comprehensive verification, cross-check the reported keyword and URL changes within the SEOmonitor dashboard and verify the same via manual SERP validation to confirm actual cannibalization. This two-step process ensures that misreported data does not drive incorrect SEO actions. To further ensure accuracy, follow these steps:
Check the Performance Tab:
Identify the landing page(s) reported for the relevant dates.
Review the Keyword Details Sidebar:
Examine the Competition tab for the same dates and hover over the rank to verify the URLs.
Conduct a Manual SERP Check:
Validate the findings by manually checking today’s SERP to confirm if different pages ranked on different dates or if it was a reporting misunderstanding.
Note: Any cannibalization issues detected can also be seen directly on Rank Tracker through filters. You can filter your keywords using the Cannibalization issues quick filter based on page issues so that you can quickly check if more than one URL is ranking for the same keyword. The Ranking URL filter labeled “Exact match” evaluates the ranking landing page for each keyword. It behaves as a path-based match rather than a strict exact match. To restrict results to a single page, use the full page path (the complete URL path of the intended landing page).
To further verify cannibalization issues, cross-check the quick filter insights with manual URL searches in search engines to validate if more than one URL appears for the same keyword. Doing so ensures greater confidence in addressing flagged issues. By combining insights from the quick filter with manual URL searches, you can confirm whether the flagged issues are genuine instances of cannibalization or misinterpretations of the data.
Use case
For instance, we see here that two pages are ranking for the keyword "letter of recommendation", resulting in the keyword having fluctuating ranks, the highest being 24 and the lowest being 96. The page "How a Letter of Recommendation Helps Your Job Search" has the all-time best of 9, but with the other page "Recommendation Letter Sample" ranking for this keyword at 24 in the past 30 days, the former has lost its position.
With these details, you get the insights you need, to take appropriate action to fix the issue, such as differentiating the desired page, optimizing each for separate topics, or de-indexing the other pages. The overall opportunity for each issue gives you all the information you need, to weigh the issues, prioritize them, and channel your efforts towards the ones that potentially impact your organic traffic the most.
Adopting best practices, such as regularly auditing your content for cannibalization and consolidating pages with clear canonicalization standards, ensures long-term SEO health. Combining automated tools with manual checks can improve the accuracy and efficiency of your monitoring process.
Once you've assessed and taken steps to resolve the issue, you can mark it as Reviewed.
Conclusion
Content Audit helps you quickly and easily see all the cannibalization issues where more than one page ranked for the same keyword in the past 30 days. It gives you everything you need, such as search volume, ranks, and Opportunity metrics, all in one place, so you can prioritize these issues to channel your SEO efforts efficiently.
Learn more about effective strategies to address keyword cannibalization in our comprehensive article.