Take your next steps after identifying possible rank cannibalization

We've covered keyword cannibalization—what it is, why it's important to avoid, and how to identify it—above. But once you know how to look for it with Conductor, what then? How do you know if multiple ranking pages are really cannibalizing each other or just taking up good real estate on SERPs?

One way to do this is by looking more closely at your rank content for a keyword—and seeing how the different pages perform over time.

You can use the Keyword Details report to look at your ranks for a specific keyword over time. With that information, you can better assess whether your multiple ranking pages are actually hurting your overall performance for the keyword. 

1. In Keywords↗️, click a keyword that has potential cannibalization to go to the Keyword Details reports.
2. At the top, click Rank Trends.
3. Find where your web property appears in the table and click the arrow to see all of your pages ranking for this keyword.
4. Click Each Page's Rank. The trend chart now indicates the trend for each of your pages that ranks for this keyword. Look to see whether your ranking pages consistently hold their ranks or whether they trade places relative to one another. Volatility here may indicate that Google is not sure which page should be your highest-ranking, and therefore most relevant. Consider whether all of your pages need to be indexed or whether you can prevent rank cannibalization in other ways. Some questions to ask:
   • Do both pages need to be indexed?
   • Can you eliminate one or more to prevent cannibalization?
   • Is there a business reason that requires multiple pages that should rank for the same keyword?

What's next?

Based on your investigation, consider optimize your content for unique keywords to differentiate the pages.