Keyword is Ranking on Multiple Pages

[Thomas Andreas]

Hi,
I have multiple pages ranking for the same keyword.
Is this good or is there a better solution for this?
Because none of the pages which I am ranking for are receiving any clicks.

could this be improved somehow

 

[Kadabra]

The question is if you have numerous pages with similar content targetting the same KW (in that case better to prioritize one) or just something that happened naturally - for example you have a casino site that for USA casinos kw shows both homepage and also dedicated USA-casino page. In second case not much to do IMO.

 

[Frank]

not good.. keyword cannibalization try and build one good page that covers them all,

 

[Thomas Andreas]

hmm, 1 good page. It can be a very long pages. And if the page gets too long, lets say 4000 words. couldn't that be a disadvantage

 

[PROFRBcom]

Google used to like long-form content. We have many pages that exceed 4k words.
I suspect in the latest of updates however that this might no longer be the case...

Whatever word length you choose, it needs to be laid out in a way that the user appreciates, keeps them engaged, and keeps them on the page reading, thus improving your internal metrics (which feedback loops into your rankings).

 

[Thomas Andreas]

so you think the pages length should be reduced... do you have a word number in mind. Not exceeding...

 

[Frank]

so you think the pages length should be reduced... do you have a word number in mind. Not exceeding...

Some pages rank better when short.. all depends on what the reader is looking for, Also authority seems to help on shorter pages when overall site quality is good

 

[PROFRBcom]

Some pages rank better when short.. all depends on what the reader is looking for, Also authority seems to help on shorter pages when overall site quality is good

I'm definitely noticing this.

As an example, we have a 9k word review with dozens of real user comments and interactions on it. It is easily the most detailed review of a particular site available. We have dominated the #1 spot for this particular review for 1.5 years or so.

We lost #1 rankings to a review of 1k words done by one of our competitors. It has far less detail, few if any images or videos, and just doesn't hold a candle IMHO to our depth of review... What it does have is a "super authoritative" website producing said review. A site that gets frequent links in MSM, which gives them rediculous authority, and I suppose, the ability to outrank us with comparative garbage now.

I just hope that user metrics for us ultimately outweigh the authority boost they have over us and we can regain our prior spot in the SERPS for this and other terms we lost ground on recently.

Some of those kickass MSM links would go a long way towards beefing up our competitiveness I think, but they are damned near impossible to get it seems (if anyone knows how, I will open up my checkbook, just PM me!).

 

[Thomas Andreas]

yeah, it is not fair. What is a MSM link?

 

[PROFRBcom]

Main Stream Media

 

[Betting In The North]

Great and helpful thread, cheers for that!

 

[Joey Grey]

Long content gives a lot of space for stuffing keywords. But don't overdo, that's a no-no. A few reliable ones are enough and consistency will be a good move.

 

[Nerdybet]

Some additional input:
Deleting the pages cannibalizing one another is seldom a smart move. You'd be better off redirecting the least important versions to the page you wish to focus on.

You can also consider adding a rel=canonical tag to it. That way you tell the search engines that content on the one page is similar to the version you wish to rank for.

 

[Frank]

i always find every now and again before an update various pages rank for the same keyword but then it goes back to normal

 

[Thomas Andreas]

How many are ranking for a particular keyword on more than just 1 position. and would you consider that to be good or bad?

 

[Suzie]

It's not 100% right to think that it's bad to have many pages from the same domain rank for a particular keyword. Actually, Google is smart. It always understands what your pages are about and whether they match the reader's search intention.

However, there are a couple of reasons you may want only one page to rank for one keyword: higher conversion rate and higher profit margins.

You have different options to fix this content cannibalization issues such as:
- De-optimize pages with more specific and longer-tail keywords
- Combine the content of these pages into one longer page
- Delete the page which has low-quality or doesn’t deliver any value to your readers