how bad does self-cannibalization effect a site?

keyword 1 = 8,000 local searches, this keyword is a word + keyword 2
keyword 2 = 60,000 local searches

I've never targeted keyword 2 because a seo firm i was with said it would take a long time to achieve 1st page, i am no longer with this firm as they didn?t get results for any keywords and I?m doing it myself.

I have managed to get keyword 1 on the bottom of page 1 in a month and now i am thinking i should attempt the bigger keyword in my niche.

our homepage is optimized for keyword 1 but keyword 1 also has its own category page which is the landing page in Google for that keyword.

i am now aiming links for keyword 1 to the category page and links for keyword 2 at the home page.

My site logo alt text is keyword 1 and there is a link on keyword 1's landing page that links back to the homepage using the keyword 1 anchor text.

i am thinking to change the anchor text and the alt text for the logo to keyword 2.

My question is if i make the changes, am i likely to hurt my keyword 1 position, will it benefit it or probably stay the same? I?m sure keyword 2 will go up in the serps.


Hoping for some advice from anyone with experience with cannibalization before i make the switch, I will post the results in a couple of weeks? time

keyword 1 = 10th
keyword 2 = 27th

I don't think you should try to re balance your on page SEO. God knows if Google will like it or hate it. It seems that it likes it for now. Since you are close to where you want to be, do it with off page SEO. That will be the safest route in my opinion.

But, hardcore SEO experts will probably be able to give you some great advice here. Best of luck.

As you suspect:
you will hurt your kw1 position, while helping your kw2 position.

However, you need to weigh the potential benefit of kw2 vs current kw1 ranking.

If kw2 is worth more money (potential income), and is a tougher kw, and you are going to go after it eventually anyway, you are better off making that switch now, taking the hit to kw1 and recover from the change now - imagine deciding you want to make the change a year from now!
If kw1 ranked that easily, it shouldn't be too hard to recover, adding more backlinks.

if kw1 and kw2 are worth about the same (potential income) then maybe it's better to just continue to prop up the kw that is already ranking.

Always look at the long term plan for your website - while you want to rank inner pages for easier kw (and you should go after dozens of kw on inner pages, not just 1) - make sure the website is optimized for your long term goals, and that means making the home page focused on your most valuable kw.

best of luck!

Very good advice by ramsweb and agente808. I would target some links at kw2 but leave kw1 alone. Do the things you did to rank the first for the second.

Thanks for your thoughts guys
I'll wait till I'm in a more dominant position for keyword 1
i think i will make the switch at some point, i think it will benefit me more.
Links wise i think i could be top of page 2 with better optimization for that keyword.
I'm am ranked 5th for "keyword 2 + UK" with a .com domain and the top 20 that rank for keyword 2 are all uk companies, is this a sign that i could rank quite easily for keyword 2 or is it irrelevant?

JohnyJ said:

I?m am ranked 5th for "keyword 2 + UK" with a .com domain and the top 20 that rank for keyword 2 are all uk companies, is this a sign that i could rank quite easily for keyword 2 or is it irrelevant?

Click to expand...

That's probably irrelevant.

If your competition for kw2 are all uk (I'm guessing the term is somehow more relevant to uk?), there might be some benefit to getting some .uk backlinks
(fiverr: http://fiverr.com/gigs/search?query=.uk&x=0&y=0)

Couldn't hurt, so it's worth a try