WTF is Multi-Domain Cannibalization? — Andrew Shotland // Local SEO Guide

Andrew Shotland, Local SEO Guide CEO and SEO consultant, discusses domain cannibalization. As SEOs, the majority of our time is spent figuring out what the problem is, and doing so creatively. When we are working with enterprise brands, we must consider not only how our own domains compete with each other, we must consider how search engines analyze them as well. Today, Andrew talks about multi-domain cannibalization.
About the speaker

Andrew Shotland

Local SEO Guide

is a little camera shy

Andrew is CEO of LocalSEOGuide.com a leading SEO consultancy with a specialty in Multi-Location & B2B SaaS SEO for 15 years. 

Andrew is editor of the Local SEO Guide blog which includes their definitive Local SEO Ranking Factors study. He has been a regular contributor to SearchEngineLand and co-founder of BayAreaSearch.org, the association of Bay Area search marketing professionals.

Show Notes

  • 01:56
    Defining multi
    This occurs when you have two or more pages that target the same keywords and affect ranking ability. A process was created to check which of the pages is problematic to Google.
  • 04:46
    Handling a multi
    To own the top results, sites will try to get one direct number one and the other direct number two. Similar domains publishing the same content can end up being suppressed in rankings.
  • 07:02
    Duplicate content issues versus duplicate domain issues
    Use GSC to do analysis on all of your domains. Look out for any patterns that indicate they're moving in sync or in opposite directions to diagnose the issue.
  • 08:38
    Brands and multi
    If you only have one site, multi-domain cannibalization won't be an issue. However, many businesses own multiple domains and must ensure they arent competing against each other.
  • 10:42
    How to tackle multi
    Look at the way your site is performing in search engines like Google and Bing. If your traffic decreases on both, your issue is internal. Otherwise, the issue is the search engine provider.
  • 11:46
    Consolidating duplicate URLs with canonicals
    Essentially, this boils down to getting Google to only focus on one domain versus multiple domains. This also tackles issues of duplicate content and tells Google the domain to index.

Quotes

  • "One of the things we noticed is that a lot of companies trying to exploit search in Google in particular will launch multiple sites, trying to rank for similar things." -Andrew Shotland, CEO, LSG

  • "Google looks at everything going on with these two sites and says, these things are 99% the same. Either, one of them doesn't deserve to rank or both are spamming. So, well push them down." -Andrew Shotland, CEO, LSG

  • "You'd be surprised how many businesses own multiple domains. And often, the most common is not necessarily acquisitional." -Andrew Shotland, CEO, LSG

  • "If your traffic is going down on Google, but not on Bing, it's something Google is doing to you. But, if your traffic's going down on Google and Bing at the same time, it's something you did to yourself." -Andrew Shotland, CEO, LSG

  • "You can fix what you broke, but its harder to fix what Google decides is wrong." -Andrew Shotland, CEO, LSG

  • "We had a client with business listings on multiple websites that were all the same. The fix for that one was canonicalizing all those listings to a single domain." -Andrew Shotland, CEO, LSG

About the speaker

Andrew Shotland

Local SEO Guide

is a little camera shy

Andrew is CEO of LocalSEOGuide.com a leading SEO consultancy with a specialty in Multi-Location & B2B SaaS SEO for 15 years. 

Andrew is editor of the Local SEO Guide blog which includes their definitive Local SEO Ranking Factors study. He has been a regular contributor to SearchEngineLand and co-founder of BayAreaSearch.org, the association of Bay Area search marketing professionals.

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