What are internally competing pages?
The term “internally competing pages” refers to situations where multiple web pages on the same website have very similar text content. In some cases, the content may be an exact copy of another page, but it can also be two web pages that were originally created independently of each other and just happened to end up being very similar.
Why is internal competition on a website a negative thing?
There are two main reasons why you should try to minimize internal competition on your website.
- First, it can become messy and confusing for a reader to find two web pages that communicate roughly the same thing. This is especially true when it comes to information pages about specific services or products.
- Secondly, internally competing pages are negative for SEO and organic visibility. This is because Google and Bing also become confused and uncertain about which of the two pages should have organic visibility for the topic’s search queries.
Remember that two web pages can be internally competing even if they don’t look exactly the same to the reader. Search engines interpret, among other things, what the text is trying to communicate, which search phrases it aims to target, and which search intent the text is likely to match.
How to identify internally competing pages?
A simple way to identify internal competition on your website is to run a so-called “site search.”
- Go to Google and type “site:domenenavn.no search phrase”
- Example: “site:solidmedia.no competitor analysis”
- Evaluate how similar the different pages are.
- How similar is the actual content?
- Do they reach the same target audience?
- Do they target the same search intent?
- Is one of the pages newer and more up to date than the others?
If you discover a lot of internal competition, it may be wise to restructure this content so that it becomes better differentiated.
