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Search Engine Optimisation is a delicate balance between technical execution and strategic decision-making. Yet, many websites unknowingly sabotage their rankings by mishandling link-building and content strategies.
In Google's eyes, these missteps can be fatal to your organic visibility. One of the key points Google has been emphasising over the past few years is that content should be written for people, not search engines.
In other words, Google wants your content to be useful for actual people, rather than being created primarily to get good rankings in the seach engine results pages. Google’s algorithm aim to reward the former, and penalise the latter.
Let's explore some of the most common ways businesses shoot themselves in the foot and how to fix them before things get serious.
Mismanaging your backlink profile: The Silent Killer
A strong backlink profile is one of the most influential ranking factors in SEO. Quality backlinks signal to Google that your site is authoritative, trustworthy, and relevant. However, many businesses unknowingly sabotage their rankings by mismanaging their backlink strategy.
A poorly constructed backlink profile not only fails to deliver value but can actually harm your site’s credibility and visibility in search results.
Three common pitfalls in backlink management:
1. Using automated backlink services
In the race for faster rankings, many businesses are tempted by automated link-building services that promise a high volume of backlinks for a low cost. While these services may deliver thousands of links in a short time, they invariably provide links from low-quality or irrelevant websites, and these can significantly damage your SEO efforts.
Why it’s problematic
Google’s algorithms are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and now more than ever, they prioritise the quality and relevance of backlinks over just numbers.
Backlinks from spammy sites or unrelated industries can result in Google applying penalties or lowering your site’s trustworthiness rating. A natural, high-quality backlink profile will include natural links from authoritative sites within your industry or niche.
How to fix it
Focus on acquiring backlinks from high-authority sites through outreach, guest blogging, and building relationships with reputable publishers and influencers in your industry. Free tools, such as Backlinko’s authority checker, can help you assess the quality of potential linking domains to help you decide which to focus on. https://backlinko.com/tools/website-authority
If you are struggling to find keywords to use in your anchor text (keywords you may consider ranking for) consider exploring Wordtracker’s Domain tool.
2. Ignoring the distribution of backlinks: neglecting pages with commercial intent
Backlink distribution is just as important as the number of backlinks you have. Too often, businesses focus their backlink efforts on blog posts or informational pages, while ignoring revenue-driving commercial pages such as product, service, or landing pages.
This leads to an imbalanced backlink profile where blog pages accumulate the majority of the link equity, leaving your commercial-intent pages under-optimised.
Why it’s problematic
By prioritising backlinks to blog pages, you divert valuable link equity away from the pages that can directly impact revenue. Google’s algorithm relies on link equity distribution to understand the structure and priorities of a website.
When commercial pages don’t receive adequate link support, they struggle to rank, resulting in missed business opportunities.
How to fix it
Strategically allocate backlinks to product or service pages by actively seeking opportunities to link to them from relevant, high-authority content.
Ensure that internal linking practices also support these pages, guiding both users and search engines toward your key revenue-driving content.
3. Purchasing low quality or irrelevant backlinks
Some businesses fall into the trap of purchasing backlinks from link farms or low-quality directories in an attempt to boost their rankings quickly. While these backlinks may temporarily increase the number of referring domains, they do little to improve the site’s authority or relevance.
Why it’s problematic
In fact, irrelevant or spammy backlinks can lead to penalties from Google under their spam policies, resulting in a drastic drop in rankings.
Google places significant emphasis on the relevance of backlinks. Links from sites with a poor reputation or completely unrelated topics not only fail to pass authority to your site but may also be seen as a manipulative tactic, which could trigger manual penalties or algorithmic demotions.
How to fix it
Always aim for organic link-building strategies that focus on quality over quantity. Secure backlinks from reputable websites within your niche or industry through content partnerships, digital PR campaigns, and earned media coverage.
Refrain from purchasing backlinks, as this can lead to long-term harm to your site’s authority and rankings.
Case study: A backlink profile gone wrong
A certain e-commerce business acquired backlinks from an automated link-building agency without considering the impact on its organic traffic.
The backlink profile looked like this:
- Blog pages: 495 links (36.63%) from 318 domains
- Collection/Category pages: 150 links (11.10%) from 97 domains
- Product pages: 132 links (9.77%) from 86 domains
Result? Google’s crawler interpreted the website as prioritising blog content, diverting valuable link equity away from its revenue-driving pages.
How to fix and recover from automated link building
1. Audit your backlinks
Use tools such as Google Search Console or Screaming Frog to identify where your backlinks are coming from and where they point.
Pro Enterprise SEO Consulting Tip: You can use an API to save costs! There are many SEO tools providing API access to research the backlink profiles at a fraction of a cost.
If working with enterprise-level sites, consider using Google’s BigQuery to process large-scale backlink data efficiently.
2. Reallocate link equity with internal linking
- Identify the highest-performing blog pages with the highest number of relevant backlinks
- Add internal links from these blogs to collection and product pages using keyword-rich anchor text.
- Use Screaming Frog’s n-gram analysis (or a custom Python script) to identify unlinked keywords on your site and create new internal links accordingly.
3. Use strategic redirects
If blog pages are no longer relevant or contain outdated information, use 301 redirects to transfer link authority to important commercial pages.
4. Improve your backlink acquisition strategy
Focus on earning backlinks for product and collection pages by collaborating with publishers, securing listings on "Where to Buy" pages, and leveraging PR-driven link-building.
Content cannibalisation: Killing your own pages
Content marketing plays a vital role in SEO, helping to attract traffic, engage users, and boost rankings. However, many businesses unknowingly undermine their SEO efforts by producing content without a clear strategy.
This overproduction, often driven by the desire to rank for as many keywords as possible, can lead to a phenomenon known as keyword cannibalisation.
Keyword cannibalisation: What’s that?
Keyword cannibalisation occurs when multiple pages on your site target the same or similar search queries. This redundancy confuses Google’s algorithm, as it struggles to determine which page should rank for the given keyword.
Instead of having one strong, authoritative page ranking for the keyword, you end up with multiple pages competing for the same position.
Result? Fluctuating rankings, inconsistent organic traffic, and missed opportunities to maximise your ranking potential.
Signs of keyword cannibalisation
It’s crucial to spot the signs of keyword cannibalisation early to avoid long-term SEO damage. Some common indicators include:
- Multiple pages targeting the same keyword with inconsistent ranking positions: When several pages are optimised for the same keyword, Google may not know which page to prioritise, leading to fluctuating or unclear ranking positions.
- A noticeable drop in organic traffic despite frequent content additions: If you’re regularly producing new content but seeing a decline in organic traffic, keyword cannibalisation may be at play. As Google spreads the value of backlinks and ranking signals across multiple pages, none of them can fully rank for the keyword.
- Reduced conversions due to users landing on informational pages instead of high-conversion commercial ones: Often, content cannibalisation causes users to land on pages that are not aligned with their intent. For instance, informational blog pages might rank instead of product pages, resulting in missed conversion opportunities.
How to fix keyword cannibalisation
While keyword cannibalisation can be detrimental to your SEO efforts, it is entirely fixable with a strategic approach. Here are the steps needed to rectify the issue:
1. Perform a quarterly SEO content audit
Regular audits are essential to ensure your content is serving your SEO goals. Use tools like Google Search Console and Sistrix to track the visibility and performance of your pages. These tools can show you which URLs are competing for similar keywords and where rankings may be fluctuating.
During the audit, look for keyword overlap pages that are targeting the same search terms. Identify the most authoritative page on each keyword cluster, and prioritise that page as the main ranking page for that query.
Pro Tip: Consider using paid tools for a deeper dive into your content audit. These can provide detailed insights into keyword cannibalisation and highlight content gaps or areas that need optimisation.
2. Consolidate and redirect
After identifying competing pages targeting the same keyword, the next step is to consolidate them. Combine similar or underperforming pages into one strong, well-rounded page that can fully satisfy the search intent of the user.
This page should be comprehensive and authoritative, covering all the necessary aspects of the keyword’s topic.
After consolidation, use a 301 redirect to point all the traffic and link equity from the old, underperforming pages to the stronger, consolidated page.
This ensures that any backlink value accumulated by the older pages is not lost but is transferred to the newly optimised page.
Pro Tip: Always ensure that the redirected page matches the user’s search intent. Merging pages should not result in content that’s irrelevant to the user, as this could negatively impact user experience and rankings.
3. Implement a topic cluster strategy
Adopting a topic cluster strategy is one of the most effective methods of preventing future keyword cannibalisation. This involves organising your content into groups around a central pillar page that targets a broad, overarching topic.
The supporting content, or cluster content, then targets more specific subtopics related to the pillar page. These cluster pages should link back to the pillar page, helping to strengthen the overall authority of the topic.
This strategy not only enhances your site's topical authority but also improves the overall user experience. By grouping content around a central theme, Google understands that your site has comprehensive coverage on the subject, making it more likely to rank higher for relevant search queries.
Additionally, this approach improves internal linking efficiency, as each piece of cluster content links back to the pillar page, creating a robust network of related content.
Pro Tip: Tools like Wordtracker can help you identify traffic-driving keywords and understand which search terms are most relevant to your domain. This insight can help you structure your topic clusters more effectively.
Avoiding Google's SEO graveyard
SEO mistakes like improper backlink management, content cannibalisation, and neglected category pages can lead to significant losses in rankings and revenue.
By proactively auditing and fixing these issues as outlined above, businesses can recover lost traffic and maximise their commercial potential.
