u/Whole_Guitar6106

▲ 8 r/DoSEO+1 crossposts

Need help: Keyword cannibalization and over-optimization issues (Homepage vs. Category)

Hi everyone,
I’m struggling with my e-shop rankings and would love some feedback. My main keyword is stuck on the 10th position, but Google keeps displaying my Homepage instead of the specific Category page I want to rank.
Here is what’s happening:
Over-optimization: My previous SEO consultant had me add internal links to the Category page from the descriptions of all 70 products in that category. I suspect this is now seen as internal spam.
Cannibalization: I've already updated Titles and H1s to differentiate the Home and Category pages, but after 3 weeks, Google still hasn't switched the ranking page.
Backlinks: I have some backlinks from questionable "link farms" (PR sites) pointing to the root domain with exact-match anchors.
My questions:

  1. Should I remove all those 70 internal links from product descriptions? Is it over-optimization?
  2. How long does it usually take for Google to fix the ranking page after Title/H1 updates?
  3. Should I use the Disavow tool for the link farm domains immediately?
    Thanks for any advice!
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u/Whole_Guitar6106 — 11 days ago