A substantial proportion of humanity has gained access to the internet due to its growing availability even to far-flung parts of the globe. The differences have been remarkably obvious throughout the last twenty years of the 21st century. It all started with a collaboration between educational institutions to share stored facts among academics, but eventually, it evolved into something integral to everyone’s life in some way.
We reside in a period distinguished by its fondness for transferring all types of communication and services to the virtual space, as far as casualness allows. Due to our reliance on and faith in digital technology, pretty much anything and everything can now be done online – from acquiring items to booking doctor’s visits, teaching oneself about any subject, performing office tasks, and more.
At present, the most employed tool in the realm of digital technology is a search engine. Entering keywords into the search bar or utilizing voice commands to communicate with a search engine gives us the most pertinent results related to our inquiries. Google is one example of a major search engine and it receives approximately 67,000 user queries each second.
In a situation like this, it is essential for a company to be visible to its desired clients by appearing among the top search engine results page (SERP) positions. This is where SEO comes in to help make this possible. There are numerous chances to get in touch with the intended audience, but in order to maximize these, one must have a website that is properly optimized.
SEO has evolved over time with the purpose of bettering the customer journey and making search results even more pertinent. In spite of all of the alterations, the importance of utilizing key phrases to upgrade the content for search engines continues to be significant. Target words that are utilized in our content— including in blogs, web copies, and ad campaigns— end up determining which type of people visit your website.
It is often neglected, yet “Keyword Cannibalization” is an essential matter to be considered when trying to enhance a website via keywords. Many people may not be aware of what this term means. In earnest, keyword cannibalization can be detrimental to SEO performance and significantly reduce your chances of achieving higher rankings.
Do you want to know more about keyword cannibalization? Keep reading.
In this article, we will provide the greatest amount of information on keyword cannibalization. We will start by defining the term and then proceed to enumerate the negative repercussions it has on the page ranking of your website. We will provide evidence to support these effects by citing a few cases of keyword cannibalization.
Subsequently, we will explore the different methods to detect when keyword cannibalization has occurred and move on to addressing how to resolve the problem. Finally, we will explore how to prevent keyword cannibalization from occurring. So, without further ado, let’s dive in.
Defining Keyword Cannibalization
It is understood that keywords are a critically important part of internet searches. Search terms, either a string of words or a single term, can be used to look for the desired item. The search engines explore the entire world wide web to identify and show the most pertinent outcomes for these sets of words.
The way of ordering these outcomes fluctuates subject to fluctuating standards, for example, the presence of the watchwords, fame, benefit, similarity with the client’s inquiry expectation, and so forth. Overuse of keywords in order to obtain better ranking on search engine result pages can lead to keyword cannibalization. But what is keyword cannibalization?
Typically, keyword cannibalization occurs when different pages of one website are optimized for either identical or very similar keywords. As per this explanation, if various pages of a site direct their focus to the same key phrase, then the organic ranking of both the website itself and the individual pages will be negatively impacted.
The purpose of this broad explanation is for search engines to avoid being confounded when the same keywords are optimized for various pages on a website. It is a common occurrence for a website to be in conflict with itself, which can lead to confusion. There is the rivalry between web pages when identical words or phrases are used as titles on multiple sites.
It is widely agreed upon that keyword cannibalization has a negative impact on a website. It is widely acknowledged that it diminishes the website authority, CTR of the website and pages in question, as well as conversion rates. The best solution suggested to address keyword cannibalization issues in SEO is to combine all of these pages into one.
Although this simple explanation of keyword cannibalization explains the main idea, it does not describe why it happens. Most meanings do not explain that when looking at keyword cannibalization, it is mainly a question of intention.
Thus, it is essential to be aware that if various web pages of a website make use of the same words or phrases to boost its visibility on the Search Engine Result Pages, the purpose of those pages points out if its cannibalization or not.
The intent is relevant when pages designed with the same keywords present a great convergence regarding the sort of data that needs to be given to the consumer, in other words, the goal of the page. In scenarios where the goal of several pages is either identical or quite similar, both the search engines and website visitors are left befuddled.
Taking into account what was just talked about, keyword cannibalization occurs when multiple pages on a website are intended to focus on one and the same objective. In these circumstances, the pages start to oppose each other, and consequently, the search engines reduce the ranking of the aforementioned pages belonging to the same website.
In the majority of instances, keyword cannibalization occurs when website producers do not take into account the details already available on the numerous pages of a given website. Having multiple web pages that have the same intent makes it hard for search engines to decide which one should be placed higher in rankings than the other(s).
Essentially, these pages detract from each other’s ability to rank well in a search engine, and as a result, none of them manages to achieve a high spot on the SERPs. Search engines typically have no issue with websites that include two or more pages that target the same keywords but have distinct goals (or intent in what information they are trying to get across). These websites should still show up on the search engine results pages (SERPs).
How Do I Find Cannibalized Keywords?
There’s no need to panic if you think your website may be experiencing keyword cannibalization. Locating and resolving these issues can be accomplished by following a few straightforward steps.
Here are some methods you can utilize to discover keyword overlapping.
Search Through Your Website
A simple approach to finding keyword cannibalization is to investigate queries pertinent to your field.
For instance, if you’re a firm offering digital advertisement services and post material relating to promoting and search engine optimization frequently, execute a Google hunt with some of the words you regularly employ.
Such as “Search Engine Optimization tactics” or “Beginning Marketers Hints”.
A search of this kind brings up all the website pages sorted according to this query. Look to determine if more than one of your posts is vying for a placement.
Using External Tools
You can make your keyword planning easier and more effective by using keyword research tools such as Ubersuggest to obtain detailed information. This can assist you in identifying keyword cannibalization more quickly, resulting in a decrease in the time, cost, and energy required to eliminate conflicting pages from your website.
Tips to Prevent Keyword Cannibalization
It can be quite a hassle to look for and address keyword cannibalization, so it’s generally advised to take steps to stop it from occurring in the first place rather than put in effort and funds to repair it after it’s already an issue.
How?
The following tactics, suggested by specialists, could help decrease the likelihood of keyword cannibalization and upgrade your digital marketing approach.
1. Create a Targeted Keyword Strategy
Having experience in digital marketing, you understand that choosing the right keywords is essential.
The good news? An effective approach to avoiding keyword cannibalization is to craft a specific targeted keywords plan so that there isn’t any conflict or overlapping of keywords.
In short, this involves modifying separate pages in order to concentrate on distinct keywords and queries from a search.
Instead of having five pages trying to get seen in response to a search for “SEO tips,” it is preferable to optimize each page for a related but individual inquiry such as “digital marketing strategy,” “marketing techniques,” “SEO for beginners,” etc.
By doing this, you are able to remain focused on a particular subject while providing unique materials associated with search terms pertinent to your industry.
Here are some free and paid tools you can use for keyword research and planning:
2. Track Keyword Rankings and Performance
Having a keyword strategy isn’t enough. Once you have established the terms you wish to use, you must monitor their development over a period of time.
Regularly monitoring key phrase analyses can aid you in determining which phrases are ranked, which ones possess too much opposition, which could be involved in cannibalizing, and which may need an enhancement.
You can keep tabs on how your keywords are ranked, how they are doing, and other metrics through your own website analytics tool, or you can use third-party applications like Google Analytics, Ubersuggest, SErush, Ahrefs, Moz, SEO monitor, etc.
Monitor this information closely and make the necessary refinements to your keyword terms approach to stop keyword cannibalism, or fix it if the situation has already occurred (we’ll explain in greater detail below).
3. Focus on Topics First, Keywords Come Second
At times, keyword cannibalization arises from marketing teams being more meticulous about keywords than developing material connected to related topics.
If you focus too much on keywords, it is quite possible that you may forget to maintain the quality of topics and material, this, in turn, will reduce your chances of successfully achieving your marketing objectives.
Rather than solely dedicating funds, energy, and time to the practice of keyword exploration, prioritize topics as part of your advertisement plan.
Discover what issues your audience is passionate about and focus your resources on satisfying those desires. Let the keywords come second.
This will bolster customer loyalty, attract new customers, and bolster the brand’s status in the industry.
What subject matters are your readers most interested in?
Here are some ways to find what your audience wants:
- conduct surveys
- ask for feedback
- hold social media polls
4. Do Regular Content Audits
All right, you have an excellent keyword strategy mapped out, implemented tools to observe outcomes, and put additional focus on posts that would attract audiences. Now what?
You should conduct frequent examinations of the material you produce to make sure it still matches what readers prefer and what your promotion objectives are.
Your content audits should ask the following:
- Are your topics still relevant?
- Is the information you’re posting outdated?
- Are the statistics correct?
- Are you prioritizing the right keywords?
- Which topics and keywords best meet your marketing goals?
How to Fix Keyword Cannibalization
There are various ways to fix keyword cannibalization. Utilize the steps listed to identify which approach is the most suitable for you.
- Change Content Optimization
If more than one page is appearing for the same keyword and query, you should modify the configuration settings for optimization. It could involve shortening the number of key phrases, altering the key phrases, or reorganizing the content.
- Consider Deleting Some Posts
In some cases, simply re-organizing posts may not be enough to erase keyword duplication. Think about removing any redundant material in this example. Be mindful: If both posts yield commendable organic web traffic and bring in possible customers, don’t proceed with this.
- Merge Content
If you have two or more posts that are both ranking for the same keyword, but you would prefer to keep them, combining them together may be a viable option. Using the same example, it could mean combining the “blogging for beginners” and “how long it takes to monetize a blog” posts into one complete guidebook for making money with a blog created for novice authors.
Keyword Cannibalization Conclusion
In the past, it was believed that excessive use of keywords and repeating the same key phrase across multiple pages would raise the visibility of the material. However, this is no longer true.
Having your various pages competing for the same keywords and searches will decrease your chances of obtaining successful results.
It is preferable to concentrate on specific keywords for individual posts, give priority to topics rather than overload with keywords, and compile comprehensive landing pages as opposed to short blog entries.
This could potentially boost your position on the search engine results page which would eventually expand the amount of organic reach.
Although you may have gone through the process of keyword cannibalizing before, it is quite simple to implement a resolution. Redo your optimization selections, remove posts that up the rivalry but are not aiding you to fulfill your advertising goals, and concentrate on uniting content that is in conflict whenever conceivable.
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