In the competitive world of digital marketing, businesses constantly seek effective SEO strategies to boost their rankings. One common yet often overlooked issue is keyword cannibalization. Sounds spooky! What does it actually mean? While the term may sound complex, it refers to a simple yet harmful mistake that can affect your website's search engine rankings and performance. Today, we're explaining keyword cannibalization, why it happens, and what steps you can take to fix and prevent it.
What Is Keyword Cannibalization?
Keyword cannibalization occurs when multiple pages on your website target the same keyword or keyword phrase. Instead of ranking higher because of more content, you're essentially making your own pages compete against each other. Oof. This competition confuses search engines, making it harder for them to determine which page should rank for the keyword, often resulting in both pages ranking poorly.
For example, if you run an B2B technology website and have two blog posts titled "Best Office Printers for 2024" and "Top Office Printers to Buy," both targeting the same keyword "office printers," these pages might end up battling for visibility. This division weakens your SEO efforts rather than strengthening them.
Breaking Down How This Happens
There are several ways keyword cannibalization can occur:
Multiple Pages Targeting the Same Keyword
This is the most common cause. Whether it's blog posts, product pages, or landing pages, if they're optimized for the same exact keyword, they may end up cannibalizing each other. Many companies unknowingly fall into this trap as they try to dominate a particular keyword from every angle, only to hurt their overall SEO performance.
Overuse of Broad Keywords Across Different Pages
Sometimes, businesses use general keywords (e.g., "office printers") across several pages without focusing on more specific, long-tail keywords. While broad keywords have higher search volume, they also bring in more competition, including your own web pages, as well as lower conversion rates.
Duplicate or Similar Content
If you have similar content on multiple pages, search engines may struggle to determine which page is more relevant. For example, having near-identical product descriptions or blog content across several pages could cause cannibalization. We see this a lot with companies that have had blogs for a long period of time, and instead of updating old blogs, they write new ones that use the same keyword. It’s also not uncommon for a company to go through several in-house marketing employees over the span of several years, making it hard for the current employee to know what keywords have been used and what new ones to focus on. (That’s when having a digital marketing agency is wonderful for straightening up the mess and keeping things consistent! – Pardon the sales pitch there!)
Why Keyword Cannibalization Hurts SEO
Keyword cannibalization can significantly harm your SEO optimization strategies.
Divided Click-Through Rates (CTR)
Instead of one page receiving all the traffic for a specific keyword, you split the traffic between multiple pages. This lower CTR on both pages signals to search engines that neither page is the most relevant result for users, which can cause a drop in rankings.
Dilution of Page Authority
When several pages target the same keyword, search engines may struggle to identify which one is most authoritative. This dilutes the SEO power of each page, as none appear to be the definitive source for the targeted keyword.
Lower Search Rankings
Cannibalizing pages compete against each other, leading to lower rankings for all of them. The ultimate result is that instead of having one page ranking high, you may end up with multiple pages ranking lower, losing visibility and traffic.
Wasted Crawls
Search engines have limited resources to crawl and index pages on your website. When those resources are spent crawling multiple, similar pages, it can take longer for your new or updated pages to be indexed.
How to Identify Keyword Cannibalization
Before you can fix keyword cannibalization, you need to identify it – obviously! Follow these steps to do just that:
Conduct a Site Audit
Tools like SEMrush can help you identify competing pages. Look for instances where multiple pages rank for the same keyword or search query.
Analyze Search Performance Data
Use performance reports to see which pages rank for specific keywords and how well they perform. If two or more pages are competing for the same term, this is a clear sign of cannibalization.
Manual Content Review
Conduct a manual review of your website to identify pages with similar content or targeting the same keywords. This can be especially useful for smaller websites or niche topics.
How to Fix Keyword Cannibalization
Now it’s time to fix the problem! You should take the following steps:
Consolidate Content
Merge the content of competing pages into one comprehensive page. This approach not only improves SEO but also provides more value to your audience. For example, if you have two articles about "office printers," consider combining them into a single, in-depth guide.
Use 301 Redirects
If you decide to consolidate content, you can set up 301 redirects from the old pages to the new, authoritative page. This passes the SEO equity from the outdated pages to the main one.
Revise Keyword Targeting
Adjust your keyword strategy to ensure each page targets a unique variation of your main keyword. For example, if two pages focus on "office printers," modify one page to focus on "best multifunction office printers" to reduce overlap.
Improve Internal Linking
Strengthen your internal linking strategy to guide users (and search engines) from less relevant pages to the most authoritative one. This helps concentrate SEO authority on the right page while still providing useful navigation for visitors.
Update Metadata
Ensure each page has unique meta titles and descriptions that align with its specific focus. Even if pages share a similar theme, their metadata should clearly differentiate the content.
How to Prevent Keyword Cannibalization
Now that you’ve cleaned up that little mess of yours let’s talk about how you can avoid it in the future.
1. Develop a Content Strategy: Plan your content in advance to avoid duplication. A solid content calendar can help ensure each piece of content targets a unique set of keywords. As part of this strategy, make sure to freshen up old content instead of writing about the same topic/keyword again!
2. Optimize for Topic Clusters: Focus on creating broader content (pillar pages) with supporting subtopics that link back to the main page. This strategy organizes content effectively and reduces the chances of cannibalization. Below is an example of how a content cluster may look like. Your subtopics will focus on unique keywords and keyword phrases. But they will link back to your main topic page to build authority.
3. Regularly Monitor Site Performance: Conduct periodic site audits and use performance-tracking tools to monitor the impact of your SEO strategies. This way, you can spot any potential cannibalization issues early on.
Final Thoughts
Addressing keyword cannibalization is critical for improving your SEO performance. By following our SEO strategies, you can prevent your pages from competing against each other. Working with a search engine optimization agency (like us – hint hint) can also help you stay on top of best practices and ensure long-term SEO success. Fixing keyword cannibalization not only boosts your search rankings but also enhances your website’s overall user experience and effectiveness.
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