Are your web pages consistently ranking lower despite spending hours optimizing keywords to boost their ranking? If so, you could be cannibalizing your keywords.
Keyword cannibalisation is a common yet under-the-radar phenomenon in the SEO space. Many people cannibalise their keywords but are completely oblivious to their actions and their detrimental effects on their search engine rankings. The sooner you stop, the better your chances of improving your search engine performance.
In today's post, we'll take an in-depth look at what keyword cannibalization is and how you can avoid it. Let's jump straight into it.
Keyword cannibalization is when you target the same keywords for different web pages on the same website. This is especially common in niche sites where topics overlap, making it hard for the search engine to decide which page is more relevant.
When you optimize multiple pages for the same queries, you're essentially setting up these pages to compete. Typically, search engines display 2 to 3 results from the same domain during a search query. Keyword cannibalization compromises the chances for each page to rank prominently, diluting their overall authority and lowering their rankings.
For instance:
Let's say you run a food blog with restaurant reviews. You upload two restaurant reviews for different restaurants that serve burgers. One post is titled "Joey's Has the Best Burgers in London," and the other is titled “Are Burger Prince's Burgers the Best in Town?" You optimized the former post for “best burger London" and the latter for “best burger place near me."
Although the posts discuss completely different restaurants, they target similar search intent. Google will have a hard time deciding which blog post offers relevant information. It’s also worth noting that your click-through rate and backlinks will weaken with similar posts, further plummeting your page rankings.
Common instances of keyword cannibalisation occur when:
Your website is probably swarming with dozens of cannibalised keywords you may be unaware of. Here's how you can identify them:
Search queries that are likely to bring up your web page, then scroll through the search engine results to check whether any of your pages are competing. If they are, note down the cannibalised keywords and adjust your strategy to address the issue.
Paste your website URL following with the keywords you suspect are cannibalised. This helps you narrow your search to pages on your website specifically. You've cannibalised the keyword if you find more than two web pages on the SERPs.
Third-party tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush can save you the trouble of rummaging through SERPs. These tools have keyword cannibalisation detection features to make your work much easier. All you have to do is enter your website’s domain and the suspected keyword and hit enter. The software will scan your site and identify cases of keyword cannibalisation.
Keyword cannibalisation can seriously damage page rankings and waste your precious SEO efforts. Consider doing the following to avoid cannibalizing your keywords:
If your current keyword strategy is prone to cannibalisation and doesn't yield the desired results, it's time to refine it. Recreate or improve your current strategy to target different keywords for different web pages. Furthermore, ensure your web pages don't have any problematic overlapping topics, even if they talk about closely related stuff.
Take a peek at competitor's websites to understand their approach to keyword strategies. Borrow a leaf (and a topic or two) from them, and hone your strategy to avoid cannibalisation. You can also use keyword research tools to craft the perfect strategy.
Some of the best tools for the job include:
Aside from optimizing for keywords, you can also optimise for different search intent. Considering the example above, one user might want to know where to find the best burgers in the tri-state area. At the same time, another user might need more information on whether Burger Prince truly offers the best burgers in their location.
Their intent is completely different, but Google mixes intent in the same results pages to cover all bases. Since you have two pages with different intents, Google will rank them both highly, depending on the search query.
A great way to optimize for intent is to focus on the topic rather than the keywords when writing your content. Don't let keyword optimization distract you from providing relevant and up-to-date content that adds actual value to your visitors.
Conduct regular audits to ensure your web pages achieve their bottom lines. Schedule an audit at least once every six months. The audit should investigate the following areas:
If you can't run an audit by yourself, you can hire an SEO expert to conduct one. Just ensure you find someone with a proven track record for the best results.
Although subtle, keyword cannibalisation can do a number on your web page rankings. By targeting the same keywords across multiple pages, you're inadvertently competing against yourself and compromising your SEO effort. Fortunately, keyword cannibalisation is easily avoidable, provided you take proactive measures. Regularly audit your content, refine your keyword strategy, and optimize for different search intents to sidestep cannibalisation and ensure each page reaches its full potential.
Be sure to check out our other blog posts for more educational and insightful content on all matters SEO.
