All SEO efforts have been made with the aim that search engines, especially Google, can understand and web crawlers can crawl your website. As we know that Search Engine Optimization or commonly known as SEO is very important because it is search engine optimization so that the website is on the first page, so internet users can easily find it.
In general, they type keywords or keywords related to their interests, for example: "best SEO service" when they want to choose an SEO service provider company. For this reason, website owners or managers are looking for the best way so that at least their website is in the first 10 rankings of search results.
It would be better if it is in the top 10 ranking, which means it appears on the first page. Unfortunately, sometimes the results are not as smooth as hoped. No one can predict on what page Google or other search engines will place your website, whether 1, 10, or 100. You will lose more and more opportunities if you make some mistakes including keyword cannibalization.
The term keyword cannibalization may be familiar to SEO practitioners and experts, but not to beginners or those who have just entered the world of Search Engine Optimization. So, in order to increase your knowledge about SEO, there's nothing wrong with reading this article so you know the term keyword cannibalization and tips for dealing with it.
Previously, have you ever worked with or paid for an SEO expert? Or maybe have employees who can help solve any problems related to SEO? They can help you dive into issues around keyword cannibalization while also fixing them.
What is keyword cannibalization?
 |
| keyword cannibalization |
As we already explained, more than one page targeting the same keyword can lead to keyword cannibalization. The origin of this term comes from the negative impact on your results, sharing CTR, connections, content, and (often) conversions between two pages that should be one. Keyword cannibalization in SEO means that two or more web pages are optimized for the same keyword. It doesn't matter if it happens because of the similarity of content or a search that logically answers the question with both results.
When this happens, you are not expressing your expertise to Google or increasing your authority for the previously mentioned question. Instead, you are asking Google to weigh the two pages against each other, choosing the one that is more relevant for the keyword being queried.
For example, if a website sells shoes, and you use that one keyword on all of your landing pages, you are telling Google that each page refers to shoes. When in reality, you may have different pages on hiking boots, sportswear, or other seasonal footwear.
How does cannibalization affect SEO?
You have multiple articles on your website and blog posts that could rank for the same search query on Google. This is what is called Keyword Cannibalization. Therefore, make sure the website pages and or posts on the blog are not competing for the same keywords and phrases.
Sometimes we misunderstand that the more pages that have targeted keywords, the higher the chance to get a good ranking. What you do sometimes actually harm SEO instead of getting good results.
Simply put, when several pages have successive rankings for the same keyword, you are actually competing with yourself. As a result, each website page has a low CTR (Click-through Rate). In addition, authority is reduced and conversion rates are lower compared to one consolidated page.
What actually happens?
To better understand the process, let’s take an example that many online business owners encounter – copywriting. Sometimes owners follow what feels like a natural flow of topics that focus only on a niche. Focusing on one topic and repeating it will increase the chances of getting noticed by Google and ranking higher… well, not exactly.
Incorporating well-ranking words and planning the entire flow of topics should be the approach that website owners should take. So, when it comes to copywriting, you will find different topics on the website, such as marketing, optimization, blogging, entrepreneurship, tips, and other content related to the focused niche.
Website owners who suffer from ‘keyword cannibalization’ are mostly unaware that something is amiss. They may be lucky enough to have one page of their website ranking fifth or sixth for a targeted keyword, unaware that an authoritative page may be ranking higher and converting better.
The real consequences are quite obvious, as demonstrated through lost website traffic, ranking changes, and, ultimately, lost potential sales.
1. Losing domain authority
Instead of having one high authority page, you moderately reduce the CTR of more relevant pages. In essence, this creates competition for yourself, lowering your overall website ranking.
2. Reducing backlinks and anchor text
Backlinks that should be pointing to one unified source of information are split between two or more pages. Likewise, your anchor text and internal links take visitors to multiple pages instead of having one authoritative page on the subject.
3. Wasting indexing budget
Indexing budget is the number of times a browser will go through a website in a given time. More pages associated with the same keyword will result in unnecessary indexing pages.
4. Sign of low website quality
More pages targeted at the right keyword can indicate to your audience that the content may be spread out. It also signals to Google that your content may not match the keyword on every page.
Why is keyword cannibalization bad?
There are many bad impacts that can occur as a consequence that your SEO must accept. Those who experience Keyword Cannibalization do not realize that something is wrong and continue with the strategy that has been implemented.
Compared to pages that are ranked sequentially, for example 5 and 6, an authoritative page actually has the potential to be in a higher position and can convert better. Some of the adverse effects that can occur due to keyword cannibalization are as follows:
- Reduced Page Authority
- Weakened anchor text and links
- Google may devalue more pages that are more relevant
- The quality of website pages is getting worse
- The conversion rate becomes lower
- Reduced website traffic
- Spending budget for crawling
How do you identify cannibalization?
Once the problem has been defined, eliminating keyword cannibalization is not that complicated. To understand what keywords your website is ranking for, it is important to first report your website in Google Search Console.
By using the same keyword to target multiple pages of your website, Google ranking will not be able to distinguish which page or text is the most relevant. This will result in them all being out of the game. It is important to note that the same result can occur if a writer decides to simply stuff the content with the targeted keyword.
In the past, it was only necessary to mention the keyword a few times in the content. Such a practice can have the opposite effect, as Google can see it as deceptive and may even remove the page from search entirely. Keyword cannibalization is viewed in a similar way, which is why it is important to try and avoid such practices as much as possible.
Simply, The sooner a problem or issue is detected, the sooner it can be fixed. Some people say that identifying problems such as keyword cannibalization is as easy as creating a keyword matrix. Create a spreadsheet that lists important URLs and related keywords. Another way is to use a tool that functions to create keyword mappings, and find duplicate keywords.
How to avoid keyword cannibalism?
How to solve a problem, of course, depends on the source itself. If this is the first time you encounter the problem of keyword cannibalization, please follow some of the tips below which hopefully will help. Because, being on the first page, especially with a high ranking will affect the existence of the website. Usually, people tend to choose to access or visit websites that they can easily find on the first page of a search engine.
1. Website restructuring
Taking the most authoritative page and then turning it into a landing page is the easiest solution. Don't forget to make sure that the landing page has links to other unique pages with the keywords you have targeted.
A simple solution is to look at the overall scale or layout of the website. If you feel that the content is too similar on several pages, reduce it and improve the quality of the pages that are the best in quality and content, this will also increase the level of customer engagement.
The most 'representative' pages can be the basis and lead to more specific alternatives linked as subpages, alternatives but similar keywords, etc.
2. Developing a new landing page
If you feel like your current landing page isn’t cutting it, maybe consider creating a new one. Make a list of all the segments of your website, try to criticize them, and reorganize the content. This may take time and research, maybe even hand-written topic clusters, but it will leave you with more refined and unified content.
Instead try to create a new, unique landing page that will serve as the authoritative source page and link to all variations from there. It takes more time but can help solve the problem at hand. So, there's no harm in trying.
So that the landing page runs smoothly and doesn't experience many problems when accessed, we recommend that you use Indonesia SSD hosting for your website's landing page. Equipped with LiteSpeed and Brotli technologies, make your website move 5x faster and stable.
3. Merge or Delete Content
If the existing content is not unique enough, it would be better to combine it with other content that has the same targeted keywords. This makes it possible to make that content a more authoritative source. On the other hand, it can solve existing content problems. For content that is irrelevant to the website, you can delete it even though it is quite extreme.
4. Remove Keywords
The existence of some keywords may not be important and removing them is the right choice. Looks like a manual solution but it's very easy to do. Or you can also replace keywords with ones that are more relevant and play an important role in getting higher search results.
5. Change Internal Links
If you have content that is linked to other content, enhance the existing links. Search engines like Google consider that links are important and can be a factor for pages to get high rankings in search results. Include links to content or other pages of your website.
6. Take advantage of Canonical Tags
Did you know that canonical tags can make websites more effective? In addition, canonical tags can guide search engines which pages they prefer. Use canonical tags to tell search engines which pages you want to rank high for that single keyword. Those who have many pages with the same keywords can also implement these tips.
7. Use interlinking
Internal linking structures can solve some keyword cannibalization problems. Try to determine which content is more important, and then arrange interlinks from less important content that point to more important content. This way, Google can separate the interlinks and rank certain content higher in the browser. Before that, remember what seems to be the order of the most important content.
8. Add new keywords
Depending on the specific goals of your site, it may be a little more difficult to determine the best approach to restructuring content. However, if you have identified unwanted competition that comes from yourself, try doing some additional research on keywords.
You may be surprised and find better matches for some content. This will help you introduce variations and freshen things up. It is important to remember that keywords should aim to describe the content of the page as accurately as possible.
9. 301 redirects
This resolution should come as a last resort if your budget, expertise, or content cannot be reused with the other strategies discussed earlier. Using 301 redirects allows you to unify cannibalized content by linking all less relevant pages into one authoritative version.
How to prevent keyword cannibalization?
After reviewing, identifying, and taking necessary steps to eliminate distractions from your SEO, the final step is to try to prevent similar issues in the future.
1. Create a project in SE ranking
Assigning target URLs to all target keywords will automate your development as it can red flag cannibal keywords. Put it in your schedule to regularly check rankings on selected keywords, and do not overlap.
2. Update your keyword list
Niche websites can increase their keyword reach, so it is a good idea to track changes in Google rankings when you see that some words are ranking lower. You can use the others higher to your advantage and improve your content and marketing campaigns with these changes.
3. Keep content focused on intent
Every quarter try to identify the search queries of your target audience and customers. This content section, preferably based on transactional, navigational, and informational intent. This can help you sort keywords that are relevant to each category.
4. Long-tail keywords can diversify content and needs
Although long-tail keywords have lower search volumes, they can help the organic segment of content. The more specific you are, the easier it will be for your page to rank higher on Google.
Conclusion
To summarize, always try to have unique content on your website without similar pages, titles, or keywords on other URLs. Consolidating content is a simple and efficient solution to keep all the content you’ve worked hard on, and avoid keyword cannibalization. However, sometimes you need to hit the delete button and let your website ‘breathe’ free from duplicate content.
A good content flow that is clear and concise will do wonders for you when combined with good keyword usage. You can change things up and refocus on internal linking. This will help navigate web page visitors through your content, allowing them a variety of information, and still keeping them on your page. Of course, the complexity of this task depends on your niche and the amount of content you have.
Try to plan your layout, and see your text as a virtual information map. Create a natural flow, and fragment content as naturally as possible. Combine that with good keyword usage and regularly tracking changing trends as algorithms are updated more and more, creating a more complex and competitive web among search rankings.
After reading this article, maybe you know why your website or domain is difficult to rank at the top. In fact, we all know that being on the top page with a high ranking is very important, and is the dream of every website owner. No matter how often the content is updated or added, if Google or other search engines are confused about which posts should rank better, then the optimization results are not as expected.
Don't let your page or post be given the same search query. Immediately solve problems like this keyword cannibalization. So, your website will be in healthy competition, not competing with each other with the content on your own website.