Targeting the same or closely related keywords on multiple pages on your website can do more harm than good. Instead of improving your SEO, this overlap causes your pages to compete with each other.
It confuses search engines and affects your overall rankings. This issue is known as “Keyword Cannibalization.
It makes it difficult for Google to determine which page should rank for a specific query. Thankfully, it’s a fixable issue. In this guide, you’ll learn how to identify and resolve keyword cannibalization to ensure your content works perfectly with your SEO strategy.
What is Keyword Cannibalization?
Keyword cannibalization is when multiple webpages of a website target the same or similar keywords. This phenomenon occurs unintentionally during the time when the website is starting to grow.
During this period, the website contains multiple pieces of content targeting similar keywords. It causes individual articles or pages to compete against one another. This confuses Google about which page to prioritize in search results, and all of them start ranking poorly as a result.
Example:
Let’s say your website includes an article focusing on the keyword ‘what are AI detectors’. There’s another article on the site that focuses on the keyword ‘how AI detectors work’.
Both of these keywords are similar and will confuse Google crawlers when it comes to indexing and ranking. Google will consider these articles as competing with each other which will mess up the whole search engine rankings.
Is Keyword Cannibalization Harmful?
Yes. Serious it can harm your SEO and happens in the following ways:
Lower rankings:
Search engines like Google usually limit the number of webpages for ranking on a specific query. Cannibalization makes multiple webpages rank for similar keywords, and all end up underperforming.
Diluted backlinks:
When multiple articles are focusing on certain keywords, the backlink focus is divided among of them. Other websites will link to multiple pages, resulting in huge dilution in backlinks.
You can check from ahref backlinks Checker .
Crawlers get confused:
It’s true that Google has become very smart these days and can identify the true intent behind a piece of content. However, if multiple contents highly overlap, it can confuse crawlers and Google can end up ranking pages inconsistently.
Low CTR:
Keyword overlap can lower the number of clicks your pages get. If you have several similar pages showing up in search results, people might click on different ones, instead of just one strong page.
Sometimes, a page with a better title or call to action appears lower than a weaker or outdated one. This means both pages might get fewer clicks, especially if they show up lower on the search page.
How to Identifying keyword cannibalization:
There are different methods that you can utilize in order to identify this issue on your website. Here are some of the major ones:
Use Google Search Console:
Google Search Console is a free tool that allows people to analyze different factors of a website. It can come in handy for identifying keyword duplication issue on your website. You can use this tool to see what webpages are appearing for a similar keyword or phrase.
Here’s how to do it:
- Open Google Search Console.
- Go to “Performance” and then “Search Results”.
- Pick “Query” from the “Add Filter” section.
- Now, enter the main keyword.
- If several webpages of your website appear, the site might be affected.
Do a “site:” search with filters:
Another way to spot the cannibalization issue of keywords is by using the “site” search operator in Google. It’s a simple way to find all the indexed pages of your domain that discuss a specific keyword/topic.
Here’s how to do it:
- Open any Internet browser.
- Now, search for “site:yourdomain.com keyword”
- Google will show you all the indexed pages related to the specific keyword that you have searched for.
Look at historic Rankings in SEO tools:
Checking historic rankings is another way to spot this keyword issue. It helps understand the ranking of your webpages on certain keywords over time.
Different tools, such as Ahrefs, allow users to check historical ranking data easily.
Here’s how to do it on Ahrefs:
- Input your domain in the tool.
- Now, go to the “Organic Keywords” report section.
- Here, filter for specific keywords that you want to check.
- Now, click on the ranking history option.
If you notice that different URLs have ranked for the same keyword at different times, it’s a strong indicator of internal keyword competition.
How to fix keyword cannibalization issues?
So far, we’ve discussed what this keyword-related issue actually is and how you can spot it. Now, let’s move on to discuss how to fix this issue.
Audit and evaluate affected pages
Start by auditing your site and reviewing the pages affected by keyword duplication. The methods mentioned earlier should have already helped you identify which URLs are involved.
Now, organize these URLs in a spreadsheet along with their target keywords. This will give you a clear overview and make it easier to analyze performance, compare overlap, etc to handle the issue.
Consolidate similar content:
Consolidating similar content pages is a great way to improve website quality and deal with keyword cannibalization as well. In this method, you merge multiple webpages that are covering similar keywords and topics.
First, find and pick the best-performing webpages. Then merge low-ranking pages with it. It will improve your topical authority and simplify site’s structure by removing unnecessary webpages.
Use A Unique Intent For Each Webpage:
Another great way to deal with this issue to use a unique intent for each webpage. Even if multiple webpages are targeting different keywords, their main intent should be different from each other.
For example, if two webpages are discussing the keyword “running shoes”, one article should be informational and the other should be more of a product comparison.
Focusing on different intents helps Google understand that each webpage is offering different types of content. So, it ranks each page appropriately based on what users are searching for.
Optimize internal links for clarity:
Optimizing internal links for clarity can help deal with serious cannibalization. Strategic internal linking makes sure that Google analyzes your website thoroughly.
That’s why, internally link the content with your most important and comprehensive webpages related to a specific keyword. While doing so, make sure to use clear and descriptive anchor text that’s completely relevant to the linked webpage.
How to prevent keyword cannibalization in the future?
Fixing is only half part of the game. The rest is about preventing it from happening again. There are different ways through which you can do it. I’ve discussed the main ones below:
Build and Maintain a keyword map:
Building and maintaining a keyword map is a great way to prevent keyword cannibalization from happening again in the future. A keyword map is simply a set of data that assigns a specific keyword to each webpage of your website.
Having an organized map helps make sure that each webpage covers keywords in a unique way. There’s no content covering a similar intent. It helps with preventing keyword cannibalization since search engines can clearly distinguish the focus of each page.
Assign one Main Topic Per Page:
Another one of the best way to prevent this issue is assigning one main topic per webpage. It’s usually useless to cover multiple topics in a single webpage. Not only can it cause cannibalization, but also confuse readers. That is because readers won’t be able to identify the true purpose of the content, which can drop the overall website quality.
So, it is important to cover a unique and single main topic per webpage. It will help search engines understand exactly what the content is about, making it easier to rank that page for relevant queries.
Write Content with a Clear Purpose:
This measure is mainly related to improving website content quality. Sometimes, experts write content in a mixed way. It usually happens while covering broad topics, such as digital marketing strategies. It blurs the main purpose behind the content and cause overlapping issue.
That’s why you, make sure to write content with a clear purpose. Write content in a flow and use main headings that define what the content is all about. It will help search engines analyze and rank webpages better. Besides that, readers would also be able to understand the main intent is behind the written work.
Regularly audit your site’s Structure:
Regularly auditing website structure is a great way to make sure each webpage is covered in a proper way. As you keep on adding content on the site, it’s possible that webpages may start to overlap each other.
Regular audit helps make sure it doesn’t happen.
By periodically reviewing factors like URLs, internal linking, and content hierarchy, you can identify overlaps and inconsistencies before they impact your SEO.
Common mistakes to avoid when fixing cannibalization:
Well, I’ve added this section specially for people who are new to this issue and are trying to fix it for the first time. You need to avoid some common mistakes while doing so. I’ve discussed some of the main ones below:
Deleting pages without analyzing traffic:
Deleting pages isn’t something that’s recommended to deal with cannibalization of keywords. It’s more of a desperate measure that should be adopted when nothing else is working. Deleting pages without analyzing traffic can harm your SEO a lot.
Sometimes, webpages that may not seem like well-performing are bringing in relevant traffic, backlinks, and conversions. So, I’d recommend not deleting webpages before checking these factors.
Using canonical tags without proper context:
Canonical tags are pretty useful when it comes to telling the search engine which ones are the main webpages of the website. However, using them without proper context isn’t the best practice. Just adding a canonical tag won’t fix the real issues, like pages covering the same topic.
You need to make sure the page you mark as main is the best and most complete version. Otherwise, using canonical tags might hide bigger problems instead of solving keyword cannibalization.
Differentiate Content Using Long-Tail Variants:
Instead of optimizing multiple pages for the same core keyword, target long-tail variations that reflect specific user intent. For example, instead of using “best laptops” on several pages, try some different terms. You can go for something like “best laptops for students” or “best laptops under $800.” This approach reduces overlap and allows your content to address more precise search queries.
Merging pages that don’t share the same goal:
Consolidating webpages is useful. However, it will only work if the pages are sharing the same content. merging pages with different goals will reduce the content quality a lot.
It can harm your SEO performance and confuse your audience by mixing unrelated information in one place.
Not updating internal linking:
Not updating internal linking is another major mistake that people make while dealing with the cannibalization issue of keywords.
When the webpages are deleted or merged, the old internal linking system may not work properly. As a result, the overall SEO of the website can be harmed. So, it’s important not to forget updating internal linking in order to keep everything streamlined.
Conclusion:
Well, there you have it. Keyword cannibalization occurs when multiple webpages of a website are covering the same/similar keywords. It confuses Google about which page to rank higher, and all the webpages end up ranking badly.
Identifying this issue is easier, and you can use the discussed tactics to identify it. then, use the discussed methods of fixing the issue easily.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
What are the disadvantages of the cannibalization issue of keywords?
Keyword cannibalization can lower your search rankings by making multiple pages compete for the same query. It confuses search engines about which page to prioritize. This also dilutes backlinks and reduces overall traffic and click-through rates.
How do I fix keyword cannibalization?
There are multiple ways to fix this issue. You can consolidate similar webpages and use a unique intent for different pages. Also, optimizing internal linking also helps with fixing this issue.
Is cannibalization good or bad in SEO?
It is obviously a bad thing in SEO. That is because it can mess up the ranking of the webpages. Even your best and quality webpages can rank lower because of this.
Can keyword cannibalization affect my site’s traffic?
Yes. It usually causes low rankings of webpages. So, when webpages are ranked lower, the site’s traffic will automatically get affected.
