Keyword Cannibalization 101: How to Identify and Fix It? Geek Flare

When it comes to SEO, more is not always better.

Having multiple pages targeting the same keywords can negatively impact your SERP rankings.

When multiple pages compete for the same traffic and cannibalize each other for Google’s attention, it’s known as keyword cannibalization.

Whether you’re intentionally or unintentionally targeting the same keywords across multiple pages, you need to identify and fix it.

In this article, we’ll explain what keyword cannibalization is, how it negatively affects SEO, and the steps to fix it.

What is keyword cannibalization?

Keyword cannibalization occurs when a website targets the same search query across multiple pages. These pages end up competing with each other, hurting your site’s organic performance.

Naturally, the page is split into two pages, which reduces the amount of traffic that passes through it.

John Mueller, senior webmaster trends analyst at Google, says that creating multiple pages around the same keyword dilutes the value of your content.

What causes keyword cannibalization?

Many people make the mistake of believing that by optimizing several subpages for the same search term, their domain will rank better for this particular keyword.

However, this only confuses search engines because the algorithm cannot decide which blogs should be shown to the user.

Most keyword cannibalization occurs when:

• Keyword-oriented blogs are optimized for the same search phrases as category pages.
• Different subpages such as the home page, category pages, and about us pages are optimized for the same keywords.
• Multiple pages dedicated to recurring topics, such as similar products in different colors or industry-specific blogs
• Bad internal linking by applying the same anchor to multiple subpages
• An online store that sells a narrow range of products

Now that you understand the basics of keyword cannibalization, let’s take a look at why you should avoid cannibalization in the first place.

Why should you avoid keyword cannibalization?

Keyword cannibalization directs your website’s pages to your competitors, causing your website’s pages to compete for SERP ranks and page views. As a result, your CTR will be spread out across related pages instead of having one page with high authority.

It can also confuse search engines. Let’s say you have two pages that rank for the same keyword. Search engines can make mistakes and rank high-converting pages lower. Therefore, you will miss out on potential traffic.

Additionally, backlinks that were supposed to go to a centralized source are now spread across two or more pages.

Comprehensive and detailed pages are more likely to get backlinks than blogs with less content. When the same anchor text and internal links lead to multiple pages, it takes less effort and reduces the amount of organic traffic you receive.

Inevitably, one page will have a higher conversion rate than the other. Therefore, you will lose potential leads and customers. You want to direct new traffic visitors to your most authoritative, highest-converting pages.

As a result, you lose SEO rankings due to keyword cannibalization, reducing the quality of leads and traffic you receive.

You could keep a spreadsheet of all your page URLs, but this can quickly become complex as your website grows. For example, on an e-commerce site with multiple types of shirts, keywords can easily overlap.

Fortunately, some tools can streamline the process and reduce human error due to potential missing keyword cannibalization. Let’s take a closer look at them.

sem rush

Semrush is a popular SEO keyword research and tracking tool that provides access to cannibalization reports.

This report provides cannibalization scores for your keywords. A 100% score means no cannibalization was found, while a low score indicates a potential problem and identifies affected keywords and pages.

It also provides recommendations for optimizing your pages for the best chance of reaching the top of the SERPs.

soscout

Seo Scout offers a cannibalization checker that creates a report detailing your duplicate keyword rankings.

You can track these keywords and pages without managing complex keyword spreadsheets.

Just enter your domain and receive an instant report on potential cannibalization issues.

key log

Keylog makes it easy to find cannibalizations with the click of a button. But it’s not just about identifying the problem. Here’s how it works:

• Cannibalization Detection: Use our checker to identify competing search queries in one click.
• Analyze competing pages: When you analyze competing pages in the SERP, Keylog determines the best strategy to resolve the issue.
• Resolve the issue: Make changes to your website and check the keylog to see the impact on your rankings.

Ahrefs

Ahrefs has a keyword explorer tool that helps you spot cannibalism and overuse of keywords.

When you view your rankings from the Organic Keywords tab, you’ll see a graph showing your rankings for specific keywords.

Each color represents one web page that is ranked for the search term. If the graph shows multiple colors, it means multiple pages are ranking for the same keyword.

With Ahrefs, removing keyword cannibalization is easy.

true ranker

TrueRanker has SEO cannibalization detection that detects pages that are competing for the same keywords. Here’s how it works:

• Create a project using your domain
• Add keywords you want to monitor
• TrueRanker monitors your keyword table to see how those keywords rank on a daily basis. Alerts will be sent if cannibalization occurs

TrueRanker allows you to monitor an infinite number of search terms, making it the perfect tool for freelancers and agencies.

How to find keyword cannibalization using Google Search Console

If your site is registered with Google Search Console, you can identify keyword cannibalization. Follow these steps to discover which pages may be targeting the same search term.

Step 1. Open the search performance report

Open Search Console and click Full Report to see how your website is doing.

Step 2. Select a date range for your report

To collect as much data as possible, choose a 12-month or 16-month data range.

Step 3. Export data

You can export Search Console keyword and page data to Google Sheets for further data analysis.

Step 4: Analyze keyword cannibalization

Finally, you can start analyzing your keyword cannibalization sheet by seeing which keywords received the most impressions and clicks.

How to fix keyword cannibalization

Now that you know the negative effects of keyword cannibalization and how to identify it, you can take a proactive approach to dealing with the problem.

#1. Perform keyword research

Proper keyword research will help you determine the search terms for your page. Keyword cannibalization is common when website owners have a poor keyword strategy.

Conduct keyword research using tools like Ahrefs, Google Keyword Planner, and Semrush. Focus on long-tail keywords, meaning the search term contains at least three or more words.

Long-tail keywords drive more qualified traffic because the words are more specific, which results in users searching for deeper topics.

Long-tail keywords also help you build better subpages by creating targeted keyword variations.

#2.Update the content

If multiple pages rank for the same search query, the easiest way to resolve the issue is to simply merge them.

One post may be more comprehensive than the other. Add your content to more authoritative blogs and let it flow naturally.

If you don’t want to combine your content, you can also update your content by changing keywords, reducing keywords, or reorganizing your content. As a result, one of your pages should start ranking for a different keyword variation.

💡Pro Tip: If you can’t update your content, consider removing duplicate content. However, if your blog or page is generating relevant organic traffic or leads, don’t delete your posts or content.

#3.Rebuild the website

If you have a significant number of pages with keyword cannibalization, you may need to rebuild your website.

You can do this by selecting the page you want to direct users to. These will be the authoritative pages for that particular search term.

Other pages containing that keyword should be changed to include variations of that term. These pages can be linked as subpages to authoritative posts, helping to direct visitors to the right place if they want more in-depth content on similar topics.

#4.Improve internal links

A strategic internal link structure helps search engines determine which blog posts are more important.

For example, you should link your less important articles to your most important pages so that search engines recognize the authority of the pages you want to rank.

# 5.Adding non-indexed tags

Adding a no-index tag to pages that are not authoritative pages can prevent your content from being perceived as cannibalism. This prevents the page from being indexed by search engine algorithms. However, the page will remain on the site.

#6.Add regular tag

Adding a canonical tag tells search engines which version of the URL to display in search rankings. This is a great way to prevent identical content from appearing in the SERPs.

Just add rel = “canonical” after the link.

For example, http://abc.com/blog/keyword-research-tools/rel= “canonical”

summary

Keyword cannibalization is a common problem that many website owners are unaware of. That said, by learning tips for identifying and fixing cannibalization, you can prevent it and reap the benefits of achieving competitive SERP rankings.

As your site grows, you’re more likely to encounter keyword cannibalization.

Please check and follow the steps mentioned in the article above regularly. This will improve your rankings and increase your organic reach.

Next, check out our SEO tips for Google News.