Most digital marketing crews rely on keyword optimization to rank their content higher in search outcomes. The plan is more keywords for more considerable optimization.
Because of this, it can be attractive to use specific keywords on multiple pages to improve your chances of ranking. However, this approach can backfire if your posts compete for the identical keyword.
Keep reading to discover what keyword cannibalism is, why it’s terrible for SEO, how to obtain keyword cannibalization, and how to mend the issue.
Keyword Cannibalization
If multiple pages on your web page are optimized for the related search query, you’re primarily competing with yourself—which can happen in all pages rankly defectively. When this occurs, we call it keyword cannibalization. Don’t bother if you understand your website may have some keyword cannibalization. You can instantly detect and fix them by following a few manageable steps.
Techniques to gain Keyword Cannibalization
Search In Your Website
A straightforward approach to search for keyword cannibalization is to search queries related to your industry. For example, if you’re a company attempting digital marketing services and regularly upload content on marketing and SEO issues, do a Google search with remarkable keywords you use regularly. These could resemble “SEO strategies” or “marketing suggestions for beginners.” Such a search picks up all web pages ranked for this question. Check to detect if two or more of your posts battle for a spot.
You can also use keyword research tools to simplify and get comprehensive data for better keyword planning. In addition, it can assist you in finding keyword cannibalization faster and reducing the money, time, and effort needed to weed out fighting pages from your website.
Tips to Prevent Keyword Cannibalization
Create a Targeted Keyword Strategy
One of the most authentic ways to prevent keyword cannibalization is to set your targeted keyword approach to circumvent conflict and problematic overlap. Optimizing various pages to target different keywords and search queries. So alternatively, having five pages struggling for the search query “SEO tips,” you can optimize every page for a similar but separate subject like “digital marketing strategy,” “marketing techniques,” “SEO for beginners,” and so on. While trying diverse content for various search queries relevant to your industry, you can stay on the subject. Below are a few openly accessible as well as paid tools you can implement for keyword research and planning:
- Answer the Public
- Ubersuggest
- Google Search Console
- Moz Keyword Explorer
- Google Trends
Trail Keyword Rankings and Performance
Owning a keyword strategy isn’t sufficient. Once you have recognized the keywords you need to serve with, you must also follow their performance over time. Consistently tracking keyword analytics will assist you in understanding which keywords are ranking, which ones hold too much competition, which may be hooked up in cannibalization, and which ones require a boost. Then, please keep track of this data and tweak your keyword strategy to avoid keyword cannibalism or fix it when it happens.
Concentrate on Topics First; Keywords Come Next
Seldom cannibalization occurs because marketing partners become more focused on optimizing keywords than on building content around relevant topics. Do not drain all your resources into keyword research. Instead, get it as a bit of your marketing strategy to focus on subjects. Find what issues your audience is interested in and direct your resources toward serving those interests. Let the keywords come second. Here are a few ways to find what your audience needs:
- Hold social media polls
- Offer giveaways in exchange for audience opinions
- Conduct surveys
- Ask for feedback
- Reach out to dependable long-time readers for opinions
- Using tools like Quora, Google’s “people also ask” feature
- Use Reddit to find what people in your target demographic are talking about
Do Regular Content Audits
You’ve planned a solid keyword strategy, set up tools to track performance, and put more energy into audience interest topics. Next, you need to perform regular content audits to see if publishing aligns with your readers’ interests and marketing aims.
Create Comprehensive Pages
As most of the blogs address overlapping ideas, it generates a lot of unnecessary competition. In addition, since most rank for a comparable search query, it makes keyword cannibalization. You can bypass this by building one single comprehensive page discussing all the associated subtopics instead of posting a separate blog post for each question the audience could potentially have. It is better for SEO as it allows you to target long-tail keywords, attach relevant headers, include multiple search questions on a single page, and withdraw competition with yourself.
Tips to Fix Keyword Cannibalization
- Change Content Optimization: Change the optimization settings when multiple pages are ranking for the same keyword and search query. It could mean decreasing the keywords, replacing them, or restructuring the content.
- Contemplate Deleting Few Posts: Sometimes, re-optimizing posts may not be sufficient to fix keyword cannibalization. In this case, examine to delete some of the overlapping content.
- Merge Content: If two or more blogs of yours are ranking for the identical keyword, but you don’t desire to delete them, hold them by merging them. Posts collectively form a single comprehensive guide for monetizing a blog pointed at new writers.
- Separate Keywords: The first move to avoid keyword cannibalization recognizes where it occurs. Then, determine what your personal most desirable path is. It is recommended to create one comprehensive post rather than publishing multiple posts competing for the same search query. The best option is to work with separate keywords for different posts.
Conclusion
Ranking multiple pages for the exact keywords and search queries forces you to compete with yourself and drive down your success. It’s much more beneficial to concentrate on targeted keywords for distinct posts, prioritize topics above keyword stuffing, and create comprehensive landing pages in place of mini blog posts. It can potentially help increase your rank on the search engine results page and eventually help increase your organic reach. Rework your optimization choices, delete posts that raise competition but aren’t supporting you to meet your marketing aims, and concentrate on merging competing content whenever feasible.
