Is keyword cannibalization is part of your SEO strategy? When it comes to SEO, the most common misconceptions are related to keywords and backlinks. If you are also one of those who believe in creating multiple pages for the similar keyword for better ranking, then you are following the wrong path.
You may be thinking that Google may use your pages to rank higher in SERP.
But it is not true.
If you are targeting the same keyword on multiple pages, then you are attracting negative results.
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By creating multiple pages for the same targeted keyword, you are creating competition for your content.
The more pages with lower CTR will decrease the authority of your site.
This SEO tactic is known as Keyword Cannibalization or content cannibalization.
What is Keyword Cannibalization?
The reason why this practice is known as keyword cannibalization is that you are splitting conversation, content, CTR and links into different pages.
When you are doing this, you are creating a confusing situation for Google to find out what the best you have. This way, you are damaging the authority of your website.
Google will start competing for your pages against each other.
For example; If you are selling bags, then bags is the only keyword that you are targeting. You will be showing Google that every site page is related to bags such as track bags, travel bags, utility bags, etc.
Adverse effects of Keyword Cannibalization:
Keyword cannibalization can put overall SEO performance of your website in danger.
The irony is that most of the SEO's are not even aware of the dangers of keyword cannibalization.
Sometimes you may feel happy because one of your pages is ranking on the 5th position, but you may not realize the fact that you have an authority page that can rank better and convert even better.
Keyword Cannibalization can cause you;
- Lost site traffic
- Traffic to wrong pages
- The decline in SERP ranking
- Lost of sale
Drop-in Page Authority:
Rather than using one authority page, you are dividing CTR to multiple pages.
But, you have created competitive pages for the same targeted keyword. Now your pages are competing with each other for ranking and page views.
Diluting anchor text and link value:
Backlinks that will link back to one page and increase its authority now divided into multiple pages targeting the similar keyword.
You may also be leading your visitors to different pages.
Google can devalue relevant pages:
Keywords make it easy for Google to understand that the article is all about.
Sometimes your content can confuse Google to decide which page they should rank first.
Messing your crawl budget:
Crawl budget calculated as the number of times search engine spider crawls in a specific time.
By creating multiple pages for the same keyword will cause multiple crawling and indexing of non targeted pages.
Poor page quality:
When you work with multiple pages or blog posts targeting the same keyword, then you will have multiple copies of thin content.
Thin content work as low-quality content in Google search results.
Conversion Rate:
Your one page can convert better than the rest of your other pages for the same keywords.
By creating multiple pages, you can divert your potential customers to some less relevant pages.
How to Identify Keyword Cannibalization:
Try to identify the keyword cannibalization problem, and you can fix the issue quickly.
There is no secret way to find keyword cannibalization.
You can quickly create a spreadsheet where you can list keywords and url's.For example: if you are selling bags, then your excel sheet will look like:
You can also take the help of keyword mapping tools.
After completing the list, you can quickly identify the duplicate entries for the same keyword.
Now you are ready to fix the pages with keyword cannibalization issue. Even if you are using duplicate mate tags, then still it falls in the category of keyword cannibalization.If you are using SEO tools such as rank tracking tools, then you can also find thin content for your targeted keywords.
It is time for you to fix the issue with the following methods.
How to fix Keyword Cannibalization:
Solving the keyword cannibalization problem is the big thing in front of bloggers, marketers and organizations.
You may have optimized the terrible websites, but this is something that every blogger or webmaster should take seriously.
You may even have to create new 301 directs and landing pages.Five ways to fix keyword cannibalization:
Restructure Website:
The easiest way to fix keyword cannibalization is by turning your most authoritative page into a landing page by adding links to all other relevant pages.
If I take you back to the "Bags" example, then you will make the top canonical page by linking specific pages.
Create a landing page:
You can also create a landing page where you will link all the product pages to one landing page.
To do this, you will create an official landing page and link other variants of posts or pages to this page.
In this example; we can create a page called "school bags" and "travel bags".
Content Consolidation:
If your pages are not talking about different forms of the content, then you should consider combining all such pages into one active page.
For example; you can take two or more low authority pages and create one highly authoritative and source.
Target new Keywords:
If you already have a high authority page with pillar content but still not able to reach the top position in the search result, then you should find new keywords.
Find the keywords that are related to our target keywords and include them in your content.One thing that you should make sure is that you should place keywords to prove their relevance.
Use 301 redirects:
Too many 301 redirects can harm your blog or website reputation.
But, sometimes you can use 301 redirects to consolidate cannibalized content on your website or blog quickly.
Remember: Only use this strategy for the pages with similar content with matching keywords.
To fix keyword cannibalization, these five ways will prove their worth.
Final Words:
Keyword cannibalization is widely noticed topic today.
It is ironic that evens the webmasters with focus on SEO for their business still not able to follow the voice of Google.
If your website is facing cannibalizing issue with the highly targeted keywords, still you can fix the problem.
With the positive attitude and right SEO tools, you can boost the overall SEO performance of your website or blog.
If you still have any question, do share via comments.
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