What is Keyword Cannibalization and How to Fix It?

If you've written a blog post on article-based sites, then there are probably discussions within your team about the best way to optimize your content. You may even have heard of the term "keyword cannibalization" in these discussions. It's an important concept, but it can be confusing for beginners to fully understand it. So, let's unravel this thread and see what's going on under the hood of keyword cannibalization and how we can avoid it.

What is Keyword Cannibalization?

Keyword cannibalization is a term used to describe when two or more pages of a website share the same set of keywords or the same keyword phrase. This creates issues for both visitor experience and search engines.

For example, let's say that you have two pages on your website that have similar content and target the same keyword. If both pages rank well in Google's search results, you'll have a problem. Users will be directed to one page instead of the other. When they arrive at this page, they may be confused or disappointed by what they find (or not find). This could lead them to leave your site quickly — and never come back.

How to Fix Keyword Cannibalization?

The problem of keyword cannibalization becomes even more severe when a website’s copy contains the same keywords that your high-ranking page has. Hence, it becomes important to fix the issue. Let's look at some of the ways you can avoid keyword cannibalization.

• Remove Duplicate Content from Your Site

Duplicate content is a big problem for search engines. It’s not just that duplicate content can be confusing to search engines and users, it’s also very bad for your ranking. Google considers duplicate content as spammy and in some cases it can even lead to your site being removed from the index completely.

But what happens when you have multiple pages on your website that are essentially duplicates of each other? In many cases, this leads to keyword cannibalization.

To identify whether you have duplicate content on your site, try using tools such as Google Search Console, SEMrush or Ahrefs. These tools will show you which keywords are being used by search engines to find your website. You can then use this information to find out which keywords are being used for both pages in question (and potentially others).

• Optimize All the Pages

The next step is to re-write your content in order to make it more readable and useful to the reader. This will help users find your content more easily and make it more likely that they'll share it with others, which in turn will increase your search engine rankings.

If you have more than one website, then you must make sure that each site has its own unique content, as well as its own dedicated audience. You can do this by creating separate websites for each of your products or services. You should also consider linking all your sites together so that they appear in search results as well as on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and more.

• Add More Content to Each Page

If you have multiple pages that are similar, you can get around this by making each page longer and more detailed than before. Another way to fix keyword cannibalization is by creating an entirely new page that contains highly relevant information that is not covered on the other page.

This will allow Google to determine which of your pages is unique and worthy of ranking higher. You can also try using 301 redirects to move some of your duplicate content onto other pages so that they can be indexed separately from one another.

• Don't Use the Same Title Tag or Meta Description

One of the biggest causes of keyword cannibalization is duplicate title tags and meta descriptions. You should always use unique title tags and meta descriptions on each page, so they aren't accidentally shared with other pages on your site. It's also important to make sure that each page has a unique description, so it doesn't get mixed up with other pages in search results.

If you're using similar titles and descriptions on multiple pages, try using fewer specific keywords in your titles and descriptions. For example, if you want to rank for "blue t-shirts," don't use those exact words in your title or description. Instead, use something like "blue shirts" or "tee shirts." This will make sure that Google only sees one page as relevant for each search term.

• Why is it Important to Fix the Issue?

If you have two pages that target the same keyword, you will often see them competing with each other in the search engine results pages (SERPs). This can lead to one page outranking the other because it has more authority or more links pointing to it, or because it’s more relevant to users’ searches.

It’s important to fix this issue because it can cause your rankings and traffic to suffer. If one page outranks the other, then Google may choose not to show both pages in search results when someone searches for either term. That means that visitors who land on your site won’t see both pages — and that could mean missing out on leads or sales! You can go through a keyword research checklist to find unique keywords so that no two pages on your website target the same keywords.

Bottom Line

You can get the help of digital marketing experts to solve the issue by adding synonyms in the titles, H1 or ALT tags, and writing original content. They may also use a consolidated URL structure, avoid unnecessary category pages, and regularly review your content for dead links and mistakes.

However, keyword cannibalization can't be fixed overnight. So, you need to be patient with the digital marketing expert resolving the problem of keyword cannibalization for you.