What is Keyword Cannibalization?

The term “keyword cannibalization” refers to the way results like links, conversions, and click-through-rates (CTR) can be cannibalized when the same keywords show up on multiple pages of your website. It may seem like a good idea to use the same keywords over and over on as many pages of your site as possible, but it can actually do more harm than good. When you do this, you’re essentially competing with your own content. 

How can Keyword Cannibalization Affect SEO?

Google is looking for depth and breadth of information. If the same information is found on several pages, you’re pitting all of those pages against each other in search results. For example, let’s say you sell home decor on your website. If you’re using “home decor” on each page, you’re telling search engines that the only thing you’re selling is “home decor” and not drilling down to more specific items you offer, like throw pillows, art, candles, etc. This is why you can see hits to your authority, conversion rates, and more. Let’s get into these potential problems:

Damaging Your E-A-T

When Google’s “medic update” of 2018 came down, the algorithm began placing a greater emphasis on the expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (E-A-T) of a website. We talked about this update in our last blog, “Content is Queen: The Importance of Strong Website Content.”  When you’re leaning on keyword cannibalization, instead of having one page that’s strong in expertise, authority, and trustworthiness, you’ll split your results between several pages. This means your CTR can look pretty meek and spread out instead of being strong on the one page that makes the most sense for both your business and your customers. Don’t fight yourself for rankings.

Blowing Your Crawl Budget

illustration of a cute black and purple spider lounging on a spider web

A search engine’s spider only crawls the pages of your site so many times, only so often. Your crawl budget is the frequency with which this happens. When your pages have clearly defined, different content with a specific keyword strategy in place, your crawl budget can be used more efficiently and therefore, can be more effective. However, if you have some keyword cannibalization going on, you’re wasting that crawl budget because that spider is only going to find the same keywords on multiple pages. 

P.S. A crawl budget isn’t that big of a worry for smaller sites, but if you’re running an e-commerce site with multiple items for sale, it’s definitely worth considering.

Devaluing Relevant Pages

When Google can’t tell the difference between your pages, it won’t be able to accurately rank them. That can result in a page that could’ve been ranked well falling behind in rankings simply because the keywords on multiple pages are too similar. Of course, this can lead to a conversion rate that isn’t reaching its full potential.

Hurting Your Conversion Rate

Every website has a page that converts better than all others. The ultimate goal of your website is to direct users to that page so they can become customers. When users get to that page, they should see informative, quality, strategic content that convinces them that you know what you’re doing and are the best business to help with their needs. You know where we’re going with this, right? You guessed it. If keyword cannibalization is going on, it’s less likely that users will head to that more powerful page and you’ll leave potential leads on the table. 

Correcting Keyword Cannibalization

Organization is key when it comes to righting keyword wrongs. First, you’ll have to identify where any keyword cannibalization might be happening. You can do this with a simple spreadsheet. List your URLs on one side and the keywords you’re targeting on those pages on the other. If you see unnecessary overlap, you’ll want to make some changes. Of course, those changes depend on the specific problem, but a few possible corrections are as follows: 

1) Strengthen Your Keyword Strategy

This could be the easiest way to fix the issue, but it requires keyword research, organization, and re-writing content. 

illustration of a busy desktop including a laptop and coffee2) Shore Up Your Content

Take a good, long, objective look at the content on every single page on your site. Are there a couple (or more) pages that could be consolidated into one? If so, don’t hesitate to make that change—especially if those pages are targeting the same keywords. A bonus will be that by combining pages like this, you can strengthen your content overall.

3) Rework Your Website

Inhale. Good. Now exhale. Here goes: you might realize that your website’s structure isn’t as user friendly as you once thought. In fact, you may have a page or two that should be turned into primary pages with secondary pages below. On those pages, you can target different, specific keywords. Going back to our initial home decor e-commerce example, your landing page may be for bedroom home decor and underneath that umbrella, users could find pages dedicated to things like pillows, comforters, and lamps.

Keep User Intent in Mind

Overall, the issue of keyword cannibalization always goes back to intent. This really shines a light on how important a solid SEO strategy is. Social media, advertising, and other digital marketing efforts are important, but more often than not, the majority of traffic coming to your site will likely get there thanks to SEO. Understanding user intent, in-depth keyword research, and quality content are essential when it comes to driving traffic to your website. If you’re ready to talk about your SEO strategy and ongoing digital marketing, hit us up today.