Keyword cannibalisation: what it is and how to fix it

What the hell is keyword cannibalisation? 😱

Keyword cannibalisation: it sounds monstrous, but what does it mean and why might you need to be concerned about it?

Keyword cannibalisation is an SEO issue

When you search-engine-optimise (SEO) your web pages, each individual webpage should be targeting a different set of keywords with different search intent. This is so Google knows exactly which page to show for each particular search query.

Keyword cannibalisation happens when two or more pages of your website are targeting the same SEO keywords with the same search intent. And it’s so-called because those pages will be competing against each other, with each one “eating” into the ranking potential of the others.

Your web pages are competing against each other

When you have multiple web pages competing against each other for Google rankings, it throws Google into a tailspin, because it doesn’t know which of those page best matches the search query.

For example, let’s say your business sells office chairs and you have these three blog articles on your website:

Sit comfortably with these ergonomic office chairs
The most comfortable ergonomic office chairs
Our top ergonomic office chairs for comfort.

Google doesn’t know which is the best one to rank on its results page.

This can have a negative effect on your website

If there’s keyword cannibalisation on your website, this could mean:

Lower or fluctuating rankings
Diluted engagement, authority, and linking opportunities
Inferior user experience
A waste of your SEO investment.

How does keyword cannibalisation happen?

There could be a number of reasons. Here are some of the ones I see most often.

Working without a keyword strategy

A keyword strategy takes all the keywords you want to rank for and assigns them to the most relevant pages and blog articles. More than that, it ensures every page has a clear purpose that satisfies user search intent.

With a keyword strategy every keyword has its place, so there’s overlap and no keyword cannibalisation.

Without a keyword strategy, it’s easy to duplicate keywords across multiple pages.

Creating new pages or articles every time

For some business owners I’ve spoken to, creating something new was their default. If they had a new product, they created a new page for it. If they found something new to blog about, they’d create a whole new article.

But this isn’t always necessary and it can result in keyword cannibalisation if your new page is too similar to an existing one.

Not keeping track of what you already have

Man-with-hands-over-his-eyes-surrounded-by-piles-of-paper — ^{Image by unomat from iStockphoto}

I’ve been approached by businesses that were creating content on top of content. They didn’t have a content plan, they just posted whatever they felt like, whenever they felt like it. And they didn’t keep track of the articles they’d already published. As a result, their back catalogue was huge, with hundreds of articles, many of which were repeating information and keywords.

Your blog shouldn’t be a dumping ground for every piece of content you’ve ever created. It should be something you’re actively monitoring, contributing to strategically and regularly updating. Because this is the only way you’ll know if it’s working for your business.

How to fix keyword cannibalisation on your website

Did you do your original SEO without a keyword strategy? Or have you been creating new pages or content without considering your existing back catalogue? If so, you may have a keyword cannibalisation problem.

But all is not lost and there are ways to fix it.

Have an SEO keyword audit

The first step will be to do a site-wide keyword audit. A decent SEO will have the tools to do this for you and help you understand the results.

When I say ‘decent’, I mean be careful, because there are a lot of cowboys out there. Find yourself an SEO who comes with recommendations and has a proven track record.

Your SEO keyword audit will identify:

Areas where you’re doing well with your SEO keywords
Area where you’re not doing so well and need to improve
Mistakes that need correcting — including keyword cannibalisation
Keyword gaps and link-building opportunities.

Once you have this information, and know where the problems are, you can start to fix your keyword cannibalisation issues.

Amalgamate similar pages

If you have pages that have very similar content and are ranking for the same keywords, consider amalgamating those.

In this diagram, we have four similar pages, which we’ve merged to create one super-strong super page.

To do this, find the page that’s your best performer and make that page the one you keep.

Your best performing page will be the one that’s:

Already ranking highest
Got the most backlinks
Most comprehensive and thorough
Most relevant for user search intent
Most useful to your audience.

Copy any distinct or new information from the other pages and integrate it onto that one page. Doing this will make your best performing page even stronger, so it gives you the best chance of ranking higher.

Finally, add redirects from the similar pages to the page you’re going to keep. This will tie up all the loose ends, so you can delete those similar pages from your site without causing any problems.

Give pages with the same keywords different purposes

If you have cluster topics, amalgamating pages might not be the best way to go.

Pages that are optimised for the same keywords can coexist without a keyword cannibalisation issue if they have different purposes and satisfy different kinds of search intent.

As an example, here’s how one keyword can be used on four different pages, with each page targeting a different type of search intent.

Why you need running shoes —> informational intent
Asics running shoes —> navigational intent
Which running shoes are best for beginners? —> Commercial investigation
Buy running shoes —> transactional intent.

Track and monitor your content

I keep a content inventory of my blog articles and monitor their progress.

For each article, this includes the:

Article title
URL
Date it was originally published
Date it was last updated
Primary category
Number of clicks in the last 3 months
Number of impressions in the last 3 months
Average position over the last 3 months.

The spreadsheet is useful for lots of things including:

Finding all the articles I have on a particular subject
Checking which articles are due to be updated
Seeing how articles are performing in search
Highlighting any issues so I can correct them.

This allows me to easily make additions and improvements to the articles I already have rather than creating new ones every time. This keeps my whole back catalogue fresh, relevant and valuable with no keyword cannibalisation.

Does your blog have a keyword cannibalisation problem?

I’m Jenny, a UK freelance copywriter and content specialist. I’ve been writing premium content that ranks on Google since 2007.

My content inventory and auditing services are designed to organise your blog content and get it to a point where your entire back catalogue is working hard for your business.

This includes: