Problems Caused by Keyword Cannibalization
Keyword cannibalization is a situation that we certainly do not want to encounter in SEO work. Let's take a look at the reasons for this one by one.
The biggest problem that keyword cannibalization brings is that it creates competition between the same two pages on a website, causing traffic and click-through rates to be divided. In this way, the two pages affect each other for a while, causing the rankings to drop even further.
The backlinks received by two separate pages targeting the same keyword will also be unnecessarily divided. In other words, while more and all qualified backlinks can be received from a single page, dividing the indonesia telephone number data backlinks coming from two separate content with the same target will cause the authority to be divided without reason.
Content that causes unnecessary divisions in this way also negatively affects the crawl budget. Search engines, which we want to prioritize more important pages and content when crawling our website, waste time on content that has undergone keyword cannibalization, causing the crawl budget to not be used effectively.
Finally, cannibalization causes conversion rates to drop, causing us to spend unnecessary effort on pages with low conversions. It would be healthier to spend energy on pages with higher conversions and contribute to this page with content and some work.
How to Detect Keyword Cannibalization Problem?
We now know what kind of problems keyword cannibalization can cause on our website. So how do we identify the pages and content that have this problem?
Using Google Search Parameters
Perhaps the simplest way to detect this error is to use Google search parameters. To do this, you need to use the 'keyword' site:sitename.com parameter. In this way, you will be able to see the content that targets the relevant keyword in the search results and falls into cannibalization.
Using Google Search Console
You can also detect cannibalization errors with the help of this free tool. To do this, you can determine your keywords that receive traffic through the tool and easily distinguish which content and pages are receiving traffic from these words.
Using SEO Tools like Ahrefs, Semrush etc.
You can also use paid SEO tools such as Google Search Console to identify the keywords and pages that are driving traffic and identify your pages that are experiencing this problem.
You may be interested in: Semrush User Guide
How to Fix Keyword Cannibalization Problem?
Cannibalization is an important problem that needs to be solved as soon as it is noticed. Otherwise, as we mentioned at the beginning of the article, experiencing negativities and ranking losses will unfortunately be inevitable. Here are a few different methods to solve the problem:
1. Merging Pages
The most basic method that comes to mind and is easy to implement is, of course, merging pages and content. In this way, all clicks and all backlinks are drawn to a single target, and the crawl budget is used effectively, and all these efforts bring solid returns to a single target.
2. Making Redirections
You have collected the content on a single page and decided to make the page with the highest conversion the main target. To do this, you need to make a 301 redirect from the other deactivated page to the home page . Otherwise, the indexed page will be wasted on the search engine.
3. Using the Canonical Tag
Keyword cannibalization is also a technical problem, so it also requires a technical solution. This method should only be used when merging or deleting the relevant pages is not possible and the user experience is to be improved.
4. Using Noindex Tags
You can use the “noindex” tag on pages that you do not want to provide traffic from pages with similar targeting. For example, if we have a blog category and a blog post with the same keyword target , it would be wise to give the blog category the noindex tag.
