What is Cannibalisation in SEO?

Search engine optimisation (SEO) involves many strategies that aim to improve a website’s visibility in the search engine results pages (SERPs). However, one issue that can arise and inhibit search engine optimisation performance is keyword cannibalisation. While it might sound alarming, it’s easily fixed and easily mitigated. In this article, we’ll be going through what keyword cannibalisation is, why it’s a problem, what causes it and how it can be avoided to prevent the problem from occurring in the first place. So, let’s dive in.

What is keyword cannibalisation?

Keyword cannibalisation occurs when two or more pages, or blog posts, on your website begin to target the same, or similar, keywords. Search engines like Google have multiple pages to choose from, which is why they may struggle from time to time to determine which one is the most relevant for a particular search query. 

As a result, the pages compete against each other instead of working together to achieve a common goal; this is ‘cannibalisation’. If both articles target the keyword ‘SEO for small businesses’ and if they both cover the same topic, then Google may not know which page or blog post to write, therefore causing cannibalisation. 

While it might not seem like an issue, it can be detrimental to the performance of your website pages and articles in the SERPs. If you aren’t performing well enough, then people will not see your site when they make a search query, instead choosing your competitors. So it’s more problematic than you might have otherwise thought.

Why is keyword cannibalisation a problem?

Many businesses will assume that creating more content around the same topic will increase their chances of ranking. While producing quality content is important,t publishing multiple pages or news articles that have the same search intent can have the exact opposite effect, therefore leading to more issues. Here’s why keyword cannibalisation is a problem in SEO:

It confuses search engines

Search engines aim to deliver the most relevant result for each search. When several website pages on your site begin to target the same keyword, Google needs to decide which page answers the search query best. This sort of uncertainty can then cause rankings to fluctuate on a frequent, almost daily basis. If internet users see that your results are all over the place, then it could hinder their trust in you. 

It reduces click-through rates (CTRs)

If Google alternates between different website pages and blog posts, then users may land on pages or content pieces that aren’t the best match for their search. This can then reduce click-through rates (CTRs) and increase bounce rates if visitors don’t find the information they expected. If this happens, then you’re not increasing your leads or your sales, which can hamper business performance in the long run if it’s not rectified. 

It splits ranking signals

SEO authority is built through backlinks, internal links, user engagement and other ranking signals. If these signals are spread across multiple competing pages, none of them will be as authoritative as a single, comprehensive page would. This is just another way in which cannibalisation can hinder your website performance. 

It can waste your crawl budget

Large websites have a limited crawl budget. This means that search engines allocate a certain amount of time to crawling pages, essentially. So, if you have multiple pages or news articles that cover the same topic, it may result in unnecessary crawling of duplicate or overlapping content as opposed to discovering new or updated pages. 

It makes content harder to maintain

When information is spread across several similar pages, updating that content becomes more time-consuming than initially anticipated. Important information may become inconsistent or outdated across different articles, which is the other thing that you have to bear in mind when it comes to keyword cannibalisation. 

What causes keyword cannibalisation?

Keyword cannibalisation often happens unintentionally, and it can go unnoticed for a long period of time unless you know how to identify when cannibalisation is occurring (more on that later). However, it’s easy to see how it’s caused. All of the following things can increase the chances of keyword cannibalisation:

• Publishing similar blog posts – businesses will create new content without reviewing existing pieces. Subsequently, a blog could have many blog posts targeting the same keywords
• Poor keyword research – without a clear keyword strategy, multiple writers could optimise different blog posts and website pages for the same search terms
• Duplicate product or service pages – e-commerce sites will sometimes create lots of different pages for similar products. As such, search engines will view them all as competing pages, rather than as related ones
• Location pages that don’t have unique content – businesses often serve several locations at once. It can be tempting to copy and paste the same content for each location, but this can be harmful, causing them to compete with each other
• Website redesigns – when a website is redesigned or has been migrated, pages can be accidentally created, more so if old URLs aren’t redirected adequately

How do you know if keyword cannibalisation is happening?

Most marketers will know that it’s actually quite easy to see when cannibalisation in SEO is happening. While it might seem complicated, there are a few simple ways to identify keyword cannibalisation in real time. Here are a few techniques you can use:

• Search Google – type your website into Google like this: ‘site.com keyword’. This will show all indexed pages related to that search term. If multiple pages appear that target the same search intent, then cannibalisation is to blame
• Review Google Search Console (GSC) – GSC allows users to see which pages receive the most engagement for specific keywords. If several pages are receiving traffic from the same keyword, then they’re likely competing with one another
• Use SEO tools – multiple platforms can quickly identify pages that are targeting the same search terms and highlight potential cannibalisation issues, such as Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, Semrush and Moz
• Audit your content – regularly reviewing content on your blog and website pages can help you to spot overlapping topics and keywords before they start to become an issue

If cannibalisation is the problem, how can I fix it?

If you’ve found that cannibalisation is an issue for your content, then don’t panic. It’s a relatively common problem for marketers and website owners alike, but it does have a simple and easy fix. However, it’s important to bear in mind that the effects of any positive changes you make can take a while to come into effect, so have some patience and trust the process. Here’s how to fix cannibalisation issues in SEO:

Merge similar content

If two articles cover almost identical topics, then you should consider combining them into one comprehensive guide. Once it’s merged, the weaker page can be redirected to the stronger page using a 301 redirect command. This will create a more authoritative page while preserving any SEO value from the old URL. 

Optimise pages for different keywords

Sometimes, pages or blog posts can be similar, but they can still be just as valuable. In these cases, you should adjust each page to target different keywords or search intents. For instance, Page one could have the title of ‘What is SEO?’, whereas page two could have the title of ‘How SEO Helps Small Businesses’. Although the two are related, they pose and answer different queries and questions and, therefore, target different searches. 

Improve internal linking

Use internal links to indicate which page is your primary resource on a topic. Linking consistently to your main page will help to reinforce its importance to the search engines, therefore preventing and fixing any cannibalisation that may have occurred. However, when internally linking blog posts, only add links out from blog posts to main pages and not the other way around. 

Use canonical tags

If similar pages must exist, then a canonical tag will tell the search engine which version it should be treating as the preferred page for indexing and ranking. This is an easy way of diverting attention away from a less authoritative page.

Remove low-value content

If a page provides little value or receives no meaningful traffic, then it may be worth removing it and redirecting users to a more comprehensive alternative. This way, you can aim attention towards your most valuable content, instead of having readers waste their time on low-value content.

How to prevent keyword cannibalisation

Preventing keyword cannibalisation is far easier to do, and it takes less time than identifying issues and fixing them later down the line. Some of the best practices when it comes to keyword cannibalisation prevention include the following:

• Maintaining a keyword strategy that uses one primary keyword for each main website page or single blog post
• Keeping a content calendar to avoid the publication of duplicate website pages or blog posts
• Auditing your website regularly to avoid overlapping content 
• Updating and expanding your existing articles as opposed to writing new ones about the same topic
• Creating topic clusters, where one comprehensive pillar page links to supporting articles that cover related subtopics

Kumo is pleased to provide a wide range of digital marketing services, including content creation, SEO, PPC, website design and more. You can rest assured that our team of dedicated experts can set you apart from your competitors with excellent content creation and copywriting services. If you’d like further information about how we can help you today, get in touch with a member of our friendly, specialist team – we’re always happy to hear from you.