Do you have different pages targeting one keyword? If yes, you are doing more harm to your website than good.
You might have heard about a common misconception that you stand a better chance to rank if you target the same keywords in different web pages. But, the fact is, it has an exactly opposite effect as you are competing with yourself. As a result, you have low CTR, low domain authority, and lower conversions, which is disastrous for your website’s SEO.
We call this step, in fact, a misstep, Keyword Cannibalization technically! Why? Because you are cannibalizing your own results by this. Let’s take a deeper look at what it is and how you can avoid it.
What’s Keyword Cannibalisation?
When you target the same keyword in more than one page, it confuses the eyes of the search engine. It affects your website rankings as Google can’t decide what page to rank for what term.
For instance, you have an online store with different web pages ranking for T-Shirts. These repetitive keywords indicate Google that every page is about T-Shirts regardless of whether these are women tops, men’s wear, sports T-shirts, or formal shirts.
Is Keyword Cannibalisation Serious for Your Website?
Keywords cannibalization can be a serious issue for your website. It can reduce your domain authority in the long run. You are splitting your CTR into different pages; instead of having one authoritative page. This way you have created competitors for yourself and thus you have to struggle for views and ranks.
Google struggles to decide which page is the best to rank, which may get it wrong, and thus some of your relevant pages may get devalued. It will also affect your conversions as your users are carried to less relevant pages. This keeps your users under the impression that your content is stretched unnecessarily depicting poor page quality.
How Can You Fix Keyword Cannibalisation?
Focus on the root problem before you start fixing the issue. Knowing the same, you can implement these possible solutions:
1. Restructure your website
Turn your authoritative page into a landing page that links to other web pages with certain variations where you have used similar keywords. Supposedly, if we go to T-Shirts product on your online store, make it your source page and link it to other pages with little variations.
2. Create new landing pages
Create one unique landing page that has all your product information. For instance, create a page called Sports T-Shirts and then other T-Shirts for Women. In case it benefits you in the long run, then link it to several other pages.
3. Consolidate your content
If you have similar keywords and similar content in multiple pages, try consolidating into one. This way, you can cut down non-performing pages and create a more authoritative page.
Also, if you have diverse and rich content, but the only reason your website is suffering due to poorly planned keyword strategy, then try finding new keywords. Make sure you pay due attention to the search intent.
Keyword cannibalisation depicts your approach; so, you don’t need to fear much. If one approach doesn’t work start with the other using the tips mentioned above. Also, don’t forget to test the changes you did.
We hope you liked the blog. For more information on digital marketing, consider checking other blogs here.
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