If you’re an experienced SEO, then you know that keyword cannibalization can be a real problem. But what is it, and how can you prevent it?
Keyword cannibalization occurs when multiple pages on your website compete for the same keyword. This can lead to lower rankings and less traffic to your site.
There are a few ways to prevent keyword cannibalization. First, use keyword research to find the right keywords. Then, use keyword mapping to organize your content. Finally, use canonical tags to avoid duplicate content.
By following these tips, you can avoid keyword cannibalization and keep your website ranking high in the search engines.
What is keyword cannibalization?
The definition of keyword cannibalization.
Keyword cannibalization occurs when multiple pages on a website compete for the same keyword or key phrase. This can happen intentionally, if a company is trying to target the same keyword with multiple pages, or unintentionally, if a website has duplicate content.
The effects of keyword cannibalization.
Keyword cannibalization can have a negative effect on a website’s search engine optimization (SEO). When multiple pages are competing for the same keyword, it can be difficult for search engines to determine which page is most relevant. This can lead to lower rankings for all of the pages involved in the keyword cannibalization. In addition, keyword cannibalization can also lead to lower click-through rates (CTRs) from organic search results, as users may not know which page they should click on.
How to prevent keyword cannibalization.
Use keyword research to find the right keywords.
To prevent keyword cannibalization, you need to do your research and choose the right keywords for your website and content. There are a few different ways to go about this. You can use keyword research tools like Google AdWords Keyword Planner or Moz Keyword Explorer. You can also look at your competitors’ websites to see what keywords they are targeting.
Once you have a list of potential keywords, you need to evaluate them based on a few criteria. First, you want to make sure that the keyword is relevant to your business and content. Second, you want to make sure that the keyword is not too competitive. If there are already a lot of websites competing for that keyword, it will be difficult for you to rank high in search results. Finally, you want to make sure that the keyword gets a decent amount of monthly searches. If no one is searching for the keyword, it’s not going to do you any good.
Use keyword mapping to organize your content.
Keyword mapping is another important tool in preventing keyword cannibalization. Keyword mapping is the process of organizing your content around specific keywords. This means creating separate pages or blog posts for each individual keyword or key phrase that you want to target. By doing this, you ensure that each piece of content is highly focused and targeted towards a specific audience. This makes it more likely that people will find your content when they search for those keywords, and less likely that they will get confused by duplicate content on your site.
Use canonical tags to avoid duplicate content.
A canonical tag (also known as a rel=”canonical” tag) is an HTML element that tells search engines which version of a piece of content is the original and should be indexed. This is useful for avoiding duplicate content issues, as it tells search engines which version of a piece ofcontent they should be indexing and ranking in their results pages.”
You can add canonical tags manually or through plugins if you’re using WordPress.” For more information on how to use canonical tags, check out this article from Yoast SEO.
Conclusion.
Keyword cannibalization can be a serious problem for your website’s SEO. However, there are a few things you can do to prevent it. First, use keyword research to find the right keywords for your website and content. Second, use keyword mapping to organize your content around those keywords. Finally, use canonical tags to avoid duplicate content issues.
If you’re working on SEO, then you need to be aware of keyword cannibalization. This is when you use the same keyword on multiple pages of your website, which can have a negative impact on your search engine rankings.
To avoid keyword cannibalization, you need to do proper keyword research to find the right keywords for each page of your website. You also need to use keyword mapping to organize your content so that you’re using different keywords for different pages. And finally, you need to use canonical tags to avoid duplicate content.
If you follow these steps, then you can avoid keyword cannibalization and improve your SEO goals.