SEO
How To Identify & Eliminate Keyword Cannibalization To Boost Your SEO
Do you have multiple pages on your website ranking for the same keyword?
That may sound like a good thing.
After all, the more pages you have in search results, the more impressions you will receive from search users, right?
Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case.
Targeting a specific term across multiple pages can have the opposite effect. You may do more harm than good to your SEO for that keyword.
The reason is simple — when you have multiple pages ranking for the same keyword, you force your pages to compete with each other.
Consequently, each page has a lower CTR, diminished authority, and lower conversion rates than one consolidated page would have.
We call this SEO misstep keyword cannibalization.
What Is Keyword Cannibalization?
Keyword cannibalization is known as such because you’re “cannibalizing” your own results by splitting CTR, links, content, and (often) conversions between two pages that should be one.
When you do this, you aren’t showing Google the breadth or depth of your knowledge. You aren’t improving the authority of your site for that query, either.
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Instead, you’re asking Google to weigh your pages against one another and choose which ones it thinks suits the matching keywords best.
For example, let’s say that your website sells shoes, and [shoes] is the only keyword you target. You’re essentially telling Google that every page is about shoes regardless of whether they’re hiking shoes, tennis shoes, sneakers, etc.
Instead of capitalizing on a lot of valuable longer-tail keywords such as women’s shoes, running shoes, etc., you’re competing against yourself for one keyword that may be too broad to have commercial intent.
6 Negative Effects Keyword Cannibalization Can Have On Your SEO
Keyword cannibalization can have disastrous consequences for your SEO. Many people suffering from keyword cannibalization aren’t even aware there’s an issue.
They might even be happy that one page is ranking in the fifth and sixth slot for their targeted keyword, without realizing that one authoritative page would probably rank higher and convert better.
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The practical consequences are clear. However, lost site traffic, queries leading to the wrong page, fluctuating SERP rankings, and ultimately lost sales may also result, and are more difficult to detect.
Why?
Because…
You’re Diminishing The Authority Of Your Page
Instead of having one highly authoritative page, you’re splitting your CTR among multiple moderately-relevant pages.
Essentially, you’ve turned your pages into competitors and now you’re fighting for pageviews and SERP rankings.
Consider it from the point of view of a reader looking for a new book on Amazon. Would you rather have one, in-depth book about a topic that demonstrated your expertise?
Or would you prefer to have two or more less complete books about a topic, each leaving you wishing there was more information?
You’re Diluting Your Links & Anchor Text
Backlinks that could have gone to one consolidated source of information are now being split between two (or more) pages.
The outreach efforts spent on acquiring 10 links for one page and 15 links for another could have been spent acquiring 25 links for one better-performing page.
Furthermore, a complete, in-depth page is more likely to be linked to than lighter, less comprehensive pieces.
Similarly, your anchor text and internal links are leading visitors to multiple different pages instead of one authoritative page on the subject.
Google May Devalue The More Relevant Page
Keywords are one of the main ways in which we help Google understand what our pages are about.
If all of your keywords are the same, Google tries to understand which page is the best fit – and if your content is too similar, it might get it wrong.
For example, let’s say you have two pages ranking for the same keyword. If the higher converting page ranks lower, you could be missing out on high-value, converting traffic.
You’re Squandering Crawl Budget
Your crawl budget is the number of times a search engine spider crawls your website in a given time period.
Having multiple pages devoted to the same keyword results in the crawling and indexing of pages that aren’t needed.
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Note: Small sites probably won’t notice a difference or ever have to worry about their crawl budget, but large ecommerce sites or vendors with multiple products may.
It’s A Sign of Poor Page Quality
Multiple pages targeting the same keyword tells your users that your content is probably stretched thin. It also signals to Google that your content may not match your keywords on each page.
Your Conversion Rate Will Suffer
Inevitably, one of your pages will convert better than the rest.
Instead of directing new visitors to that page and making it the most authoritative page possible, you’re instead losing potential leads when they land on less relevant pages.
How To Identify Keyword Cannibalization
Fortunately, once you’ve identified the problem, fixing keyword cannibalization is easy.
Identifying keyword cannibalization is as easy as creating a keyword matrix.
Simply create a spreadsheet that lists all of your site’s important URLs and their associated keywords.
For example, if your site sells shoes, then your spreadsheet might look like this:
Alternatively, you can use a keyword mapping tool, which might look like this:
Once you’ve listed your URLs and their keywords, run down the list and look for any duplicate entries.
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If you spot any – especially across core pages – you’re probably suffering from keyword cannibalization.
Now it’s time to fix those pages!
Note that keyword cannibalization can even occur if the meta information in your title tags seems to target the same keyword, so double-check those, too.
If you’re using a rank tracking tool, you may also want to take this opportunity to search for thin content and keywords mistakenly applied to the wrong page.
It’s a good time to give your site a little TLC.
How To Fix Keyword Cannibalization
How you solve keyword cannibalization depends on the root of the problem.
More often than not, the issue is simply one of organization. But particularly stubborn cases may require that you break out the 301s or new landing pages.
Here are five possible solutions.
1. Restructure Your Website
The simplest solution is often to take your most authoritative page and turn it into a landing page, which links to other unique variations that fall under the umbrella of your targeted keywords.
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If we return to our shoe-product example, it might make sense to make “shoes” our canonical source page and link all more specific variations back to it.
2. Create New Landing Pages
Alternatively, you might lack a landing page that consolidates all of your product pages in one place.
In this case, you’d benefit from creating a unique landing page to serve as your authoritative source page and link to all of your variations from there.
In our example, we might create a page called “hiking shoes” and another called “sneakers for men.”
These should allow you to target both broad keyword terms with your consolidated pages and long-tail keywords on your variations.
3. Consolidate Your Content
If your pages aren’t unique enough to warrant having multiple pages targeting the same keyword, consider combining them into one page.
This is a chance to take two underperforming pages and turn them into a more authoritative source. It may also solve thin content issues.
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Start with your analytics to determine which page performs best in terms of traffic, bounce rate, time on page, conversions, etc. You may find that one page receives most of the traffic, but the other has the content that converts more users.
The goal, in this case, could be to consolidate the converting copy content on the page with the most traffic. Ideally, you would be able to maintain the same ranking and convert more of the traffic.
An added benefit of this approach is that you won’t have to worry about having your website penalized for content that Google considers thin or cookie-cutter-like.
4. Find New Keywords
Finally, if you’re already blessed with highly diverse, content-rich pages, and the only thing your website is suffering from is a poorly planned keyword strategy, maybe all you need to do is find new keywords.
Just make sure your keywords accurately describe your page’s content. Will a website visitor who searched for the target keyword be satisfied by the content on each page that ranks for it?
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If the answer is no, it may be time to do some keyword research.
Looking at your pages in a spreadsheet with the following details can help you spot better keyword opportunities for similar pages:
- Keyword & rank.
- The page URL.
- SEO title & meta description.
- Word count.
- Organic traffic.
- Bounce rate.
- Conversions.
This should help you spot pages targeting the same keywords.
From there, you can determine which pages are most valuable, which can be consolidated, and which need new keywords.
In most cases, you can use your keyword research tool to find the most relevant keywords for all of the pages you want to keep.
If you have two pages ranking well for a long-tail keyword, see if there is a related broad term you could be focusing on for one of them to capture more traffic.
Once you find that keyword, reoptimize for it accordingly and update the details in your spreadsheet for future reference and performance tracking.
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5. Use 301 Redirects
While I generally advise against using too many 301 redirects (see my list of the 10 Most Harmful Mobile SEO Mistakes), they might be necessary if you already have multiple pages ranking for the same terms.
Using 301s allows you to consolidate your cannibalized content by linking the less relevant pages to a single, more authoritative version.
Keepin mind though that this tactic is suitable only for pages with similar content and those matching specific keyword queries.
Conclusion
These five solutions will fix most cases of keyword cannibalization. Still, if you manage an ecommerce website, you should be particularly careful to note how your CMS separates products with variable sizes and colors.
Some CMS programs create separate pages for every product variation.
If your CMS is organizing products like this, you should either restrict duplicate pages from being indexed using robots.txt or <meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”> tags, or you should use canonical URLs to consolidate link signals for the duplicate content.
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Keyword cannibalization is more prevalent today than ever before.
Ironically, its victims are usually webmasters who recognize the importance of SEO for their business. Yet while they intend to optimize their site, they don’t fully understand how to ‘speak’ Google’s language.
Fortunately, if your website is cannibalizing its target keywords, solutions aren’t hard to come by — and the damage isn’t permanent.
With the right tools and a “can-do” attitude, you can give your SEO a well-deserved boost.
Featured image: Paulo Bobita/SearchEngineJournal
SEO
Google Declares It The “Gemini Era” As Revenue Grows 15%
Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, announced its first quarter 2024 financial results today.
While Google reported double-digit growth in key revenue areas, the focus was on its AI developments, dubbed the “Gemini era” by CEO Sundar Pichai.
The Numbers: 15% Revenue Growth, Operating Margins Expand
Alphabet reported Q1 revenues of $80.5 billion, a 15% increase year-over-year, exceeding Wall Street’s projections.
Net income was $23.7 billion, with diluted earnings per share of $1.89. Operating margins expanded to 32%, up from 25% in the prior year.
Ruth Porat, Alphabet’s President and CFO, stated:
“Our strong financial results reflect revenue strength across the company and ongoing efforts to durably reengineer our cost base.”
Google’s core advertising units, such as Search and YouTube, drove growth. Google advertising revenues hit $61.7 billion for the quarter.
The Cloud division also maintained momentum, with revenues of $9.6 billion, up 28% year-over-year.
Pichai highlighted that YouTube and Cloud are expected to exit 2024 at a combined $100 billion annual revenue run rate.
Generative AI Integration in Search
Google experimented with AI-powered features in Search Labs before recently introducing AI overviews into the main search results page.
Regarding the gradual rollout, Pichai states:
“We are being measured in how we do this, focusing on areas where gen AI can improve the Search experience, while also prioritizing traffic to websites and merchants.”
Pichai reports that Google’s generative AI features have answered over a billion queries already:
“We’ve already served billions of queries with our generative AI features. It’s enabling people to access new information, to ask questions in new ways, and to ask more complex questions.”
Google reports increased Search usage and user satisfaction among those interacting with the new AI overview results.
The company also highlighted its “Circle to Search” feature on Android, which allows users to circle objects on their screen or in videos to get instant AI-powered answers via Google Lens.
Reorganizing For The “Gemini Era”
As part of the AI roadmap, Alphabet is consolidating all teams building AI models under the Google DeepMind umbrella.
Pichai revealed that, through hardware and software improvements, the company has reduced machine costs associated with its generative AI search results by 80% over the past year.
He states:
“Our data centers are some of the most high-performing, secure, reliable and efficient in the world. We’ve developed new AI models and algorithms that are more than one hundred times more efficient than they were 18 months ago.
How Will Google Make Money With AI?
Alphabet sees opportunities to monetize AI through its advertising products, Cloud offerings, and subscription services.
Google is integrating Gemini into ad products like Performance Max. The company’s Cloud division is bringing “the best of Google AI” to enterprise customers worldwide.
Google One, the company’s subscription service, surpassed 100 million paid subscribers in Q1 and introduced a new premium plan featuring advanced generative AI capabilities powered by Gemini models.
Future Outlook
Pichai outlined six key advantages positioning Alphabet to lead the “next wave of AI innovation”:
- Research leadership in AI breakthroughs like the multimodal Gemini model
- Robust AI infrastructure and custom TPU chips
- Integrating generative AI into Search to enhance the user experience
- A global product footprint reaching billions
- Streamlined teams and improved execution velocity
- Multiple revenue streams to monetize AI through advertising and cloud
With upcoming events like Google I/O and Google Marketing Live, the company is expected to share further updates on its AI initiatives and product roadmap.
Featured Image: Sergei Elagin/Shutterstock
SEO
brightonSEO Live Blog
Hello everyone. It’s April again, so I’m back in Brighton for another two days of Being the introvert I am, my idea of fun isn’t hanging around our booth all day explaining we’ve run out of t-shirts (seriously, you need to be fast if you want swag!). So I decided to do something useful and live-blog the event instead.
Follow below for talk takeaways and (very) mildly humorous commentary. sun, sea, and SEO!
SEO
Google Further Postpones Third-Party Cookie Deprecation In Chrome
Google has again delayed its plan to phase out third-party cookies in the Chrome web browser. The latest postponement comes after ongoing challenges in reconciling feedback from industry stakeholders and regulators.
The announcement was made in Google and the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) joint quarterly report on the Privacy Sandbox initiative, scheduled for release on April 26.
Chrome’s Third-Party Cookie Phaseout Pushed To 2025
Google states it “will not complete third-party cookie deprecation during the second half of Q4” this year as planned.
Instead, the tech giant aims to begin deprecating third-party cookies in Chrome “starting early next year,” assuming an agreement can be reached with the CMA and the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
The statement reads:
“We recognize that there are ongoing challenges related to reconciling divergent feedback from the industry, regulators and developers, and will continue to engage closely with the entire ecosystem. It’s also critical that the CMA has sufficient time to review all evidence, including results from industry tests, which the CMA has asked market participants to provide by the end of June.”
Continued Engagement With Regulators
Google reiterated its commitment to “engaging closely with the CMA and ICO” throughout the process and hopes to conclude discussions this year.
This marks the third delay to Google’s plan to deprecate third-party cookies, initially aiming for a Q3 2023 phaseout before pushing it back to late 2024.
The postponements reflect the challenges in transitioning away from cross-site user tracking while balancing privacy and advertiser interests.
Transition Period & Impact
In January, Chrome began restricting third-party cookie access for 1% of users globally. This percentage was expected to gradually increase until 100% of users were covered by Q3 2024.
However, the latest delay gives websites and services more time to migrate away from third-party cookie dependencies through Google’s limited “deprecation trials” program.
The trials offer temporary cookie access extensions until December 27, 2024, for non-advertising use cases that can demonstrate direct user impact and functional breakage.
While easing the transition, the trials have strict eligibility rules. Advertising-related services are ineligible, and origins matching known ad-related domains are rejected.
Google states the program aims to address functional issues rather than relieve general data collection inconveniences.
Publisher & Advertiser Implications
The repeated delays highlight the potential disruption for digital publishers and advertisers relying on third-party cookie tracking.
Industry groups have raised concerns that restricting cross-site tracking could push websites toward more opaque privacy-invasive practices.
However, privacy advocates view the phaseout as crucial in preventing covert user profiling across the web.
With the latest postponement, all parties have more time to prepare for the eventual loss of third-party cookies and adopt Google’s proposed Privacy Sandbox APIs as replacements.
Featured Image: Novikov Aleksey/Shutterstock
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