Is your SEO strategy stuck? You’re not alone.

Many website owners and marketers hit this frustrating roadblock. Your hard work seems wasted, like running a race with tied shoelaces.

The culprit? Keyword cannibalization.

This common issue can quietly derail your SEO efforts. Your pages might not rank as well as they should, leaving you puzzled. Sound familiar? You’re in the right place.

This guide tackles keyword cannibalization head-on. We’ll explain:

  1. What keyword cannibalization is
  2. Why it hurts your SEO
  3. How to fix keyword cannibalization

Consider this your practical roadmap to SEO improvement. We’ll help you untangle those metaphorical shoelaces so you can sprint toward better search rankings and increased organic traffic.

Key topics we’ll cover:

  • Internal keyword cannibalization
  • Landing page cannibalization
  • How to deal with keyword cannibalization
  • Fixing internal cannibalization

Ready to save your SEO performance? Let’s dive in!

What is Keyword Cannibalization?

Imagine searching online for the “best running shoes.” You click different links expecting different shoes but see the same one repeatedly. That’s keyword cannibalization – multiple pages on your website competing for the same keywords. It’s like salespeople fighting over the same customer – confusing and ultimately hurting sales.

Page TitlePrimary KeywordSecondary Keywords
Best Running Shoes for Womenwomen’s running shoesrunning shoes, best running shoes, women’s shoes
Top 10 Women’s Running Shoeswomen’s running shoesbest running shoes, top running shoes, women’s shoes
Running Shoe Guide for Womenwomen’s running shoesrunning shoe guide, women’s athletic shoes
  • Keywords: Words or phrases people use in search engines.
  • Cannibalization: Your pages “eat away” at each other’s chances of ranking high in search results.

When you use the same keywords across multiple pages, you’re telling search engines they’re all about the same thing. This creates confusion, preventing any of your pages from ranking as well as they could.

Why Keyword Cannibalization Hurts Your Website

If you’re struggling to rank higher despite creating valuable content, keyword cannibalization could be the culprit. Let’s see how it affects your website’s performance:

  • Less Ranking Power: When two pages target the same keyword, their strength is split, making it harder for either to rank high.
  • Confused Visitors and Search Engines: Both search engines and users get confused when multiple pages target the same keyword. Users see several results from your website and may not click on any.
  • Wasted Resources: Search engines have limited time to crawl your website. Crawling similar pages wastes time they could use to index other important content.
  • Reduced Click-Through Rate: When users see multiple results from your site for the same keyword, they may not know which one to click, reducing your overall click-through rate.
  • Negative Impact on User Experience: If users click on a page expecting one thing but find something else, they are likely to leave quickly, increasing your bounce rate and signaling to search engines that your website doesn’t provide relevant content.
  • Fewer Conversions: People landing on the wrong page are less likely to become customers.

Example:

Two articles on your travel blog:

  • “The Best Beaches in Bali”
  • “Top 10 Beaches to Visit in Bali”

Both target the keyword “beaches in Bali,” competing against each other. Combining them into one comprehensive guide would improve ranking and user experience.

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How to find keyword cannibalization issues

If you haven’t read our How to Avoid Keyword Cannibalization before this all happened, I encourage you to do so, so you don’t constantly try to fix this issue.

Let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work identifying keyword cannibalization on your website. Here’s a straightforward approach:

Conduct a content audit using Google Sheets for free

Unless your site is huge, concerns with cannibalization should be quite straightforward to identify during a content audit.

You’ll need to install “Search Analytics for Sheets” in the Google Sheet Addons directory:

Go to Extensions, and select your site. Pick a date range, group by page and query, and start extracting your Google Search Console:

 You’ll need conditional formatting and a custom formula to identify any duplicate queries.

Add this to the custom formula section:

=countif($A$2:$A$15,A2)>1

And add a color of your choice so you can easily identify cannibalization: 

You can check out my keyword cannibalization tutorial here:

While the method above provides an exact match keyword, you also want to find keywords that might match and that would be a manual process.

To make this process easier, you can create a Keyword Cannibalization Matrix. This table helps you visualize which pages are targeting similar keywords, making it easier to spot potential conflicts.

Page TitlePrimary KeywordSecondary KeywordsRelated Keywords
Best Running Shoes for Womenwomen’s running shoesrunning shoes, best running shoes, women’s shoesathletic shoes, sneakers, trainers
Top 10 Women’s Running Shoeswomen’s running shoesbest running shoes, top running shoes, women’s shoesathletic shoes, sneakers, trainers
Running Shoe Guide for Womenwomen’s running shoesrunning shoe guide, women’s athletic shoesfootwear, fitness gear

Navigate to Google and type site:yourwebsite.com “subject” into the search box. You’ll get a list of all the pages on your site that are relevant to that subject.

When we perform this for the site:https://linkilo.co/ "linkilo," we observe that the first three results are ranking for the word “linkilo”

Caution is advised while using this approach, as Google will return any vaguely similar result. For example, you can see above that our search yielded 661 results. While it may have a cannibalization issue here, not all of these pages are harmful. The majority are focusing on entirely other terms.

Use Linkilo for WordPress

It’s easy to identify whether you are cannibalizing your keywords with Linkilo’s Keyword Cannibalization Reporting Tool

Under the “keyword cannibalization report,” we extract all of your Google Search Console queries and gather all of the pages with the queries that are being cannibalized:

Keyword Cannibalization Tool is extracting Google Search Console’s keywords. So these are keywords you are ranking for. you can see in this screenshot multiple keywords are being ranked for each of these keywords.
The Link Cannibalization Report is what anchor text you used, and if you used it for multiple URLs, which might cause confusion for search engines to pick which keyword to rank for what URL

There are other keyword cannibalization tools out there for non-WordPress users.

How to Fix Keyword Cannibalization: A Step-by-Step Guide

So, you’ve discovered keyword cannibalization on your website – now what? Don’t worry, this is a common issue, and there are several ways to fix it. Let’s dive into a step-by-step guide on how to tackle keyword cannibalization and get your SEO back on track.

1. Identify Competing Pages

Begin by pinpointing the pages that are competing for the same keywords. Use methods such as content audits, site searches, or SEO tools to find these pages. Once identified, prioritize the pages that have the most potential to rank well for your target keywords.

2. Content Consolidation

Combine and Conquer: If you have multiple pages covering the same topic and targeting the same keywords, consider combining them into one comprehensive, authoritative piece of content. This not only eliminates keyword cannibalization but also creates a stronger, more valuable resource for your users.

Example: Instead of having two separate posts about “best hiking trails in Yosemite,” combine them into one ultimate guide to hiking in Yosemite.

Before:

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

After:

Consolidated Page

Internal links play a crucial role in SEO. Ensure your links are strategically placed and point to the most relevant page for a given keyword. This helps search engines understand the hierarchy of your content and prioritize the right pages.

4. 301 Redirects

Redirect and Focus: If you have similar pages with overlapping keywords but one is clearly more relevant or valuable, use a 301 redirect to send users and search engines to the preferred page. This consolidates your authority and ensures users find the most relevant content.

Example: Redirect a less popular URL to the main product page to avoid confusion and improve user experience.

5. Refocus Page Topics

If merging content isn’t feasible, consider refocusing the topics of your competing pages. Each page should have a clear focus and target different keywords. This ensures each page has its own unique value proposition and doesn’t compete with others.

6. Content Pruning

Remove or Update: Sometimes, the best solution is to remove outdated or irrelevant content that’s competing with more recent, valuable pages. If the content still has some value, consider updating it to target different keywords or merging it with other relevant content.

Example: Remove an old blog post about a product that’s no longer available or update it to focus on a related product or topic.

7. Keyword Refinement

Optimize with Precision: Refine your keyword strategy to ensure each page targets a distinct set of keywords, avoiding unnecessary overlap and allowing each page to excel in its niche.

Example: Make sure each post about different types of yoga focuses on specific keywords like “hatha yoga for beginners” or “power yoga workouts.”

8. Strengthen Your Main Pages

Identify the pages you want to rank for specific keywords and ensure they are the strongest and most comprehensive resources on your website. This might involve adding more relevant content, improving user experience, or building more backlinks to these pages.

As mentioned earlier, finding and fixing cannibalization is much easier if you’re a WordPress user. Linkilo, the internal linking plugin to get a detailed “Link Cannibalization Report.” This report identifies instances where the same anchor text has been used on multiple pages. Try it for 30 days!

Example: With tools like Linkilo, identify duplicate keywords and anchor texts to streamline your content strategy.

website magnifying glass diagram search engine optimization vector illustration

Conclusion

Keyword cannibalization can creep back in over time, so it’s important to monitor your website regularly. Keep track of your rankings and traffic for important keywords, and be ready to make adjustments if you notice any signs of cannibalization.

That’s it!

The takeaway?

Keyword cannibalization can silently undermine your SEO efforts. To fix it:

  1. Identify competing pages using content audits or tools
  2. Combine similar content into comprehensive resources
  3. Refine your internal linking strategy
  4. Adjust page topics to target unique keywords
  5. Use 301 redirects for outdated or low-traffic pages
  6. Strengthen your main pages with improved content

Regular monitoring is key. Use tools like Google Search Console or Linkilo to spot and address cannibalization issues. Remember, a single authoritative page often outperforms multiple weaker ones targeting the same keyword.

Remember, one authoritative page often outperforms several weaker ones. Focus on creating distinct, valuable content for each page. This approach will boost your search rankings, increase organic traffic, and improve user experience. Stay vigilant, and your SEO performance will grow.