There are times when your website will face loss of traffic and visitors. That is very common for any website owner to face such critical situations. The common terms to include here are losing website traffic, can’t get the website on the first page of a search engine even when you are doing every possible measure. All these can lead to the loss of organic traffic which was higher earlier or even the keyword-based rank. If you are someone who is facing similar kinds of problems then you are at the right place for it.
This situation is known as keyword cannibalization. It is typically a problem with the SEO of your website. You will face a similar kind of situation when your website has the same keyword for many contents. This makes your page rank lower because your content is facing competition among itself which confuses the search engine and ultimately it does not rank your website. It causes a bad fall in the website ranking and traffic. But there are many reasons which cause cannibalization. Let’s have a look at them as well.
Causes of cannibalization
1. The first reason for cannibalization is not having proper internal links. If your pages have various keywords for various articles this disturbs the algorithm and the search engine gets confused over it. This causes cannibalization.
2. If you are trying to put together the keyword cannibalization then you need to take care of the search engine algorithm too. This is the reason why this point plays an important role in the issue. There can be ways in which an algorithm is working currently but it is not sure that the same algorithm will keep on working for a long time. So you will need to change this algorithm too and work accordingly.
3. You should not make many pages on search engines that focus on the same keyword. This is a common strategy for many bloggers to make at least one of these pages rank. Instead, you should go for an in-depth article that will use many keywords.
Step to apply for finding the keyword Cannibalization
When you have understood the main reasons or causes behind the keyword cannibalization it is also necessary that you check the steps or the process which can help you in identifying that your website has keyword cannibalization. It is not the most difficult task to identify keyword cannibalization. You can even say that it is simple as you are forming a matrix for the keywords. For starting this process you will have to make one spreadsheet on your system. This spreadsheet will consist of all the URLs of your website whether it is of some page or the blog posts. It is necessary that you include all these URLs in this spreadsheet and doesn’t forget to include the keywords which are linked in those URLs. These keywords will help you in making the separation and categorising the URLs more easily.
If not you can take the help of a keyword mapping tool as well. It will sort the URLs as per the keywords instantly. After you are done listing the URLs on the spreadsheet and the associated keywords then it is time that you check the list thoroughly. In this check, you have to look for a URL that is mentioned twice or has any kind of double entry. If there is any such duplicate entry then this means that your website has keyword cannibalization. This is most common or severe in the main URLs or pages of the website.
Some of the times it is also seen that keyword cannibalization also happens in the website which has the correct information on the meta description as well. This happens when your title tag is focusing on similar keywords of your website. When you are searching for keyword cannibalization you should also check the thin content too. You will be able to find the keywords which are wrongly applied on the website.
After finding out these symptoms it is evident that you will need some tools or applications which will help you in recognizing the exact issue.
Below we have listed a few best of those tools:
Cannibalisation Explorer in Data Studio
This tool will collect information from Google data studio which it will then apply on the search console to receive better results. You can consider this one as a great option because it will provide you with insightful data. With this data you will be able to find the keyword cannibalization faster without having to make any efforts.
Semrush
We all know Semrush to be the best SEO application. With this, you can easily track the position of the tool and this will start showing its results within the first use too. You just need to log in to the account and then feed the details. The rest will be taken care of by Semrush only.
JetOctopus
This one is a reporting tool that is cloud-based. It is a simple and user-friendly tool. This will help you in the search console and results based on that. The name itself makes it very clear because it works like a jet. Because it is a cloud based tool it will make the process easier and the data collection will be saved for later use too. You can detect cannibalization faster.
Fixes to apply for Keyword Cannibalisation
Following are some points that will help you in fixing the problem of keyword cannibalization:
- If your current landing page is unable to bring features and products on one page then you should consider creating a new one.
- One of the primary solutions to this problem which most people apply is to reform your website. It can be done by making your most effective page into a landing page.
- If your old keywords are not working or bringing any help then you should consider using new keywords.
To Conclude
In the current scenario, many websites are facing the issue of keyword cannibalization. You can check the traits and try fixing the problem when you have the time and it is not worse yet.
