What is Keyword Cannibalization
Keyword cannibalization is the excessive use of a keyword on multiple pages within the same site. This practice causes these pages to share the domain’s overall link juice, effectively pushing each page down in search results, even though the site might be able to rank well if the keyword were only optimized for on a single page. In Simpler terms looking into a URL, you will find repeated keywords written in your linking URLs. You can think of this as a way of having your money going towards 3 banks when really, in the end, it should all be going to you. The money is all yours but Google just sees it as 3 banks with three different amounts. This causes google to think that your poor.
Does Keyword Cannibalization Effect Your Ranking
Yes, this has many harmful effects on your keyword ranking with Google. The majority of people don’t realize when building a website that it is important to consolidate all our efforts on ranking a webpage to one single page. Consolidating URLs will maximize Keyword ranking with Google. Crawling your website is one of the most common ways to check web pages to see if keyword cannibalization is occurring.
Crawling your web pages will let you see the number of times your keyword is repeated throughout the titles of your pages. This will allow you to see whether or not you’re cannibalizing your own keywords. Crawling will also help you see which pages you need to focus on to rank high. There are many simple ways to crawl your websites. There is more information on how to crawl your website all over the web. To use a tool that will help you see if cannibalization is occurring click this link.http://tools.seochat.com/tools/online-crawl-google-sitemap-generator/#sthash.eNHbln7O.dpbs
Another simple way to identify Keyword Cannibalization is to build a spreadsheet. Building a spreadsheet with the names of your websites will help you see if you have any cannibalization. By listing your URLs on the left and you high ranking keywords on the right you can see where the issue is very easy.
Another way to check is using tools like keyword planner or Google AdWords keyword planner. Keyword tools allow you to generate titles to keywords that are similar but not duplicates. Keyword tools will build something like this. Also known as a keyword generator which can be found here. https://www.semrush.com/features/keyword-research/
How to Fix Keyword Cannibalization
(1.) Restructure keywords in your Headings and Titles
Restructure your headings and titles by going through the list you created to see if keyword cannibalization is occurring. While you’re doing this process it will also be helpful to see if your keyword rankings are high in keyword planner or whatever keyword tool works for you. Next, rename those titles and heading to have high ranking keywords in the title and relevant to the topic but be sure there are no duplicates. Finally, when all this is completed make sure all pages are set to be tied to the page you want to have a high ranking keyword spot on google.
(2.) Consolidating your Content
When you have completed cleaning up all duplicated it is important that all links and web pages are consolidated in one single area. This will show Google that the web page has a whole bunch of content that is relevant. It will also guide google to give one of the best keyword ranking spots on googles search. Another important step is to check if web pages are unique enough. Having multiple pages targeting the same keyword may be able to be combined. It would be good to consider combining them into one page. This is a chance to take two underperforming pages and turn them into better ranking sites. It can also solve any slim content issues between those pages.
Conclusion
Keyword cannibalization is easier to prevent today than ever before. Keyword Cannibalization is usually caused by website designers who know how import SEO is for their business, but while they try to optimize their website, they don’t understand how to build their websites in Google’s language. Fortunately, if your website is cannibalizing its own target keywords, solutions aren’t hard to come by. by using the right keyword tools and Googles Keyword Planner, it is very easy to repair these mistakes. For more information on Keyword cannibalization, you can visit these websites. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZR5zUJdAA0
Jonathan C Gardner