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What is Keyword Cannibalization?

Two Proven Ways to Organize Products with Similar Keywords

In business, cannibalization typically refers to a loss of sales. A company introduces a new product that displaces sales of an older, usually more outdated, product. Instead of having an increase in sales, the market growth remains stable. What does this mean in the world of SEO and content marketing? Keyword cannibalization occurs when two products have similar keywords or phrases and confuses the search engines about which page is right for which query. Instead of competing with other businesses for search traffic, you’re competing with your own web pages. Here’s why keyword cannibalization is bad for business and how you can overcome it.

How Keyword Cannibalization Affects Content Marketing Strategy

Keyword cannibalization can hurt your SEO rankings by sending searchers to an out-of-date page or a page with similar content that isn’t right for their intent. The consumer bounces off the page, returning to search to find a page that meets their needs. You lose out, both on the customer and the search engine analysis. Essentially, your similar web pages are not converting, which isn’t a good use of your marketing budget. You want to help your target audience find your content with the right, relevant content and keyword optimization.

How to Identify Keyword Cannibalization?

You can find many issues that need correction, during a content audit, but if you have a huge site, you may want to look at specific keywords instead. Look at which page ranks for your targeted keyword. If it’s the page you want to rank higher for, then you probably don’t have a cannibalization problem. If you see older pages ranking for the keyword, then they may be getting unintended traffic.

Ways to Stop Keyword Cannibalization

When you find keyword cannibalization, you want to deal with it to avoid disrupting your content marketing strategy. Here are the two easiest ways to handle it.

Combine Similar Content Into One Page

For example, when you have similar blog posts that are ranking for the same keyword, take the best of both pages and combine them into one. You should be careful about merging pages that are attracting different audiences and doing well. That isn’t keyword cannibalization. Merging pages can simplify your site and help well-ranking pages perform better in search.

Redirect Duplicate Content

If your website has many outdated pages that are not as good as your more recent copywriting, the best thing to do is to remove content that isn’t as relevant to today’s audience. Use those outdated pages to drive readers to updated content so that it strengthens your SEO strategy and gives your readers what they need. (By the way, we saw this great article about search tips for Google users, from students to seniors, and everyone in between – take a look.)

Work with Professional Copywriters

If you’re struggling to keep up with fueling your content marketing engine, talk to a content agency that can support your own in-house copywriters while giving you additional content to grow your online reach. MintCopy has a great team that understands SEO and provides quality content to engage your visitors. Contact us for more information.

Use our online form to get in touch. You can also follow us on FacebookLinkedIn, and Twitter to stay up-to-date with the latest content marketing trends.

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