{"id":2817,"date":"2018-11-07T11:45:14","date_gmt":"2018-11-07T11:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/?p=2817"},"modified":"2019-11-22T14:21:29","modified_gmt":"2019-11-22T14:21:29","slug":"what-is-keyword-cannibalisation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/blog\/what-is-keyword-cannibalisation\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Keyword Cannibalisation?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Websites revolve around keywords. They are how we determine a user\u2019s search query and what to base our pages around. It would therefore make sense to have numerous pages based around a single strong keyword right? Wrong! When a site has more than one page focused on exactly the same keyword we refer to this as keyword cannibalisation.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This is where it causes problems. Google struggles to determine which page is the most relevant for the search query. When it is left to choose it does not always make the correct decision. There is a variety of reasons why keyword cannibalisation is far from an ideal situation. But fear not, there are also numerous ways to address this issue! But to start, what are keywords?<\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n

What Are Keywords?<\/h2>\n

A keyword put simply is the topic that your content is about. A large part of SEO<\/a> involves trying to predict what people are searching for, the keyword terms, and then providing this content to them in high quality, informative formats<\/a> such as pages, posts, images and videos. Naturally, it is not an easy task trying to predict what people search for and the search volume we can expect from this. Luckily for us there are plenty of keyword research tools<\/a> on the market to help with this.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Issues With Keyword Cannibalisation<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Keyword cannibalisation has the potential to cause major problems for your site. Best practice suggests a well rounded strategy that incorporates many aspects of digital marketing that includes on-page, off-page and technical aspects. Cannibalisation can play a major role in this, throwing up multiple issues:<\/p>\n

Content quality<\/strong> \u2013 if you are focusing on different pages with the same keyword then surely the content is on the same subject. You run the risk of poor quality content, content duplication and risk harming the chances of referrals and links.<\/p>\n

External links<\/strong> \u2013 if you have various pages on the same topic each receiving links surely it would be better to consolidate these links into one page. This would boost the link equity of that one page and potentially boost rankings.<\/p>\n

Internal linking<\/strong> \u2013 when you have only one page focused on a topic the value of concentrating anchor texts purely to this page is far greater. When the internal links are spread out over a variety of pages the value is diluted.<\/p>\n

Conversion rate<\/strong> \u2013 focus your time and effort on making one well converting page. When you split your time across various pages trying to rank for the same keyword it is a waste of time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Solving Keyword Cannibalisation<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Luckily there are a number of ways to solve cannibalisation issues:<\/p>\n

Restructure pages<\/strong> \u2013 if one page has more authority why not turn this page into an authoritative landing page. You can then link to variations of the keyword from that page.<\/p>\n

Create new pages<\/strong> \u2013 if you do not currently have a suitable landing page for the desired keyword why not create one. Again, link to variations of the keyword from there.<\/p>\n

Consolidate content<\/strong> \u2013 if the pages are not unique enough why not consolidate this content into one authoritative page. This can be useful in solving thin content issues.<\/p>\n

New keyword<\/strong> \u2013 your keyword research and strategy may not be sufficient. It might be worth aiming for long tail keywords and diversifying your site content.<\/p>\n

301 redirects<\/strong> \u2013 sites with too many redirects can be harmful from a technical SEO<\/a> point of view. However, when used sparingly and in the correct context they can be extremely useful in preventing the issues of duplicate content.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Keywords and Rankings<\/h2>\n

Keyword cannibalisation can be extremely harmful to a sites rankings and conversion rates. When Google is left to its own devices it is not uncommon for it to make the wrong decision. Fortunately, this issue can be solved relatively easily. All it requires is a keen eye and dedication! However, here at USDigital we understand the importance of time. If you are looking for a digital marketing strategy for your site but do not know where to start why not try our free SEO audit.<\/p>\nFree SEO Audit<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Websites revolve around keywords. They are how we determine a user\u2019s search query and what to base our pages around. It would therefore make sense to have numerous pages based around a single strong keyword right? Wrong! When a site has more than one page focused on exactly the same keyword we refer to this… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[62,77,73,63],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Is Keyword Cannibalisation? | US Digital - SEO Leicester<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Keyword cannibalisation can be damaging from a technical SEO perspective. US Digital highlight the issues and suggest a few pointers to solve this.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/blog\/what-is-keyword-cannibalisation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Is Keyword Cannibalisation?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Keyword cannibalisation can be damaging from a technical SEO perspective. US Digital highlight the issues and suggest a few pointers to solve this.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/blog\/what-is-keyword-cannibalisation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"USdigital\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-11-07T11:45:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-11-22T14:21:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/CONTENT-IS-KING-6.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"810\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sam Astill\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"USdigital\",\"description\":\"Innovative digital strategy\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/blog\/what-is-keyword-cannibalisation\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cdn.usdigital.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/20230309115517\/CONTENT-IS-KING-6.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.usdigital.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/20230309115517\/CONTENT-IS-KING-6.png\",\"width\":810,\"height\":450,\"caption\":\"Keyword Cannibalisation\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/blog\/what-is-keyword-cannibalisation\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/blog\/what-is-keyword-cannibalisation\/\",\"name\":\"What Is Keyword Cannibalisation? | US Digital - SEO Leicester\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/blog\/what-is-keyword-cannibalisation\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-07T11:45:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-11-22T14:21:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/21c5611d2a7cc776e1784092cd0b86f4\"},\"description\":\"Keyword cannibalisation can be damaging from a technical SEO perspective. US Digital highlight the issues and suggest a few pointers to solve this.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/blog\/what-is-keyword-cannibalisation\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/blog\/what-is-keyword-cannibalisation\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/blog\/what-is-keyword-cannibalisation\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What Is Keyword Cannibalisation?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/21c5611d2a7cc776e1784092cd0b86f4\",\"name\":\"Sam Astill\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd7bbb371953f0e91073caf542424766?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd7bbb371953f0e91073caf542424766?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sam Astill\"},\"description\":\"Digital Account Executive at US Digital with an avid interest in SEO and all things Digital Marketing. I\u2019ll be updating you with any news on Google Algorithms and latest technology updates.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/author\/sam-astill\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What Is Keyword Cannibalisation? | US Digital - SEO Leicester","description":"Keyword cannibalisation can be damaging from a technical SEO perspective. US Digital highlight the issues and suggest a few pointers to solve this.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/blog\/what-is-keyword-cannibalisation\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"What Is Keyword Cannibalisation?","og_description":"Keyword cannibalisation can be damaging from a technical SEO perspective. US Digital highlight the issues and suggest a few pointers to solve this.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/blog\/what-is-keyword-cannibalisation\/","og_site_name":"USdigital","article_published_time":"2018-11-07T11:45:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-11-22T14:21:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":810,"height":450,"url":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/CONTENT-IS-KING-6.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sam Astill","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/","name":"USdigital","description":"Innovative digital strategy","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/blog\/what-is-keyword-cannibalisation\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-GB","url":"https:\/\/cdn.usdigital.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/20230309115517\/CONTENT-IS-KING-6.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.usdigital.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/20230309115517\/CONTENT-IS-KING-6.png","width":810,"height":450,"caption":"Keyword Cannibalisation"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/blog\/what-is-keyword-cannibalisation\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/blog\/what-is-keyword-cannibalisation\/","name":"What Is Keyword Cannibalisation? | US Digital - SEO Leicester","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/blog\/what-is-keyword-cannibalisation\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2018-11-07T11:45:14+00:00","dateModified":"2019-11-22T14:21:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/21c5611d2a7cc776e1784092cd0b86f4"},"description":"Keyword cannibalisation can be damaging from a technical SEO perspective. US Digital highlight the issues and suggest a few pointers to solve this.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/blog\/what-is-keyword-cannibalisation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/blog\/what-is-keyword-cannibalisation\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/blog\/what-is-keyword-cannibalisation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What Is Keyword Cannibalisation?"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/21c5611d2a7cc776e1784092cd0b86f4","name":"Sam Astill","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-GB","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd7bbb371953f0e91073caf542424766?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd7bbb371953f0e91073caf542424766?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sam Astill"},"description":"Digital Account Executive at US Digital with an avid interest in SEO and all things Digital Marketing. I\u2019ll be updating you with any news on Google Algorithms and latest technology updates.","url":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/author\/sam-astill\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2817"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2817"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3844,"href":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2817\/revisions\/3844"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usdigital.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}