Blog : What is Keyword Cannibalism

Keyword cannibalism occurs when multiple webpages target the same keyword phrase. In general, Keyword Cannibalism means that several articles or webpages of your website will be displayed on the search query of the same keyword. It is not because it is plagiarized, but because the topic optimizes the same keyword term.

For example, suppose you have an organization that prepares and sells chocolates. Your keyword is- Chocolate. While creating the website, you will make sure that you use the keyword chocolate on each page, whether it is about, meta description, or other.

That way, Google will get confused about what to display and display another page that you did not desire. Like, while using the keyword, you seek content regarding that, but google shows the about us page. So, if you produce a webpage with similar keywords, you generate competition among them, which will diminish each other ranking.

Why should we care about Keyword Cannibalism- Keyword Cannibalization is somehow not good for SEO. It is because you are competing with your web pages to rank on Google. As discussed above, Google will not be able to distinguish which page should be prioritized to rank. Besides, the backlinks and the CTR will get diluted within several posts, resulting in both of them to rank low. Not only this, but Keyword Cannibalism can also arise if you create posts for some focused keywords that are almost similar. For example, you have two posts regarding whether readability is a ranking factor or not.

With that, Google will showcase both the posts readability ranks and do readability ranks with somehow similar keywords. To avoid diminishing the quality of your content and eliminate the lower ranking risk, we need to be aware of any keyword cannibalism. Here are some of the factors that make you understand why you should care about keyword cannibalization - Authority of the page gets reduced. Rather than producing a single or high-authority webpage, you are dividing your CTR across several locations. With this, you are fighting with your webpages to ranks.

- Most Relevant Page gets devalued. Keywords are the crucial factor for SEO, and if they are the same, Google will find it challenging to show the desired result. It results in the elimination of proper digital interactions. - Expends your estimated budget The estimated budget is the ranking of how many times the search engine will go through your site at a specific time. With multiple pages on similar keywords, the wrong page can be indexed.

- Affects the page quality Several web pages with keyword cannibalism can notify your users about your stretched content. This will stop the ranking you want.