Google is undoubtedly a fantastic source to drive consistent, qualified traffic for your company. Establishing oneself as an authoritative source for all of your industry’s keywords, especially specialty keywords, is reportedly the secret to SEO success. 

Unfortunately, your rivals are following the same thing. Besides, you might even compete with yourself in some situations. While your rivals can be employing the same specialized keywords as you. But do they clean up content and fix keyword cannibalization to improve the SEO of their domains? 

This is an excellent strategy to get your website to the top of Google because they might not be doing it. 

ALSO READ: Free SEO Tools That Can Provide Competitive Advantage as a Beginner 

Introduction to keyword cannibalization 

You may be already aware that a domain may occasionally have two or more URLs that rank for the same keyword or group of keywords. It makes Google unsure of which piece of content to display on the search engine results pages (SERPs). 

Therefore, when several URLs compete with one another for the same search phrases, SEO cannibalization occurs.  

How can fixing keyword cannibalization can drive traffic? 

You may have a cannibalization problem if you and your rivals are both ranking for the same keywords but your position on the SERPs is lower. If your content is cannibalizing itself, you’ll have to compete with your sites in addition to your rivals for the top spot. 

When URLs are in direct competition with one another, cannibalization is a negative factor. If there are too many of them–especially if you haven’t informed Google that there is a glaring difference between two identical pieces of content–they may even lower your domain authority. 

This shows that keyword cannibalizations can have a detrimental effect on the SEO of your domain. Thus, fixing keyword cannibalization can help you drive more traffic.  

How to find keyword cannibalization? 

You may identify keyword cannibalization with a single click with the use of tools like DinoRANK. You only need to click one button to see all of your cannibalized content when using DinoRANK. 

Simply create a project in the tool and link it to your Google Analytics and Google Search Console accounts to get started. DinoRANK handles the rest. 

How to fix keyword cannibalization? 

Following your discovery of the cannibalizations on your website, you can take the below actions for fixing keyword cannibalization. 

• Combine two URLs to create one. 
• 301 redirect the page. 
• De-optimize or optimize for the word that it cannibalizes by shifting your attention to one of the two contents. 
• Add a canonical tag to one of the URLs. 
• If you feel that one of the two items is redundant or has thin content, remove it. 

By following these tips and continually monitoring and improving your SEO strategies, you can establish and maintain your website as a top-ranked and authoritative source in your industry. 

Author - Samita Nayak

Samita Nayak is a content writer working at Anteriad. She writes about business, technology, HR, marketing, cryptocurrency, and sales. When not writing, she can usually be found reading a book, watching movies, or spending far too much time with her Golden Retriever.