Eradicating Keyword Cannibalization With RankWatch 2.0!

Keyword cannibalization is one of the major reasons why most websites are not able to make it to the first page of SERPs. But what is keyword cannibalization, you ask? It refers to a situation wherein two or more of your web pages are ranking for the same keyword. While this may seem harmless to the untrained eye, it can wreak havoc on your SEO efforts. 

Basically, it pits your web pages against each other and results in decreased rankings, traffic, and conversions. The real problem is finding instances of cannibalization on your website—like searching for a needle in a haystack! Not with the all-new RankWatch 2.0. 

With the upgraded RankWatch Console section, you can spot keyword cannibalization within seconds. How is this feature unique? Keep reading to find out.

Understanding Keyword Cannibalization

As we mentioned earlier, keyword cannibalization refers to when two or more of your web pages start ranking for the same keyword on SERPs. Such scenarios confuse the search engine, and the wrong or irrelevant page may start ranking at the top. Due to this, the affected web pages have non-consecutive rankings, indicating that they are competing against each other. This further affects your website’s overall rankings, traffic percentage, and conversion rates. It is crucial to deal with keyword cannibalization in the earlier stages before it causes irreversible damage.

Identifying Keyword Cannibalization With RankWatch Console

Identifying instances of keyword cannibalization can be a tough task, as there’s no accurate tool in the market. Though Google Search Console can be used to pick out webpages suffering from cannibalization, it would require a lot of manual effort. The same goes for manually checking all your pages’ rankings and figuring out the ones with keyword cannibalization.

To bring a change in the situation and provide accurate results, we re-designed the RankWatch Console structure and put our keyword cannibalization feature on the front seat. The feature discloses webpages suffering from cannibalization, keywords responsible for it, and other important AI-based insights as well. 

Here’s a quick rundown on each section of the keyword cannibalization feature and how it works. 

RankWatch Keyword Cannibalization: How the Feature Works

To use RankWatch’s keyword cannibalization feature, you need to integrate your Google Search Console account with RankWatch Console. The entire integration is a one-step process, thus saving you from signing in every time. 

Here’s how you can integrate your GSC account with RankWatch Console:

1. Login to your RankWatch account
2. Open the RankWatch Console section
3. Sign in to RankWatch Console using the same credentials as your Google Search Console

After signing in, select the “Keyword Cannibalization” feature from the RankWatch Console Overview dashboard. It will showcase a detailed dashboard with insights on keyword cannibalization. Here are the sections that you will encounter in this dashboard.

LARA Insights

LARA (RankWatch’s personal AI assistant) is now included in all the features to guide you. When you open the keyword cannibalization dashboard, you will come across LARA and the AI-powered insights it brings for you. Apart from identifying cannibalized keywords, LARA also details lost keywords, lost pages, new ranking pages, and other essential data.

Graphical Data

The keyword cannibalization dashboard also contains a specific graphical data section. It showcases how keyword cannibalization affects metrics like impressions, clicks, rankings, etc. You need to select the period and metric to get graphical data, and the tool will present it within seconds.

Tabular Data

There’s also a tabular data section in the keyword cannibalization dashboard. It contains data related to average rankings, CTR%, clicks, impressions, ranking URLs, etc., and how they are getting affected by keyword cannibalization. The tool automatically calculates the change in traffic, impressions, clicks, etc., and presents them alongside the data

Additionally, the tabular data section provides various filters that you can use according to your requirements. It also presents the option “Target Country,” which you can use to get country-based search results for the keyword cannibalization. Our feature also offers the option of selecting “Device Type,” based on which you will get customized results.

Once you have the detailed report, you can export it and use the data to work on the affected web pages. Since AI-powered insights back the data, it is highly accurate and does not require manual verification.

Rectifying Keyword Cannibalization

Though keyword cannibalization is harmful, there are ways how you can reverse the effects. Here are some effective methods that you can use to rectify instances of cannibalization on your website:

Content Merging

Since keyword cannibalization often occurs because two or more web pages target the same keywords and have similar content, merging such web pages is better. Instead of creating different pages describing the different parts of a common topic, it is wise to have one web page answering all the questions. Besides, merging content increases the chances of ranking higher in SERP results.

Using Redirects

The next method you can use to remove cannibalization is by using redirects. Filter out the pages that overlap each other by targeting the same keyword. After that, select the one with the maximum traffic and clicks amongst the lot and apply redirects to that page. Doing so will redirect all the traffic to the strongest page, thus removing cannibalization from your site.

Using Canonical Tags

If you need to keep duplicate or similar pages, you must use canonical tags to avoid cases of keyword cannibalization. Canonical tags inform the search engine that the canonicalized page is the primary page, thus giving it preference over other pages.

Removing Irrelevant Pages

The best way to remove keyword cannibalization from the roots is by deleting irrelevant pages. Sometimes, we have pages with thin content (that offers little to no value to the users) and, if left unattended, can cause keyword cannibalization. The best solution here is to remove the irrelevant content page altogether or merge it with the main page. 

Optimizing Existing Pages

Another successful method of saving your pages from keyword cannibalization is by optimizing them correctly. You can optimize your existing pages for different keywords and search intent so that they do not suffer from keyword cannibalization. 

The all-new RankWatch Console also has a unique optimization feature that you can use to optimize your existing pages.

In the “Pages” dashboard, the “Average Ranking” column presents a quick glimpse of all ranking keywords in the specified URL. The keyword distribution helps you understand which keywords push your web pages to the top and which are responsible for any sudden downfall.

The “Pages” section also contains a special “Optimization Report” section that you can use to download all the ranking keywords of a ranking URL and analyze whether the said keywords are present in broad or phrase match format.

Besides, the optimization report also discloses keywords that are ranking on the page but are not directly present in the content. With this data, you can easily figure out which keywords can help increase your URL ranking and optimize your content accordingly. 

Final Words

Keyword cannibalization is like a parasite that gnaws at your website’s rankings and traffic, tanking conversion rates. RankWatch’s keyword cannibalization feature helps identify such instances within seconds so that you can take necessary action to remove them. Instead of wasting time on manual check-ups, you can use RankWatch’s accurate AI-based data to your advantage. 

If your website is already suffering from keyword cannibalization, sign up for RankWatch’s 14-day free trial and get access to our advanced features. If not, don’t wait for keyword cannibalization to infect your website—take preventative steps while you still have time. Sign up now!