Technical SEO

In the world of SEO (Search Engine Optimization), one of the most common challenges website owners and content creators face is keyword cannibalization. While it may sound like a complex term, understanding and addressing keyword cannibalization is crucial for improving search rankings and overall site performance. What is Keyword Cannibalization In SEO? Keyword cannibalization occurs when multiple pages on your website are optimized for the same keyword or phrase. Instead of having one strong page that ranks high in search engine results pages (SERPs), you have several weaker pages competing against each other. Think of it like this: rather than having one champion page that dominates the competition, you have a team of pages fighting for the same spot. In the end, none of them win, and the search engines get confused about which page to prioritize, resulting in diluted rankings. For instance, if you run a blog about healthy recipes and you have five different articles targeting the keyword “easy vegan meals,” you’re likely to experience keyword cannibalization. Instead of one clear, well-optimized page ranking high for that keyword, search engines must decide between multiple pages, each with its own level of authority and relevance. Why is Keyword Cannibalization Harmful? You might think, “Isn’t it better to have more pages on my site targeting the same keyword? Doesn’t that improve my chances of ranking?” The answer is no. Keyword cannibalization can hurt your website’s performance in various ways: Split Authority: Instead of one authoritative page that search engines recognize as the go-to resource for a particular keyword, you have multiple pages sharing the link juice. As a result, none of the pages gets enough ranking power to truly dominate the SERPs. Lower Click-Through Rates (CTR): Even if several of your pages rank for the same keyword, each one will likely rank lower than they could if there was a single, authoritative page. A lower ranking means fewer clicks, and fewer clicks mean less traffic. Wasted Crawl Budget: Search engines like Google allocate a certain amount of crawl budget to each website. If Googlebot spends time crawling multiple pages targeting the same keyword, it’s essentially wasting resources that could be spent on other valuable pages. Confused Search Intent: When search engines encounter multiple pages targeting the same keyword, they may not know which page best answers a user’s search query. This confusion can result in the wrong page ranking for the keyword, potentially driving irrelevant traffic or no traffic at all. Poor User Experience: When users land on your website from search engines, they expect to find the most relevant, authoritative information on a particular topic. If keyword cannibalization leads them to a suboptimal page or one with less comprehensive information, they may leave your site, increasing your bounce rate and signaling to search engines that your content isn’t meeting user expectations. Common Causes of Keyword Cannibalization Keyword cannibalization often occurs unintentionally. Here are some common ways it happens: Multiple blog posts on the same topic: If you regularly publish content, it’s easy to unintentionally write about the same topics. For instance, you might write two or more articles targeting the same keyword, thinking you’re reinforcing your site’s authority on that topic, when in fact, you’re diluting it. Overuse of similar keywords: Sometimes, keyword cannibalization happens because of slight variations in keywords. For example, “best SEO tools” and “top SEO tools” might seem different to you, but to search engines, they may be close enough to cause cannibalization. Ecommerce product pages: If you run an ecommerce site, keyword cannibalization can occur if multiple product pages are optimized for the same product type. For example, if you sell several types of running shoes, each product page may end up competing for the same keyword, like “best running shoes.” Improper internal linking structure: Internal linking is a critical part of SEO, but if it’s done poorly, it can contribute to keyword cannibalization. When multiple pages link to each other using the same anchor text, search engines might struggle to identify which page should rank for the targeted keyword. Unoptimized category and tag pages: In some cases, category or tag pages may compete with blog posts or product pages for the same keyword. For instance, an ecommerce site might have both a category page and several product pages optimized for the same keyword, leading to cannibalization. How to Identify Keyword Cannibalization Now that you understand the negative impact of keyword cannibalization, it’s important to learn how to identify it on your website. There are several methods you can use: Google Search Console Google Search Console is an invaluable tool for monitoring your website’s performance. One way to identify keyword cannibalization is by reviewing the search queries report, which shows you which pages are ranking for specific keywords. If you notice that multiple pages are ranking for the same keyword, you may have a cannibalization issue. Use the “site:” Operator Another simple method to spot keyword cannibalization is to use the “site:” search operator. For example, if you want to check if multiple pages on your site are competing for the keyword “best SEO practices,” enter the following into Google’s search bar: site:yourwebsite.com “best SEO practices” This search will show you all the pages on your site that mention the keyword. If multiple pages appear in the results, you likely have a keyword cannibalization problem. SEO Tools Several SEO tools can help you identify keyword cannibalization. Tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Moz allow you to track your keywords and see which pages are ranking for specific terms. You can use these tools to identify overlap and make the necessary adjustments. How to Fix Keyword Cannibalization Once you’ve identified keyword cannibalization on your site, the next step is to fix it. Here are some effective strategies to resolve this issue: Consolidate Content One of the most straightforward ways to fix keyword cannibalization is by consolidating similar content into one comprehensive page. If you have multiple articles or pages targeting the same keyword, consider merging

All the efforts that you put into curating your website or blog, will be of no use if your website doesn’t get indexed on search engines. Knowing how to get Google to index your site quickly is important for improving your website’s visibility in search results. Whether you’ve just launched a new site or updated existing content, fast indexing helps people find your content sooner. Understand Google’s Indexing Process Before diving into specific strategies, it’s essential to understand how to get Google to index your site. Google’s indexing process involves three main steps: crawling, indexing, and ranking. Crawlers (also known as spiders or bots) scan your website for new content, follow links, and analyze the structure of your pages. Once this data is collected, it’s added to Google’s index, where it’s then considered for ranking in search results. The faster Google indexes your site, the sooner it can appear in search results, driving traffic and potentially boosting your site’s performance. A delay in indexing can mean missed opportunities, especially if you’re targeting time-sensitive content or competitive keywords. How to Get Google to Index My Site Faster: A Step-by-Step Guide If you want to learn how to get Google to crawl your site quickly and store it in its database, make sure you follow these tips: Create An XML Sitemap And Submit On Google Search Console XML sitemaps can speed up the process of indexing. These files are an effective way to enlist the crucial pages that you wish Google to discover. Although XML (Extensive Markup Language) is not the only format that Google supports for indexing, it is multifaceted. Websites with heavy archives and multiple pages or sites that are newly built must submit an XML sitemap on Google Search Console to stand in the race for ranking. Enable Search Engine Visibility For Your Site This is a basic but inevitable process if you want to get your site indexed ASAP. Most sites are built on WordPress and the good news is that you can keep a check and handle your site’s visibility settings in just a few clicks. All you need to do is: Go to Settings > Reading > Scroll down and make sure that the box beside ‘Discourage Search Engines From Indexing This Site’ is unchecked before saving. As long as this box is checked Google will not be able to index this page. Don’t Use Nofollow Tags For Internal Links Link profile is of utmost importance if you want to get a quick indexation of your site and web pages. But no follow tags hinder search engines like Google from crawling and indexing the pages. That’s why you must run a thorough check of your links and remove the “rel=nofollow” tag from internal links. This will make the process of indexing multiple web pages within a site easier. Remove Noindex Tags Are you using Noindex tags on your site? Then you’ll face difficulty in indexing it because using this tag indicates you don’t want Google to add that site in its database for ranking. Well, don’t worry, simply run a site checkup on Google Search Console and then look for the “Indexing allowed? No: ‘noindex’ detected in ‘X-Robots-Tag’ http header”, and delete it. You can also check it manually in the HTML coding of your website. Optimize Your Site For robots.txt File Another way how to get Google to index your site quickly is by exploiting the full potential of the ‘robots.txt file.’ It assists search engine’s spiders in tactfully crawling the site by disallowing certain agents. This way the indexation process gets accelerated with a thoughtful approach. Utilize Google Search Console Submitting your site link on Search Console is a smart choice if you don’t want to wait ages for indexation. Getting your site verified on Search Console ensures that your SEO efforts aren’t going in vain. Moreover, Google Indexing API can assist you further in indexing your site faster. You can keep track of your site indexation with the help of plugins. Use Canonical Tags Diligently Most site owners get perplexed when it comes to the use of canonical tags. Google uses these tags to identify the more valuable content and index it for better search results. Using canonical tags diligently on the web pages that you want to get indexed can ease your hassles. It hints to Google about which version of the pages with similar content must be indexed as a primary source of information. Social Media Can Help Platforms like Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, etc. serve no less than a news channel these days. Not only that but search engines like Google and Bing also consider social signals as one of the important elements while attributing rankings to sites. Social signals indicate how progressively a blog or site is being shared thus they alert Google to index them. Do Not Use Duplicate Content Among 200+ factors that Google takes into account while indexing, content holds a key place. Google doesn’t index sites with thin or duplicate content. Low-quality content with keyword stuffing and no valuable information is always deindexed by search engines because it doesn’t serve users’ search intent. That’s why improve your website content and re-index the updated pages in the Search Console. Create High-Quality Backlinks  Sites with poor backlink profile often face difficulty getting indexed by Google whereas those with qualitative authority backlinks easily get crawled and indexed. That’s why you must pay attention to the SEO score, relevance, traffic, expertise, etc. before acquiring a backlink. addition to that, you must look after your backlinks from time to time. Bottom Line In the vast pool of websites, it becomes hard to maintain an online presence among your audience. Many site owners struggle a lot to get their site crawled, indexed and ranked on Google. There can be several reasons behind delayed site indexing that you can inspect using SEO tools. Nevertheless, you can accelerate the indexing procedure by following the steps on how to get Google to index your site