Previously, we covered the first and second pillars of SEO, Keywords and Technical. Let’s talk about the third pillar: Content. You’ve already figured out good keywords, and you have fixed your technical performance. The next thing to do is enhance your content. There is an easy method to improve a web page’s content for SEO.

What is Keyword Cannibalization in SEO?

The first thing to watch for is keyword cannibalization. Keyword cannibalization occurs if multiple pages are focusing on the same search phrase. This will hurt your SEO efficiency because it’s putting the burden on google to make a decision. The decision is to choose the most well-suited page for the keyword. Any time we leave a decision to google, it’s using more of their resources, and they don’t like that happening too much. Also, they don’t know as much about your site as you might. As SEOs, it’s our task to guide google.

The search advocate at google, John Mueller, said the following about Keyword cannibalization:

“We just rank the content as we get it. If you have a bunch of pages with roughly the same content, it’s going to compete with each other, kinda like a bunch of kids wanting to be first in line, and ultimately someone else slips in ahead of them. Personally, I prefer fewer stronger pages over lots of weaker ones - don’t water your site’s value down.”

How to Avoid Keyword Cannibalization?

The easiest way to find keyword cannibalization is to use SEMRush’s position tracking tool: Go to Keyword Research and click on Position Tracking. Click on New Position Tracking to start a new project. Enter your target keywords and start the scan. Once it is complete, open the project and then click on the Cannibalization tab. This report will show you occurrences of keyword cannibalization for the keywords you entered earlier.

How to Optimize Content for SEO?

The second content check is easy. Does the page need to be upgraded? Your SEO pages should be unique and better than the content already there. Third content check - is the page optimized well? On just about every page, your primary keyword should be in the following areas, as long as putting it there sounds authentic to the user:

• URL

• Title

• H1 Tag

In order to step up your performance, it’s a good idea to use SEMRush’s on-page SEO checker. Go to the On Page & Tech SEO section on the left column, click on “On Page SEO Checker” and start a new project. Click continue to import keywords and pages. Then you can select what you want to do. For this example, use the Manual option to enter a target URL and the exact keyword phrase to rank for and then click collect ideas. SEMRush will then offer a multitude of ways to optimize the target page from a strategy, content, semantic, technical, UX and link building perspective. It’s a good idea to benchmark where you stand today and then act on the recommendations SEMRush offers.

The fourth content check you should ask yourself is, does the page have enough internal link coverage? Back on the Audit page, check if your target page is getting enough internal link coverage. The fifth check is does the page need more topical authority? If you think the page doesn’t have much in terms of internal link coverage, then it probably lacks topical authority as well. You need to create more keyword-driven content to support that fundamental resource.

Check out the next pillar of SEO, Backlinks. Esseodigital is a digital marketing service providing agency experience at a freelance price. If you’re interested in boosting your businesses marketing success, please contact us.