Organic search engine optimization and paid search, often referred to as pay-per-click (PPC), both come with significant technical intricacies and strategic complexities. However, the challenge is compounded by the problem of keyword cannibalization, which can be easily overlooked when SEO and PPC efforts are kept isolated within separate teams or are not seamlessly integrated to a degree that enables you to comprehend, control, and mitigate this issue.
Keyword cannibalization occurs when there is a clash or overlap in your content, strategy, advertisements, or the way search engines interpret them.
This conflict can lead to unintended adverse outcomes, ranging from creating competition within your own brand for space on the search engine results page (SERP) to having a content rank that may not be the most suitable choice for the user’s intended purpose.
This issue can arise in both organic and paid search, as well as between SEO and PPC efforts. This article primarily concentrates on the latter, comparing SEO and PPC.
Preventing keyword cannibalization between SEO and paid search campaigns is essential to ensure that cross-channel endeavours work harmoniously, thereby optimizing your online visibility and making the most of your marketing budget.
In this context, keyword cannibalization can manifest when paid and organic listings vie for the same keywords, frequently resulting in the expense of paying for clicks on advertisements that you might otherwise obtain organically.
How to Determine If You are Experiencing Keyword Cannibalization
Detecting potential keyword cannibalization across channels can be a straightforward procedure.
Begin by identifying the keywords you’re actively bidding on within your paid search campaign. You can access this list in the Search Terms Report within your Google Ads account. This report is invaluable because it enables you to monitor your organic keyword rankings on your website, providing information about the average position and which pages appear in various search results.
Once you’ve pinpointed these keywords, compare them with your organic keyword rankings. Various tools and metrics can assist in this process:
- Tools: Utilize resources such as Google Ads, Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Semrush (a keyword research tool), and Screaming Frog (a website crawler) to aid in the identification of keyword cannibalization.
- Metrics: Pay close attention to metrics like impressions, clicks, click-through rates, and conversions, as they can serve as initial indicators of issues spanning your paid and organic search campaigns.
Indications of Keyword Cannibalization
As previously noted, several metrics are commonly employed as early indicators for recognizing potential keyword cannibalization. If you observe that:
Organic CTR Is Decreasing
A decrease in the organic click-through rate (CTR) may raise concerns. This decline in organic CTR can be attributed to multiple pages ranking for the same keyword.
When users encounter similar choices in their search results, attempting to differentiate between these pages can result in confusion.
Clicks Are Increasing
It might not be your first instinct to consider an uptick in clicks across both your paid and organic search campaigns as a reason for concern. However, this, too, can serve as an initial indication of keyword cannibalization.
This concern becomes evident when the increase in clicks is observed across numerous pages that are all focused on the same keyword.
The performance of each individual page can suffer, potentially resulting in reduced overall traffic to your website.
Ad Conversions Are Increasing While Overall Conversions Remain The Same
Before you break out the celebratory cheers over the surge in PPC conversions, it’s crucial to ensure you’re not paying for what you once obtained naturally.
One straightforward way to discern if you’re essentially purchasing conversions from your own efforts is to compare the overall number of conversions. If this total isn’t increasing in tandem with your paid conversions, and you observe a notable drop in organic conversions, it’s a clear indicator.
Regularly monitoring these metrics can assist in identifying any unusual discrepancies in your campaigns and endeavours and serve as an early warning system for potential keyword cannibalization.
Once you’ve successfully identified and resolved existing keyword cannibalization, you can take proactive measures to prevent it in your future paid and organic search campaigns and efforts.
How to Avoid Keyword Cannibalization in PPC Campaigns
Develop Unified Strategies
- Formulate cohesive strategies for SEO and PPC that align with each other’s objectives and priorities.
- In cases where separate teams or external agencies oversee your SEO and PPC initiatives, foster open communication and collaboration in developing and executing keyword strategies.
- Emphasize the significance of preventing keyword cannibalization and the associated repercussions to your teams.
- Promote the exchange of insights and data between teams to optimize the synchronization of their efforts.
Keyword Research And Segmentation
- Perform comprehensive keyword research to pinpoint valuable keywords suitable for both SEO and PPC campaigns.
- Allocate particular keywords and keyword clusters to each strategy to prevent redundancy and conflicts.
- Categorize your keyword inventory into well-defined groups or categories, guided by factors such as user intent, relevance, and competitive landscape.
- Contemplate incorporating long-tail keywords into your SEO endeavours, as these are more precise and less prone to clash with the broader, high-competition keywords commonly employed in PPC.
Implement Negative Keywords in Your PPC Campaign
- Within your PPC campaigns, implement negative keywords to exclude particular terms that align with your SEO efforts.
- Negative keywords act as a safeguard, preventing your PPC ads from displaying for specific search queries, thus minimizing the risk of cannibalization.
Maintain Vigilance and Adapt
- Consistently oversee the performance of your SEO and PPC campaigns.
- Leverage analytics tools to trace the keywords responsible for driving traffic and conversions in both channels.
- Adapt your strategies and keyword targeting in response to performance data.
- Carry out regular assessments to identify and rectify any instances of keyword cannibalization.
- Modify your strategies and keyword targeting as necessary.
In Conclusion
Keyword cannibalization frequently lurks beneath the surface, particularly in cases where search strategies lack cohesion between paid and organic channels. Even with a well-planned integration, you might encounter scenarios where cannibalization subtly undermines performance or generates concealed complications.
Uncovering keyword cannibalization within a single channel is often simpler than recognizing it and gauging its ripple effect across both paid and organic channels. I strongly advise going into this matter within your SEO and PPC campaigns and initiatives to ensure you’re achieving the performance and outcomes you anticipate.
Would you like to read more about “Unexplored Opportunities in PPC You Need to Know” related articles? If so, we invite you to take a look at our other tech topics before you leave!
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