How can different departments avoid keyword cannibalization?

This week’s Ask An SEO question comes from Cleveland’s Caroline, who wrote:

Multiple departments of our company want to rank for the same keywords.

Are there any tips on how to deal with this situation? It looks like our company will compete with itself for the page 1 ranking in the SERP.

Nowadays, people are too worried about keyword cannibalization.

The reality is that if you work in a company where multiple products make sense to rank for the same keyword, then you are likely to encounter a situation where one of your sites ranks higher than another.

However, in most cases, this is not the big problem Bill wants to achieve in the “blue widget.”

Just because more than one product ranks on the “blue widget” does not mean it is a zero-sum game to gain sales or lead.

In fact, by having a multi-sectoral company rank many keywords around the same topic, you have a better chance of creating a Brand preference For your goods and services.

You also have a better chance of becoming a sales location.

Departments should share data

It is best to share data with colleagues in your department.

When you hide things from each other, you can easily create a hostile work environment.

Department heads need to communicate about how they will cooperate, not how they plan to beat competitors in their own company.

For example, each department should cross-promote with other departments Graphics On the ranking page.

After all, if it makes sense for two departments to rank for the same keywords, then it should make sense for each department to cross-promote the other.

After all, if you are looking for a “red widget” but accidentally end up on the “blue widget” page-if you see a “red widget” promotion, you will most likely click on that promotion.

Communicate with superiors

In fact, my experience tells me that being a few positions higher than the competition does not always mean over-sales.

If your company has multiple departments ranking for specific keywords on a topic, you should be able to accurately track the traffic and sales that these queries bring.

you need to comminicate Give these numbers to your superiors.

Make sure that the goal you communicate is to increase and increase overall sales, rather than judging each department individually.

Efforts to increase the overall cake, not just what each department collects, will make the entire company stronger.

Sometimes it is difficult for people who run a company to see this.

Therefore, it is very important to communicate the “overall growth” message as early as possible and often.

Compete-but help each other

You want to surpass your departmental competitors, but if you don’t (and their rankings surpass you), this is still a good thing for the entire organization.

When your department colleagues rank poorly, you should help them.

Give each other tips and tricks on how to do it Rank higher in SERP.

If you and your departmental colleagues hold SERPs No. 1 and No. 2, you are more likely to get sales—or at least create brand preferences.

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Ask SEO It is a weekly SEO advice column written by some of the top SEO experts in the industry carefully selected by search engine magazines. Have a question about SEO? Fill out our form. You may see your answer in the next #AskanSEO post!

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