Organic (search engine optimization) and paid search (or pay-per-click) have enough technical intricacies and strategic aspects to them to start with.
Keyword cannibalization is an issue that can make them even harder — and one that can be overlooked if your search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) efforts are siloed, contained within separate teams, or otherwise are not integrated to a level that allows you to understand, manage, and minimize it.
Keyword cannibalization is when there’s a conflict or overlap in your content, strategy, ads, or in how a search engine interprets them.
That conflict can cause unintended negative consequences ranging from creating competition with your own brand for search engine results page (SERP) space to having content ranking that isn’t the strongest option for the user intent desired.
It can happen within organic search, paid search ads, or between SEO and PPC. This article focuses on the latter, with SEO vs. PPC.
Avoiding keyword cannibalization between SEO and paid search campaigns is crucial to ensuring that cross-channel efforts are working in tandem in order to maximize your online visibility and get the most out of your marketing budget.
Keyword cannibalization in this sense can occur when paid and organic listings are competing for the same keywords, which often leads to paying for clicks on ads that you could get organically.
How To Find Out If You’re Cannibalizing Keywords
Identifying if you are cannibalizing your keywords across channels can be a pretty simple task.
First, determine which keywords you are bidding on in your paid search campaign. You can find these keywords in the Search Terms Report within your Google Ads account.