Google’s SEO expert John Mueller has urged content creators to target keywords that match their “expertise” and “passion”, rather than focusing on search volume.
Responding to a question about writing topics on slightly different variations of similar keywords, Mueller said it was better to write content with the aim of contributing something that hasn’t already been covered by other publishers.
The Twitter user in question said he feared keyword “cannibalisation” if he wrote blogs and articles for each of the keyword variations.
Cannibalisation often occurs when there are multiple pages on a website that are optimised for similar keywords, which can result in those pages competing against each other.
Mueller said just writing content based on a list of “related keywords” is not the best way to approach the creative process as it can lead to output that is “quite superficial”.
Instead, he recommends searching for topics that “match” the expertise and passion of a brand or marketer.
Mueller notes that providing new and useful content is the best way to satisfy people’s needs while driving engagement in search and across social media.
He also says focusing on keyword and search volume lists very strictly can lead to “mediocracy”.
While keyword research is obviously beneficial for finding relevant keywords and topics, Mueller’s advice suggests it shouldn’t solely dictate strategies and campaigns.
And for those struggling with cannibalisation, the best way to solve the issue is by combining the competing pages into a single fresh piece of content using one of the existing URLs.
