Avoid throwing ad spend at the traffic you can acquire for free. Discover how PPC cannibalization impacts your SEO performance – and how to remedy it.
If you handle both SEO and PPC, finding the right balance is the key to achieving maximum efficiency and ROI.
Declining organic click-through rates
If your organic rankings are holding steady but CTRs are declining, your paid ads could be cannibalizing traffic from your organic results.
This is generally the effect of simultaneously targeting branded or high-ranking keywords in PPC campaigns.
It’s also worth noting that other SERP features, ad positions, and AI-powered search results have collectively caused a broad decrease in organic CTRs overall.
More PPC clicks without a corresponding increase in overall traffic
If PPC efforts attract more paid traffic, yet total site visits do not increase, your ads could be stealing clicks that otherwise would have come from organic search.
Google Analytics 4 (GA4)’s Traffic Acquisition Report makes it simpler to detect this problem. You can contrast period-over-period traffic variations by channel side by side.
Organic conversions falling while paid conversions are rising
If your paid search conversions are increasing but total conversions are flat or in decline, then PPC is cannibalizing organic conversions instead of growing your reach.
This is particularly prevalent with Performance Max (PMax) campaigns, as they tend to favor branded terms due to their higher ROI. More on this later.
1. Audit PPC and SEO keyword duplication:
Some duplication of PPC and SEO keywords will not result in cannibalization.
But to protect your high-ranking keywords, remove them from your PPC campaigns.
To accelerate your analysis, remove organic search phrases in which your site is ranked position 4 or lower – because the vast majority of clickthroughs result from pages on position 1-3.
Also, rank search terms by click volume to determine phrases most prone to cannibalization.
Then, cross-reference your organic search terms with your Google Ads Search Terms report to pinpoint where you’re paying for traffic you’d otherwise get for free.
2.Exclude high-performing SEO players using negative keywords:
If some words already rank well organically, you can utilize negative keywords to avoid them from triggering paid ads.
By using exact-match negative keywords, you prevent cannibalization but continue to target related peripheral phrases in your ads.
3. Optimize brand bidding approaches and apply brand exclusion lists:
Bidding for brand terms is not usually needed as users searching for a brand will already intend to go to its site.
Payment for traffic which would be otherwise free of cost is not ever a great deal.
Nevertheless, PPC brand bidding becomes imperative in case of bidding by the competitor on your brand.
Here, reclaiming your brand space is an unavoidable investment – but a much lower bill than buying competitor brand listings,
The significance of brand exclusion lists
Brand exclusion lists ensure wasted spend on branded searches where the organic results hold sway instead.
This prioritizes PPC spending on non-branded high-intent searches and avoids duplication of the organic traffic.
This is particularly important for PMax campaigns, which are designed to achieve positive ROI, typically through low-cost branded visibility with strong conversion potential.
An instance of branded cannibalization that my team uncovered was a branded PMax campaign that unknowingly paid for an estimated $500,000 in organic revenue.
Because PMax campaigns get top-shelf visibility – even in spaces where results aren’t highly topical – this campaign bid on close to every branded term, completely unchecked.
The biggest problem occurred when a shopping carousel for the firm’s two most searched-for branded terms surfaced above all other SERP elements.
This relegated the standard search ad lower down on the page and relegated the organic homepage listing entirely off the screen without scrolling.
Subsequently, impressions fell by 12%, while organic clicks dropped by 33%.
If you haven’t yet acted to block your campaigns from bidding on your brand, ensure you refer to Google’s brand exclusions guide.
Benchmark your branded terms’ SEO performance before the PMax campaign launches to enable easier identification of cannibalization.
Special considerations for Performance Max campaigns and targeting options:
PMax campaigns utilize AI-powered automation to deliver ads on Google’s entire supply, including Search, Display, YouTube, Discover, Gmail, and Maps.
In contrast to conventional PPC campaigns, PMax does not support finely grained keyword-level control, which complicates avoiding overlap with organic rankings.
How PMax can cannibalize SEO traffic:
Widely matching across multiple channels: PMax can even automatically target keywords on which your brand is already highly placed organically, causing unnecessary ad spend.
Limited transparency on search terms: Without keyword-level reports, overlap with organic rankings is difficult to identify.
Competing with organic results: PMax can move organic results below by taking up both paid search and shopping ad positions.
Reducing SEO Cannibalization in Performance Max:
Employ account-level negative keywords: Google now supports negative keywords for PMax – block top-performing organic keywords to eliminate redundancy.
Optimize asset groups and search themes: If some categories are already doing well organically, make sure PMax targets other product lines or services. Because PMax is intended for maximum reach, accurate targeting is critical.
Tests to confirm PPC is cannibalizing SEO
Run a PPC pause test: Suspend PPC ad groups temporarily or apply exact-match negative keywords to high-performing organic terms. If organic traffic, CTR, and conversions increase, then PPC is likely cannibalizing SEO.
Compare pre- and post-bid modifications: Decrease PPC bids on top-ranking organic keywords and monitor changes in paid and organic performance.
Review assisted conversions on Google Analytics: Check if PPC ads contribute to conversions that organic search alone cannot attain. If not, there might be a need for adjustments.
Track organic CTR fluctuations: Employ Google Search Console to compare CTR changes for leading organic keywords before and following PPC campaign initiation.
Tests to confirm PPC is cannibalizing SEO
Run a PPC pause test: Suspend PPC ad groups temporarily or apply exact-match negative keywords to high-performing organic terms. If organic traffic, CTR, and conversions increase, then PPC is likely cannibalizing SEO.
Compare pre- and post-bid modifications: Decrease PPC bids on top-ranking organic keywords and monitor changes in paid and organic performance.
Review assisted conversions on Google Analytics: Check if PPC ads contribute to conversions that organic search alone cannot attain. If not, there might be a need for adjustments.
Track organic CTR fluctuations: Employ Google Search Console to compare CTR changes for leading organic keywords before and following PPC campaign initiation.
Integration of PPC and SEO involves meticulous management of keywords and bidding strategically
Cut ad spending when possible and stop paying for traffic that is normally free.
For Performance Max campaigns, reducing SEO cannibalization using negative keywords and targeted refinements provides an equilibrium approach.
An effectively coordinated PPC-SEO approach enhances efficiency and optimizes the return on investment in digital marketing.
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Rahul M.
B2B Service Provider