Keyword cannibalisation

What keyword cannibalisation means

Keyword cannibalisation happens when two or more pages on the same site target the same search with the same intent, so they compete with each other. Google may switch between them, rank neither well or pick the weaker one. It's a common side effect of blogging regularly without a plan.

Seen in practice

A landscaper has a service page for "porcelain patios", plus three blog posts called "Why choose porcelain paving", "Porcelain patio benefits" and "Porcelain vs sandstone". In Search Console all four flicker in and out for "porcelain patio". He merges the first two posts into the service page, keeps the comparison as a separate guide and links it to the service page.

Why it matters for your content

Small sites don't have much authority to spread around. Splitting it across several similar pages means none of them is as strong as one combined page would be. It also confuses visitors, who may land on an old, thin post rather than your main service page.

Checking your own pages

In Search Console's Performance report, filter by a query you care about, then open the Pages tab. If several pages get impressions for the same query and their positions keep swapping, you may have cannibalisation. Decide which page should own the topic, then merge, redirect or reposition the others.

Traps to avoid

• Writing a new post every time you want to rank for something you already cover.
• Treating every pair of pages that share a keyword as a problem. Different intents can coexist.
• Deleting pages without redirecting them.
• Using the same title on several pages.

Related content terms

• Keyword: A word or phrase people type into search engines, used to plan pages and measure visibility.
• Search intent: The likely goal behind a query: learn, navigate, compare or buy.
• Internal linking: Links between pages on the same site that help users and distribute crawl paths.
• Content cluster: A group of related pages linking to a pillar topic page.