Search and SEO
What is Keyword cannibalisation?
Keyword cannibalisation is two or more pages on the same site targeting the same query, so the search engine must choose between them. It splits links and relevance signals across URLs and typically leaves both ranking worse than one strong page would have.
Also called: keyword cannibalization · competing pages
How it happens
- A blog post written years after a service page targeting the same term
- A category page and a landing page built for the same phrase by different people
- Location pages overlapping with each other and with the main service page
- Programmatic pages generated without checking existing coverage
How to detect it
In Search Console, look for queries where the ranking URL changes over time. That flapping is the engine repeatedly reconsidering which of your pages is the right answer, and it is the clearest symptom there is.
How to fix it
- Consolidate: merge the weaker page into the stronger and 301 redirect it
- Differentiate: re-target one page at a genuinely different intent
- Canonicalise where the pages are near-duplicates that both need to exist
- Prevent it: allocate one primary keyword per URL before writing, and enforce it in the build
Where this is covered in depth
A definition can only go so far. The 35 types of SEO, explained without the padding covers this properly — 6 minutes, free, no email required.
Who wrote this
Anas Bin Masud builds e-commerce sites and does technical SEO for businesses in the UK, Canada and Pakistan. These definitions come from client work rather than from a content brief — where an entry describes a mistake, it is usually one found on a real site. More about how I work.