Keyword Cannibalization: What It Is and How to Fix It

You've already done the tough work: You have a library of helpful, well-researched blog posts, giving your website the potential to be an SEO powerhouse. 

But instead of seeing your pages climb the search rankings, they seem stuck. Or worse, a new post causes an older one to drop in position. 

If this sounds familiar, your site might be suffering from an issue called keyword cannibalization. It's a common SEO problem that happens when your own pages compete against each other, confusing search engines and diluting your authority. 

In this guide, we'll show you how to identify and resolve keyword cannibalization for good. 

What Is Keyword Cannibalization?

Keyword cannibalization, sometimes called keyword cannibalism, occurs when you have multiple pages on the same site targeting the same or very similar search queries. 

When a search engine's crawlers see this, they don't see a team of pages working together for the same brand. Instead, they see a crowd of different articles competing with each other — and they have to decide which page is most relevant. This unnecessary internal competition means none of your pages rank as high as a single, focused page would. 

For example, think of a kitchenware company publishing these three articles: 

1. "The Best Way to Clean a Cast Iron Skillet" 
2. "10 Cast Iron Skillet Cleaning Hacks" 
3. "A Guide to Washing Your Cast Iron Pan" 

Even if all three articles are well-written, informative, and carry all the relevant keywords, they are essentially answering the same user query: "how to clean a cast iron skillet." Instead of one high-ranking guide, the company now has three pages that might appear on page two, three, or even lower in the search results, potentially splitting their audience and confusing users. 

What Causes Keyword Cannibalization?

Keyword cannibalization rarely happens on purpose. It's usually an unanticipated side effect of growing your website without a centralized content strategy. 

To fix keyword cannibalization, you have to first understand its root causes: 

• Duplicate content: Creating new blog posts or product pages that overlap too much with existing content.
• Inconsistent keyword targeting: Without a shared tracking system, different teams or writers may optimize pages for the same keywords.
• Varying search intent: Having multiple pages — like a product page, category page, and blog post — all trying to rank for the same commercial keyword.
• Large or disorganized sites: As a site grows, keeping a clear content inventory becomes harder, leading to accidental topic overlap.

Why Cannibalization Hurts SEO

The impact of keyword cannibalization goes beyond just one page's ranking. It can undermine your entire SEO efforts. 

Here's why keyword cannibalization affects your search engine ranking: 

• Lower search rankings: When you have several competing pages, search engines struggle to choose the "best" one. This often causes all competing pages to rank lower than a single, strong page would. Your own pages might be your biggest competition.
• Diminished ranking authority: When backlinks and internal links are split across multiple pages, you lose ranking authority. Instead of concentrating your authority on one page, it's watered down among several.
• Wasted crawl budget: Search engine bots waste time crawling and indexing multiple versions of the same topic instead of discovering your other, more comprehensive content.  
• Poor user experience: A visitor searching for a specific term might land on a page that isn't the most relevant, leading to frustration and a higher bounce rate. 
• Unclear content marketing metrics: When traffic and conversions for a keyword are split across several URLs, it becomes harder to accurately measure what's working. 

How To Identify Cannibalization 

Before you can fix the problem, you first need to identify it. Here are a few tips that can reveal where your pages are competing. 

• Do manual Google search checks: Go to Google and type: site:yourwebsite.com "target keyword." Replace "yourwebsite.com" with the domain and "target keyword" with the main keyword or phrase you want to rank for. If the search results show multiple pages from your site, you've likely found a case of keyword cannibalization. 
• Use Google Search Console: Navigate to the search results report and look at the "queries" tab. Sort by a high-impression query and click on it. The report will show you all the pages on your site that Google is displaying for that specific search term. If you see more than one page receiving impressions for the same core keyword, it's a clear red flag. 
• Work with SEO platform tools: Tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs have dedicated features to spot internal competition. They can analyze your site and show you exactly which keywords are being targeted by multiple URLs, making it easy to create a list of competing pages. 

How To Fix Keyword Cannibalization

Once you've identified the problem, it's time to take action. Here's a step-by-step process for how to fix keyword cannibalization. 

1. Start With a Content Audit

To audit your content, you have to create a complete content inventory and analyze each page for its target keywords, performance, and purpose. The goal is to map out all your content and identify every instance of overlap. 

2. Decide To Keep, Delete, or Merge

For each group of competing pages, you have a few strategic choices: keep, delete, or merge. 

If the pages serve a distinct search intent, you can keep both. For example, if one article is a buying guide and another is a review, they may not compete. However, you'll still have to ensure that the content delivers something new and valuable, with unique keyword targets for each.

In many cases, the best option is to merge the content. Take two or more weaker, competing pages and combine them into one, comprehensive page. This consolidates all your ranking signals into one SEO powerhouse, while also eliminating duplicate content for a better reader experience.

If a page feels too thin, outdated, or no longer relevant, don't be afraid to delete it. Always use a 301 redirect to send its traffic and link equity to the most relevant remaining page. 

3. Begin Cleanup and Redirections

After you decide which page will be the main or "canonical" one for a keyword, use 301 redirects from all the cannibalizing URLs to this primary page. This tells readers and search engines that the old page has permanently moved, funneling all authority to your chosen article. 

4. Use Canonical and Noindex Tags

If you have technical duplicates or pages you can't redirect (like similar product pages), you can always use the "canonical" tag. This tells Google that of all the similar pages on your website, this is the primary one to index and rank. 

For pages that have no SEO value, such as old announcement posts, a "noindex" tag can remove them from search results entirely, preventing future confusion. 

5. Differentiate Your Content

For pages you choose to keep, make sure they're truly distinct. If the article topics feel too similar, you can always go back to the drawing board with keyword research. Find supporting long-tail keywords that can set your article apart from its internal and external competition. 

For example, if you have two posts about email marketing, refocus one to target "B2B email marketing strategies" and the other to target "email marketing for small businesses." This clarifies their purpose for both users and search engines. 

6. Optimize Internal Links

Internal linking is a powerful way to signal importance. To prevent cannibalization, consistently link to your chosen page whenever the target keyword is mentioned in similar content. This tells Google to put your primary page first, helping it outrank the others. 

How To Prevent Cannibalization

To stop the problem before it has a chance to start, here are some habits to consider adding to your workflow: 

• Conduct regular content audits: Make your content audits a quarterly habit to help avoid overlap as your site grows and evolves. 
• Maintain a keyword map: Keep a living document (a simple spreadsheet works) that assigns a primary keyword to every page on your site. No two pages should share the same primary target.
• Give every page a purpose: Every new piece of content should have a defined purpose, a unique target keyword, and its own place within your site architecture. A strong content strategy is your best defense. 

Don't Let Keyword Cannibalization Hurt Your Chances of Ranking

It can be frustrating to learn that your own pages could be sabotaging your SEO efforts. But remember that keyword cannibalization is a solvable problem. By being proactive with your content strategy and diligent with your audits, you can consolidate your site's strength. 

Resolving this internal competition transforms a confused website into a focused, authoritative presence that search engines can trust and rank accordingly. 

If you've identified a potential issue or aren't getting the results you're looking for, despite your best efforts, don't give up hope just yet. The team at Compose.ly is here to help. Our SEO experts can conduct a thorough audit of your site, identify exactly where your pages are competing, and build a clear plan to fix and prevent keyword cannibalization.

Let Compose.ly's SEO services strengthen your content and clarify your path to higher rankings. 

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