Many of you might have heard that keyword cannibalization is bad or it is a problem that needs to be fixed, which is even correct. If you have multiple pages on your website which target the same keyword, then it can confuse the search engines and lead to unexpected or undesirable rankings. But, having multiple pages about the same thing doesn’t always mean that something needs to be fixed, you might just need to alter or improve your content to get better rankings through organic methods.
In this blog, we will talk about what is keyword cannibalization, why is it considered bad, how it impacts the SEO practices and how to find and fix keyword cannibalization. Read along to understand the concept of keyword cannibalization and make your website rank higher on the search engine result pages.
What Is Keyword Cannibalization?
Keyword cannibalization is a problem or an issue in SEO which happens when multiple pages on a single website target the same or similar keywords. This can result in two or more pages of the same website competing against each other for better search engine rankings. Therefore, it is advised to never target the same keywords for different pages of one website.
Keyword Cannibalization can reduce the ability of the website to rank for potential keywords. For example, if your website has two pages on the same topic ‘keyword cannibalization’. Now, you can easily drive more traffic to your website by combining those two pages, so this is a cannibalization issue which is minimizing your reach and slowing down your organic performance.
Is Keyword Cannibalization Bad?
The easiest answer to this question is YES. Keyword Cannibalization is bad but it is important that you remember it is only a problem when multiple pages on your website target the same keyword and adversely affect the organic performance and rankings of your website.
Many pages rank for more than one keyword, now that is not a problem because SEO works that way. If two pages targeting the same keyword are ranking for many other keywords, then it’s not really a problem. If you remove any page or merge the two pages, it can lead to a traffic drop or negative rankings which none of the site owners would want. So in such a case, it is better to leave both the pages as they are.
For example, if one of the pages ranks #1 and the other page (targeting the same keyword) doesn’t even show up on the search engine results page, then this is a problem of cannibalization because one of your pages is competing with the other page for rankings. But, if the other page is ranking on some other keyword, then it doesn’t seem to be an issue.
Read More: What Is Keyword Difficulty? & How to Measure It, Complete Guide [2025]
What Causes Keyword Cannibalization?
Keyword Cannibalization is the outcome of your plans, structure and content. It does not happen overnight. Let’s have a look at some of the main reasons why keyword cannibalization happens.
1. No clear keyword-to-page mapping
If you do not have a clear map for differentiating keywords and search intent for each page, it can lead to unintentional overlapping and competition across your own pages.
2. Lack of content focus
Keyword Cannibalization is also caused when different teams publish overlapping or similar content without cross-checking existing assets. This results in new pages unintentionally targeting the same keywords which older pages were targeting.
3. Complex URL structures and duplicate paths
If the URL of your page is complicated or it overlaps with other pages’ URL then it can also cause keyword cannibalization because search engines might treat those similar URLs as separate pages targeting the same keywords.
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How Keyword Cannibalization Impacts SEO?
Keyword Cannibalization can confuse the search engines and hence degrade your SEO rankings and weaken your SEO strategies. When more than one page on your website targets the same keyword, search engines struggle to decide which page can be the most relevant for a particular search query which results in decreased rankings. Keyword Cannibalization often does not has a great impact on SEO as it leads to:
Lower Rankings
If you have one targeted page for one keyword, there are high chances of it getting ranked rather than having two pages targeting the same keyword and both getting ranked.
Instead of one dedicated page ranking high, both pages might rank lower due to keyword cannibalization. One page with higher rankings is better than two pages with lower rankings.
Reduced CTR
CTR refers to Click Through Rate. If you have multiple pages targeting the similar keywords, the search engine can get confused and thus show the wrong page which might be less optimized which can result in your pages getting fewer clicks.
Read More:What Is Keyword Stemming? Is Keyword Stemming Still Used For SEO?
Wanted Crawl Budget
Search engines allocate a limited set budget to crawl your website. When you use the same keyword for multiple pages, search engines get confused and it results in the wastage of this budget on similar pages rather than focusing on the unique and main content.
Poor User Experience
If users visit a page that they find irrelevant, there are high chances of them leaving quickly which can lead to poor user experience and an increased bounce rate.
How to Find Cannibalized Keywords?
Keyword Cannibalization is a situation where multiple pages of a single website target the same keyword or have the same or very similar intent. So, to find the cannibalized keywords or to find out the cannibalization issues, you need to look for pages that target the same keywords and have very similar or the same intent. You can check out the various ways below to find the keyword cannibalization issues.
1. Content Audit
Content Audit simply means to check your existing pages. You can go through your website’s current pages and check if multiple ones are on the same topic or have similar intent. This is one of the easiest ways to check for cannibalization.
2. Historic Rankings
Check for historic rankings. You can use multiple tools and see how your pages have performed over time. If there are multiple pages for the same keyword but none of them rank high, then it is a clear sign of keyword cannibalization.
3. Run a site: search
In this method, you simply have to go to Google and type site:yourwebsite.com “keyword” and you will see all your pages related to that keyword. If you notice multiple similar results, then you might have a problem. Although all of these pages will not be the overlapping ones, you need to take corrective measures.
- yourwebsite: type the name of your website
- Keyword: enter the keyword for which you want to check cannibalization
4. Remove host clustering in Google search
If you add &filter=0 in the URL of your Google search, then you will be able to see all of your website’s pages that Google considers relevant for that particular keyword.
For example, you searched for ‘keyword cannibalization’ on Google, now in the URL of that search, add &filter=0 as shown in the below image.
5. Check for multiple ranking URLs
You can use various SEO tools and filter your keywords to see where multiple URLs from your website are actually ranking. If more than one of your pages ranks for the same keyword, then it may be a cannibalization issue.
However, you must never completely rely on SEO tools, always cross-check and confirm with Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs).
5 Ways to Fix Keyword Cannibalization
We have talked a lot about what keyword cannibalization is and how to identify it, but the main question that arises is how to actually fix it? What if I have cannibalization issues in my website and I want to fix them? Well, don’t worry! We’ve got you covered. Have a look at the below mentioned 5 easy ways to fix keyword cannibalization for your website and improve your rankings again.
| WAYS TO FIX CANNIBALIZATION | IMPLEMENTATION EFFORT |
| Merge and 301 Redirect | High |
| Target different search intents | Medium |
| Optimize Internal Linking | Low |
| Use canonical tags | Low |
| Remove Pages | Medium |
1. Merge and 301 Redirect
If you have two or more pages that has the same topic or intent, then choose the strongest one. Merge the content into one single page and use 301 redirection to redirect users to the stronger and better page. This will help in building authority, backlinks, etc.
2. Target different search intents
If you want to keep multiple pages, then make sure to keep the intent different. For example, if one of your pages is for informational purposes, then the other should be commercial, and the third can be transactional.
3. Optimize Internal Linking
Use internal linking to keep the users hooked to your website. Redirect them to your websites and remove the links of other competing pages. This helps to reduce the competition and allows you to keep the users to your website only.
4. Use canonical tags
Canonical tags are used to declare the primary pages in case of any duplicate or similar pages existing. You can use <link rel=”canonical” href=”preferred-page-url” /> tags in the head section to add canonical tags.
5. Remove Pages
Another way of fixing keyword cannibalization is to reduce the underperforming or duplicate pages from your website. But, this must be done with proper redirection to avoid broken links. If you restructure your website’s pages, make sure to maintain clarity and relevance.
How To Prevent Keyword Cannibalization?
If you want to prevent keyword cannibalization, you can adopt the following practices and avoid your rankings from going down just because of the duplication of pages. Some of the best practices to prevent keyword cannibalization are:
- Create Keyword Clusters and Map: You can create and maintain a live keyword to URL map that assigns different keywords for each page. This will help you and your team to stay focused and on the right page by reducing the risk of overlapping pages.
- Unique Search Intent for every page: Before you publish any of your content, make sure to ask yourself one question: What unique problem will this page solve? Each of your pages should have something unique for your users.Every page must have a different search intent, be it informational, commercial, transactional or navigational.
Also Read:
- What Is Keyword Difficulty?
- What Is Keyword Stemming?
- How to Do Keyword Clustering & Why It Helps SEO?
- What is Keyword Optimization in SEO?
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Keyword Cannibalization FAQs
Q1. What is keyword cannibalization?
Ans: Keyword Cannibalization is like an issue or a problem that happens when your website has multiple pages targeting the same keyword. It actually confuses the search engines regarding which page is the most relevant for a particular search query and hence it can result in reduced SEO rankings.
Q2. Is keyword cannibalization bad?
Ans: Keyword cannibalization divides your traffic to multiple pages. For example, if you have two pages for a similar topic, let’s say ‘keyword cannibalization’ now because of you having two pages, your traffic will get diverted and it can lead to lower rankings of both the pages.
Q3. Is there a way to fix keyword cannibalization?
Ans: Yes, there are multiple ways by which you can fix cannibalization. Some of the most common ways are, Merging duplicate pages or using 301 redirection for redirecting users to the merged page, removing duplicate pages, adding canonical tags, etc.
Q4. Should I never create multiple pages for the same topic?
Ans: No, having multiple pages for the same topic is not always bad or harmful for your SEO rankings. If both of your pages are ranking for different keywords or have different search intents, then it won’t be a problem. The problem only arises when both of your pages (two or more pages of the same website) compete for the same keyword and rankings.
