What is Keyword Cannibalization?
Keyword cannibalization occurs when multiple pages on the same website target the same keyword or search intent, causing them to compete against each other in search results instead of one page ranking strongly.
How it hurts rankings:
1. Google must choose between your competing pages — and may choose the wrong one 2. Link equity is split across multiple pages instead of concentrated on one 3. Conversion rates suffer because Google may rank an informational page instead of your conversion page 4. Crawl budget is wasted indexing redundant content
Detection: Search 'site:yourdomain.com keyword' in Google. If multiple pages appear for the same keyword, you likely have cannibalization.
Fixes: - Merge competing pages into one comprehensive page (301 redirect the others) - Differentiate the intent (make one page informational, another transactional) - Add canonical tags to specify the preferred page - Adjust internal linking to point to the primary page - Use noindex on secondary pages if they serve other purposes
Example
A SaaS company has /seo-audit-tool, /free-seo-audit, and a blog post about 'best SEO audit tools' — all targeting 'SEO audit tool'. Google alternates between ranking them, and none consistently reaches page 1. Merging or differentiating intent fixes this.