- \n
- Pages competing for rankings (& more) \u2013 <\/strong>If your pages are ranking for the same term, then the likelihood is that they will be competing against each other for SERP position. Not only that, but there\u2019s a good chance that other ranking factors such as backlinks will be split too. In a situation like this, you may end up ranking 11th<\/sup> and 12th<\/sup>, when one \u201cdefinitive\u201d page could be 6th<\/sup> instead. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Pages being excluded or alternated \u2013 <\/strong>Whilst sometimes you may end up with multiple pages ranked, on other occasions Google may choose to just run with one of the pages, leaving the others excluded from search results. There are also situations where Google will alternate between which page to rank, causing significant fluctuations in positioning. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
What causes keyword cannibalisation? <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
As with most things in SEO, there isn\u2019t a definitive answer for this, but the most common cause of keyword cannibalisation issues is creating pages with too much topical overlap. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As an example, if you resell web hosting<\/a>, you likely have a core page where people can purchase your shared hosting packages. You may then wish to support this page with blog posts such as \u201cWhat is web hosting?\u201d or \u201cHow much does web hosting cost?\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whilst this may sound like a good idea on the surface, there is a strong likelihood that these posts will overlap with the content on the core page, and therefore cause the cannibalisation issues we mentioned above. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other reasons for cannibalisation may be due to technical issues. For example, wrongly implemented canonicals or hreflang tags<\/a> can cause confusion for search engines and conflict between pages, so ensure that all of your tags are in order. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
How to identify keyword cannibalisation <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
There are a handful of ways in which you can investigate whether your website is suffering from keyword cannibalisation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Find keyword cannibalisation with SEO Tools <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
The simplest way to identify keyword cannibalisation is by using SEO tools which highlight this for you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you are using Ahrefs<\/a>, then you can find keyword cannibalisation issues with just a few steps: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Enter your domain into the \u201csite explorer\u201d tool <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Click on \u201cOrganic keywords\u201d in the side menu <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Filter the keywords you wish to see <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Click on the position history button <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
From here you will see a graph of historical positions for that keyword, which includes a list of the URLs which have ranked. If you see more than 1 URL listed, then this shows that keyword cannibalisation has been occurring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.20i.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Ahrefs-showing-cannibalisation.webp\")
Ahrefs showing cannibalisation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n An alternate tool to use is the rank tracking tool SERanking<\/a>, which highlights to you if the URL ranking for a keyword has changed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Google Search Console <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
As a free alternative to the paid tools above, you can use Google Search Console<\/a> to identify potential cannibalisation issues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once in your GSC dashboard, take the following steps: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Click \u201csearch results\u201d in the side menu <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Filter the queries you wish to investigate <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Click on the query of your choice <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Click \u201cpages\u201d below the main graph <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Doing this will show you all the pages which have received impressions & clicks for that specific query. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you see multiple pages listed, then this suggests there may be potential cannibalisation. Look at the clicks & impressions figures in more detail to see the extent of this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"finding](\"https:\/\/www.20i.com\/blog\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2024\/07\/google-search-console-showing-cannibalisation.jpeg.webp\")
Google Search Console showing cannibalisation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Having multiple pages with a handful of impressions is relatively normal and nothing to worry about, however if you see more than 1 page getting a significant number of clicks \u2013 or even worse, spot that the page you want to rank is being out clicked \u2013 then this is a sign that pages may be cannibalising each other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Manual Audits <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
A simpler, \u201cback to basics\u201d approach, taking time to manually audit your rankings and pages can be an effective way to spot cannibalisation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Type a few of your key phrases into Google and analyse the rankings \u2013 you may be surprised to see pages you didn\u2019t expect showing up in the SERPs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Likewise, audit your main menus and sitemaps on a regular basis. Look at them from a user point of view and ensure that each page serves a unique purpose. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
How to fix keyword cannibalisation <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
For the most part, fixing keyword cannibalisation comes down to ensuring you have an effective and properly thought-out content strategy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Creating hub content and topic clusters is a key part of SEO and very effective when done well, however, to avoid issues make sure that pages & posts don\u2019t overlap too much. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Separate all your content pages by query intent, ensuring each topic has one key transactional page, with complimentary informational pages around it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you believe you\u2019re currently suffering from cannibalisation related issues, then you can try the following fixes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Content consolidation <\/strong>
Consolidating cannibalising content can be an effective fix that boosts rankings at the same time. <\/p>\n\n\n\nIf you have multiple pages ranking for a keyword, consider moving the content from one of them over to the other, to create one \u201cultimate\u201d resource. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As an example, you may have a key product page, and then an FAQ blog post both competing for rankings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this case, taking the main FAQs and placing them on the product page may lead to a ranking boost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Be sure to 301 redirect any pages which are deleted to avoid sending traffic to 404 pages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019re not sure which page you want to go with as your \u201cdefinitive\u201d version, then look at traffic, conversion rates, and page authority and go with the strongest & most relevant one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"content](\"https:\/\/www.20i.com\/blog\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2024\/07\/Website-Cannibalisation-Study-blog.png.webp\")
Consolidating multiple pages into one<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Content Differentiation <\/strong>
In some cases, you may find that cannibalisation is being caused by a single paragraph or snippet of content. <\/p>\n\n\n\nIf this occurs, then removing or rewriting that section may be enough to remedy the issue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ensure all your content is unique to avoid confusing search engines and users. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ask yourself \u201cdoes this page serve a unique purpose on my website?\u201d If the answer is no, then consider rewriting or pruning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Internal Linking Strategy <\/strong>
Internal linking is one of SEO\u2019s most powerful yet underrated tools, and it can help you fix cannibalisation issues too. <\/p>\n\n\n\nIf you have two or more pages with a similar intent, use effective internal linking and anchor texts to help signal to search engines which page should rank for which term. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Any supplementary pages or posts should link to your main page for key search terms, to signal to crawlers which pages should rank for that keyword. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Canonical tags<\/strong>
If you have multiple pages surrounding a single topic, and don\u2019t need all of them to rank, then you can use canonical tags to signal to search engines which of your pages is the \u201cchosen one\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\nSimply place this code into the header of all pages you don\u2019t want to rank, and change the URL section to the main page you do want to rank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mysite.com\/rank-this-page\"> <\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nYou should be careful when using this method, as it is not keyword specific, and can lead to the page dropping out of the index completely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do not place these tags pointing away from a page that needs to rank in search engines and be sure not to create a canonical \u201cloop\u201d, which can cause confusion for Google and other bots. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Note: Canonical tags are \u201cadvice\u201d rather than a \u201cdirective\u201d, meaning that search engines can ignore them if they choose.
<\/p>\n\n\n\nKeyword cannibalisation case study <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
I know first-hand how frustrating cannibalisation issues can be, as we have suffered from them here at 20i. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following our move to 100% renewable power, we were very keen to promote our green web hosting<\/a> page. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"20is](\"https:\/\/www.20i.com\/blog\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2024\/07\/20i-green-hosting-page.jpeg.webp\")
20i green hosting page<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n In doing so, we created several blog posts discussing green issues, however despite all our work, we found that we were consistently stuck on page 2 or 3 of search results when searching \u201cgreen hosting\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taking a deeper dive, we soon found that our new complimentary blog posts were ranking alongside \u2013 or even in place of \u2013 our main page. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After assessing things, we found that most of our blog posts, whilst well written & well intentioned, were often covering the same sort of content which was featured on the main page \u2013 for example announcing our move to green hosting or explaining what green hosting is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As such, we took the decision to move any key information from these posts over to our main page, then delete the blog posts and 301 redirect the URLs too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It sounds simple, but it was incredibly effective! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Within a couple of days of the blog posts dropping out of the SERP, our green hosting page was onto page 1 of Google. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
By removing the \u201cnoise\u201d and conflicting signals, we gave Google a clear, definitive page to rank for these green related keywords, and as such moved up the results. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Final thoughts <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Keyword cannibalisation can be a frustrating and confusing issue to deal with, and the truth is it doesn\u2019t always get resolved as easily as it did for us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, by carefully plotting your content output, keeping your technical SEO tidy, and understanding the intent behind your keywords and pages, you can ensure your website sends clear signals to search engines, and gives you the best ranking potential. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Want to learn more about SEO? See the tools, blogs and podcasts we love at 20i.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n
- Click \u201cpages\u201d below the main graph <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Click on the query of your choice <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Filter the queries you wish to investigate <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Click \u201csearch results\u201d in the side menu <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Click on the position history button <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Filter the keywords you wish to see <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Click on \u201cOrganic keywords\u201d in the side menu <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Enter your domain into the \u201csite explorer\u201d tool <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Pages being excluded or alternated \u2013 <\/strong>Whilst sometimes you may end up with multiple pages ranked, on other occasions Google may choose to just run with one of the pages, leaving the others excluded from search results. There are also situations where Google will alternate between which page to rank, causing significant fluctuations in positioning. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
![\"Managed](\"https:\/\/www.20i.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Blog-Ad-WordPress-1200x625-1.png\")
<\/a><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For many years, the phrase \u201ccontent is king\u201d dominated SEO. This led to a \u201cmore is more\u201d approach,…","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":13749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[49,292],"tags":[80],"class_list":["post-13747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business-tips","category-seo-digital-strategy","tag-seo","cs-entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.20i.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.20i.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.20i.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.20i.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.20i.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13747"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.20i.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18557,"href":"https:\/\/www.20i.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13747\/revisions\/18557"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.20i.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.20i.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.20i.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.20i.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}