Eating your colleagues isn't cool. Especially if you're on the same boat, and the reason isn't hunger, but gluttony. Keyword cannibalization, as the anecdote relates, is a phenomenon that often stems from overzealousness or simple ignorance in building a website's visibility. The desire to not only achieve a top position for a specific phrase, but to actually dominate the first page of organic results, however, carries the danger of sinking.
What is keyword cannibalization?
Keyword cannibalization refers to a situation in which several subpages of a single website or online store are optimized and/or linked to a specific phrase. This results in overlapping subpages in organic results. What does this mean? When a specific phrase is entered in the search results, the ranking algorithm considers one subpage, then the other. This results in position jumps over time.
Keyword cannibalization observed in the keyword panel over several days. The way a website is ranked based on its relevance to the entered phrase is based on many on- and off-site factors. If we observe changes in the subpages that respond to the same phrase during different searches, it's a sign of keyword cannibalization. Keyword cannibalization leads to instability, where one day we're at the top for a specific keyword, and the next we can drop to the bottom.
Keyword cannibalization – new or old phenomenon?
Just a few years ago, keyword cannibalization was completely nonexistent in the SEO lexicon. A situation where one website appeared multiple times for a given phrase was commonplace. In those dark days, SEO focused not only on achieving the first page of organic search results but on its complete dominance. Currently, Google's algorithm severely limits the display of different subpages belonging to the same domain. Of course, in the case of branded queries, we will still receive multiple addresses from a single source, and in the case of product-related keywords, the lion's share will be marketplaces like Allegro or OLX. For general queries, the vast majority of results will only show one domain page – the one most relevant to the query. Interestingly, there is no rule, and sometimes even highly competitive phrases can be dominated by a single store, as demonstrated by a recent example:
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Sometimes, a very strong saturation of keywords across multiple subpages can yield benefits. In this case, the strength of the domain and its individual subpages is so great that even keyword cannibalization within it isn't a problem. Of course, this is more of a curiosity.
Reasons for Phrase Cannibalization
As I mentioned, page spacing in the SERPs can be caused by a number of factors, both on-page and off-page. It's worth checking for the following:
- Title metadata duplication – the same metadata set on multiple subpages may lead to their incorrect interpretation by search engine robots.
- Duplicate content within a domain on different subpages – The most common causes of cannibalization are related to optimizing multiple subpages for the same keyword portfolio. Saturating text with the same keywords, duplicating the same H1 and H2 headings on different subpages, similar content, or using similar or identical ALT attributes in images – these are just some examples of basic errors that lead to cannibalization.
- Poor implementation or complete lack of canonical tags rel=”canonical” Canonical tags inform Google's crawler that we're aware of the same content on multiple subpages within our domain. However, properly implemented canonical tags should direct to the strongest subpage, which is often done incorrectly.
- Poorly executed internal linking – incorrect linking within one domain involves using the same anchors and placing links in them that point to different subpages.
- Badly executed external linking or incorrect link profile – Similarly to internal linking, external linking can also be problematic with the same links leading to many different subpages. The link profile itself can also be problematic – a better-optimized page will have more spammy URLs leading to it, which can automatically lower its ranking.
- Incorrect or missing 301 redirects – combining subpages within one website is a perfectly normal activity and does not necessarily have to be caused by 404 errors. However, redirecting to categories or products that are thematically different from a given subpage may lead to a decrease in its ranking. position in the ranking, and thus SEO cannibalization – a weaker side will take its place.
- Too many similar categories in the online store – The current trend among many SEO specialists is to specialize as much as possible on specific pages. This manifests itself by breaking categories into subcategories. While this approach is certainly justified, overzealousness risks keyword cannibalization.
- A poorly run blog– incorrect selection of topics and phrases, lack of internal linking or the same anchors to different addresses – everything related to content optimization.
Who eats their own most often?
The following are most likely to be affected by phrase cannibalization:
- online stores with a highly specialized offer,
- online stores whose assortment comes in many different versions (colors, sizes, etc.),
- news portals and frequently updated thematic blogs.
How to detect and combat phrase cannibalization?
The quickest way to determine whether keyword cannibalization is occurring is through monitoring tools. There are several ways to manually detect "starving subpages." Popular tools like Screaming Frog, SENUTO, and SEMSTORM can help. Google Search Console can also be useful. In the case of the "Big Three," the fastest way is to export the data to a file and analyze it there. You can read about how to combat keyword cannibalization with SEMSTORM here.
Many keyword tracking tools will show you when and which pages are eating each other
Keyword Cannibalization Example
The owner of the online store XNajtanszeDewocjonalia24X.pl, which distributes this type of artifact, isn't particularly knowledgeable about SEO . However, he hasn't been in business for a long time, honing his sales skills in the 90s at the Millennium Stadium. Back then, market visibility was equal to the number of banners and signs on the street. Following this logic, he decides to promote his offerings by maximally saturating the content of every page with the phrase "devotional items." Interested in SEO news, he reads online that long-tail phrases are the answer to all the evil in the universe. Consequently, he creates a dozen or so blog posts about his products, which are identical to each other.
Meanwhile, a priest in a rural parish near Poznań is looking for a company to sell him devotional items. The lack of nearby wholesalers selling chalices, crosses, and Eucharistic vestments forces the priest to use a search engine. After entering the phrase "devotional items" into the search results page (SERP), Google's algorithm decided that instead of displaying the homepage of the store NajtanszeDewocjonalia24.pl, which was in the top 10 for this keyword, a blog post titled "What are devotional items?" would be more relevant to the query. Keyword cannibalization occurs between the homepage and the latest blog post, resulting in the latter losing the auction and landing only on the fourth page of results. The merchant loses a potential customer.
Keyword Cannibalization FAQs
This is an SEO phenomenon that occurs when two or more pages within a single website are optimized (intentionally or accidentally) for the exact same keyword phrase. As a result, instead of competing with the competition, these pages begin to compete with each other in search results.
This leads to confusion in search engine algorithms. Google doesn't know which subpage on your website is the most important and relevant answer to a user's query. This results in:
- Dispersing the so-called positioning power (link juice) into several weaker URLs.
- Instability of position in search results (so-called flickering – Google alternately displays different subpages).
- A general decline in the website's ranking for a given phrase.
Cannibalization typically results from a lack of a structured content strategy and website information architecture. Common mistakes include:
- Writing multiple very similar blog articles on the same topic without clearly distinguishing their intentions.
- Duplicate category and tag names (a common problem in CMS systems like WordPress).
- Product and target category subpages in e-commerce stores that are too similar to each other.
The easiest and free way is to use Google Search Console. In the "Performance" report, simply filter the results for a specific keyword and then go to the "Pages" tab. If you see several different URLs from your website generating impressions for the same keyword, you're dealing with cannibalization.
You can also use the search operator in Google by entering: site:yourdomain.pl "research phrase".
The method of repair depends on the situation, but four methods are most commonly used:
- Content consolidation: combining several weaker, similar articles into one powerful, comprehensive guide, then setting up 301 redirects from the old addresses to the new one.
- 301 Redirect: If one of your subpages is completely unnecessary, simply redirect its traffic and SEO power to the main (cannibalizing) page.
- Canonical tag (rel=”canonical”): If both pages must physically exist (e.g., similar product variants), indicate with a tag in the code which one is the “original” and should be considered by Google.
- Deoptimization and internal linking: removing a problematic phrase from a page you don't care about and optimizing it for another long-tail keyword.
Summary
The above article covers the following topics:
- Keyword cannibalization is a situation in which several pages of one website are optimized for the same phrase, which leads to their overlap in organic results and position instability.
- A few years ago, dominance of one website in the results was the norm, but now the Google algorithm limits the display of different subpages of the same domain, preferring the one most relevant to the query (with the exception of brand and marketplace queries).
- The causes of phrase cannibalization include duplicate title and content metadata, errors in canonical tags, poorly executed internal and external linking, incorrect 301 redirects, too many similar categories, and a poorly maintained blog.
- Keyword cannibalization can be detected using monitoring tools like Screaming Frog, SENUTO, SEMSTORM, and Google Search Console, which show when and which pages are cannibalizing each other.
