What Is Keyword Cannibalization? Causes, Examples & Fixes

What Is Keyword Cannibalization?

Keyword cannibalization happens when two or more pages on your website target the same keyword. Instead of boosting your rankings, these pages compete with each other. This creates cannibalization in SEO, where Google cannot decide which page is more relevant. The result is weaker visibility and lower traffic.

For example, if you publish two blogs on “best SEO tools,” search engines might split authority between them, reducing the chance of either page ranking well. This issue is known as SEO keyword cannibalization.

Causes of Keyword Cannibalization

The main causes of cannibalization SEO include:

• Duplicate or overlapping content.

• No keyword mapping for different pages.

• Weak internal linking for SEO that doesn’t show Google which page matters most.

• Similar titles and metadata across pages.

Fixing Keyword Cannibalization

The good news is that you can fix keyword cannibalization with some simple strategies:

1. Merge similar content into one strong page.

2. Assign unique keywords to each page.

3. Follow internal linking best practices so smaller blogs link to your main content.

4. Update metadata with unique titles and descriptions.

5. Use canonical tags when duplicate pages must exist.

Role of Internal Links

A strong SEO internal linking strategy helps prevent and fix cannibalization. By guiding users and search engines with internal linking for SEO, you make it clear which page should rank.

Conclusion

Keyword cannibalization may quietly weaken your SEO. By merging pages, planning keywords, and strengthening internal linking, you can improve visibility and rankings.