How to Find Cannibalization in 5 Minutes
- → Cannibalization = multiple pages competing for the same keyword
- → Check Search Console: query → Pages tab → look for multiple URLs
- → Flag any query with 2+ URLs getting significant impressions
- → Fix by consolidating, differentiating, or canonicalizing
Cannibalization happens when multiple pages on your site compete for the same keyword. Google gets confused. Neither page ranks as well as a single consolidated page would. Divided signals conquer no one.
Most people don't know they have this problem. Here's how to find it in 5 minutes.
The Search Console Method
Step 1: Go to Search Console > Performance > Search results
Step 2: Click on a query you care about (one you're trying to rank for)
Step 3: Click the "Pages" tab
If you see multiple URLs getting impressions for the same query, you have cannibalization.
What Bad Looks Like
Query: "how to make cold brew coffee"
/blog/cold-brew-guide- 500 impressions, position 12/recipes/cold-brew-coffee- 300 impressions, position 18/tips/best-cold-brew- 200 impressions, position 25
Three pages fighting for the same keyword. None ranking well. Combined, they might rank position 5.
What Good Looks Like
Query: "how to make cold brew coffee"
/guides/cold-brew-coffee- 5,000 impressions, position 3
One page. One focus. Clear ranking.
The Quick Audit Process
Step 1: Export your Search Console data (Queries report)
Step 2: For your top 50 queries by impressions, check how many URLs appear for each
Step 3: Flag any query with 2+ URLs getting significant impressions
This takes 5 minutes and reveals problems you didn't know you had.
How to Fix Cannibalization
Once you find it, you have three options:
Option 1: Consolidate. Merge the competing pages into one definitive page. Redirect the others to it. This is usually the best approach.
Option 2: Differentiate. If the pages serve genuinely different intents, optimize each for different keywords. Make them clearly distinct.
Option 3: Canonicalize. Point the weaker pages to the strongest one with canonical tags. Use this when you can't redirect (e.g., e-commerce variants).
Preventing Future Cannibalization
Before creating new content, always search your own site: site:yoursite.com "target keyword"
If something already exists, improve it instead of creating something new. Content consolidation beats content proliferation. This connects directly to why you should avoid index bloat.