Keyword Cannibalization
Two or more pages on the same site competing for one query, which leaves the engine unsure which to show and usually weakens both.
Analogy Mental model
Two waiters from the same restaurant standing at the door competing for the same party of four. The customers walk away and neither waiter gets the tip.
In practice What you actually do
Filter Search Console by the query, open the pages tab, and look for several URLs trading impressions while average position oscillates. That pattern is the fingerprint. Decide which page deserves the query, then merge or redirect the others into it.
Where people get burned Pitfalls
Splitting by intent is the other legitimate fix, but only where the intents genuinely differ. Two pages explaining the same thing under slightly different titles are still cannibalising, whatever the briefs called them.
This entry was written in English from the Chinese original, not machine-translated. Read the Chinese version →