Keyword cannibalisation is when more than one page on your site targets the same keyword. Instead of helping you rank better, those pages compete with each other and confuse the Google algorithm.
Say you have written two blog posts for “Keyword Research.” Now Google has to choose between them. The result is lower ranking for both even if both the blog posts are of high quality. Simply put, more pages on the same topic don’t equal more traffic
The first step in fixing cannibalisation is picking one page to take the lead for a keyword theme. Then look at the other pages and decide what you want to do with it. Typically, you might cover a more specific angle in competing pages, merge pages, nuke pages or redirect pages that aren’t needed anymore. Once every page has a clear purpose, your rankings usually settle, and the pages that matter most start getting the attention they deserve.
Before writing something new, it’s worth checking whether the topic already exists on your site, and if it does, whether the new page truly adds a different angle. Using a Mutually Exclusive Collectively Exhaustive (MECE) approach can help here. Make sure every page has a mutually exclusive role and together they fully cover the topic.
You need to think in terms of coverage without overlap. If a new page doesn't bring something unique, it’s usually better to improve/ add on to the existing page instead.
