Keyword Cannibalisation.

Keyword cannibalisation describes two or more pages of the same website competing for the same keyword, or more precisely for the same search intent. Instead of one page ranking clearly, Google spreads the signals across several of them, both tend to land lower, and the site effectively takes its own visibility away. The problem is self-inflicted, which is the good news, because it can be fixed without anyone else's cooperation. It is also common, since it grows quietly as a site gets older.

Typical causes: several blog articles on the same topic, near-identical service pages, an unclear boundary between category and product pages, or content that simply accumulated over the years without a governing structure. The problem becomes visible when different URLs keep taking turns to rank for one keyword, when positions fluctuate heavily, or when several pages rank mediocrely instead of one ranking strongly. Search Console is the fastest place to see it, because it lists the ranking URL for each query.

Ways out, depending on the case: aim the pages clearly at different search intents; consolidate weaker pages into a strong one with a 301 redirect; declare one page authoritative with a canonical; or focus internal linking and anchor text on the intended target page. A well-planned content cluster prevents cannibalisation in the first place, because each intent is assigned exactly one page before anything is written. Which route is right depends on whether the pages have genuinely different jobs to do.

An example. A consultancy has three pages all aiming at «Unternehmensberatung Zürich». By merging them into one strong page and redirecting the other two, it concentrates signals and authority, and the remaining page climbs instead of three mediocre ones getting in each other's way. The redirects also preserve whatever backlinks the older pages had collected over the years, which is usually the part that makes consolidation pay for itself in the end.