What Is the Cannibalization Report?
The Cannibalization Report is a feature in Position Tracking that identifies when multiple pages on your website rank for the same keyword in Google's top 100 results. You can use this report to spot which pages compete against each other.
The report offers two ways to analyze cannibalization: View by Pages to see which URLs rank for multiple keywords, and View by Keywords to see which keywords trigger multiple competing pages.
Why Use the Cannibalization Report?
Use the Cannibalization Report to identify and fix keyword cannibalization on your site.
Keyword cannibalization occurs when multiple pages target the same keyword or topic. When pages compete with each other in search results, they split search visibility and can prevent either page from reaching stronger positions.
This report helps you improve your site's rankings by showing you exactly which pages and keywords are affected. You can prioritize fixes based on traffic potential, track improvements after making changes, and verify that cannibalization hasn't occurred after content updates.
The report also provides a Cannibalization Health score that you can include in reporting to demonstrate progress over time.
Understanding Your Cannibalization Health Score
Your Cannibalization Health score measures the percentage of keywords in your campaign that are free from cannibalization issues. A score of 100% means none of your keywords have multiple competing pages in Google's top 100 results.
You can track this score over time to measure the impact of your fixes. Return to this report after implementing changes or updating content to verify that cannibalization has not reoccurred.
The score is calculated using two key metrics:
- Affected keywords — The number of keywords where two or more pages compete in Google's top 100 results
- Cannibalizing pages — The number of pages ranking for each affected keyword
How to Use the Report
The Cannibalization Report offers two views to analyze your data. Use View by Pages to see which URLs compete across multiple keywords, or use View by Keywords to see which search terms trigger multiple competing pages.
View by Pages
View by Pages displays a list of URLs that rank for multiple keywords in your campaign. This view helps you identify pages that may need consolidation or content refinement.
The view includes these metrics:
- Affected Keywords — The number of keywords where this page competes with other pages on your site
- Avg. Pos. — The average ranking position for this page across all affected keywords
- Diff — How the average position has changed since the previous check
- Total Est. Traffic — The estimated monthly visits this page receives from affected keywords
- Diff — How the estimated traffic has changed over time
- Total Volume — The combined monthly search volume for all affected keywords where this page ranks
Click any row to see the full list of affected keywords for that page. You can analyze whether the page is relevant for all the keywords it ranks for. If the page isn't the best match for certain keywords, verify that a more relevant page exists and check its ranking in the Pages tab.
View by Keywords
View by Keywords displays a list of keywords that trigger multiple pages to rank in Google's top 100 results. This view helps you identify which search terms create the most competition between your pages.
The view includes these metrics:
- Pos. — The current ranking position for the keyword
- Diff — How the position has changed since the previous check
- URL — The page currently ranking for this keyword
- Est. Traffic — The estimated monthly visits from this keyword
- Diff — How the estimated traffic has changed over time
- Volume — The average monthly search volume for the keyword
Click any row to see a trend graph showing how different pages have ranked for that keyword over time. If the trend line is interrupted, that indicates a ghost page—a URL that appears only occasionally in search results for this keyword.
Filters and Sorting Options
The Cannibalization Report offers several filters to narrow your analysis. Use filters to focus on specific keywords, pages, position ranges, or time periods.
Filter by keyword to analyze specific search terms. Enter a keyword in the "Filter by keyword" field to see only matching results.
Filter by URL to view data for specific pages. Enter a full URL or URL pattern in the "Filter by URL" field to narrow results to particular pages or site sections.
Filter by position range to focus on keywords ranking in specific areas. Select a range from the "Positions" dropdown: Top 3, Top 10, Top 20, #4-10, #11-20, or #21-100.
Filter by date range to analyze specific time periods. Click the date selector to choose a custom range or select a preset: Past 2 days, Past 7 days, Past 30 days, Past 60 days, Past 90 days, Previous month, or All time.
Use date filters to track whether cannibalization improved after fixes or to identify when new issues appeared. Use position filters to prioritize high-visibility keywords or to focus on cannibalization preventing pages from reaching stronger positions.
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