Keyword cannibalization checker

When two pages for one search is — and isn’t — a problem

Google’s John Mueller has been clear that several of your pages showing for the same search is not a problem just because there is more than one. He suggests looking at what Search Console actually shows, and favouring one strong page over needless duplicates.¹ No Google source calls this a penalty.

So this checker does not flag every overlap. It flags a search only when your own data shows it being split: two or more pages each earning a real share of its impressions. A search where one page gets 99% and another 1% is a search Google has already settled.

How the checker works

With Search Console

We ask Google for the last 28 days of search-and-page totals, ending a few days ago because the newest data can still be preliminary.² A page counts as competing for a search when it has at least 10 impressions and at least 10% of that search’s impressions — both thresholds are our own, set to ignore noise; no source gives one. Searches containing your brand are left out, since a brand search should show several of your pages.

The page to keep is the one with more clicks from that search; if clicks tie, the better average position; then more impressions. Google leaves rare searches out of per-search rows to protect privacy,³ so very long-tail overlaps will not appear. We read up to 25,000 search-and-page rows, and say so if your property has more.

Without Search Console: the title check

We scan your site and pair pages in the same section whose titles share at least four fifths of their meaningful words. That suggests two pages might compete; it cannot show that they do. The result is labelled as an estimate for that reason.

Privacy

Google issues a read-only access token for this visit (no long-lived refresh token). We keep it encrypted for under an hour so you can check another property, never store the search data, and “Forget my Google connection” deletes the token and revokes it at Google.

How to read your results

• Searches with competing pages are listed most impressions first: the ones that matter most.
• Keep marks the page already doing best for that search; Competing the others. Position is Google’s average position for that page on that search.
• Pages that compete most often shows where to start: a page competing in many searches is usually a near-duplicate of another.
• A guide and its troubleshooting post can share a search and both deserve to exist when they answer different intents. You decide.

What to do next

For each pair, either point your internal links for that subject at the page to keep, merge the weaker page into it with a redirect, or rewrite the weaker page for a clearly different search. Our guide to keyword cannibalization in WordPress explains how to tell which, and the one on merging, redirecting or retargeting competing posts walks through each fix.

One phrase linking to both pages often feeds the problem — the anchor text analyser lists phrases that point to more than one page, and the page link inspector shows every link into the page you keep. With Search Console connected, Silotree watches for competing pages every week and stops suggesting links to the one you are phasing out.

How this compares with other free tools

As each tool’s own page described it when we checked on 11 October 2026. Tools change — if a line here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.

Sources

Each one is labelled with how much weight it can bear. Where the evidence is thin, the page says so.

1. Google, said publicly Search Engine Journal — Google answers SEO question about keyword cannibalization (Sep 2025). John Mueller: several of your pages showing for one search is not a problem in itself; look at what Search Console shows, and prefer one strong page over needless duplicates.
2. Google documentation Search Console Help — Performance report. How clicks, impressions and average position are counted, and that the newest data can be preliminary.
3. Google documentation Google Search Central blog — Search Console performance data filtering and limits (Oct 2022). Rare (anonymised) searches are left out of per-query rows, and the API returns rows in pages.