How to Find Pages Competing for the Same Keyword on Your Site
A practical process for finding your own pages that compete for one search, choosing a winner and fixing the rest.
On a small site you might remember every page you have written. Past fifty or so posts, nobody does, and overlapping pages creep in. This guide shows how to find them using the free SeoSpidie keyword cannibalization checker and Google Search Console, then how to decide what to do with each pair.
If you are new to the idea, start with what keyword cannibalization is.
Step 1: Gather the pages to compare
Pick one section of your site โ for example all blog posts about a single subject, or all your service pages โ and collect each page's title and meta description. A spreadsheet export from your CMS or an SEO crawler works, or you can copy them by hand for a small site. Comparing pages within a topic is far more useful than comparing your whole site at once, because that is where the overlaps live.
Step 2: Run the checker
Paste the titles and descriptions into the cannibalization checker. It compares the terms each page targets and flags groups of pages that compete for the same keywords. Pages with near-identical titles are the strongest candidates.
Step 3: Confirm with Search Console
A tool can show that pages look alike. Search Console shows whether they actually compete:
- Open Performance โ Search results.
- Click a query you care about, then switch to the Pages tab.
- If several of your URLs receive impressions for that one query, they are competing.
Also look at the date chart for that query filtered by page. If one page's impressions drop just as another's rise, Google is swapping between them.
Step 4: Choose a winner for each group
For each set of competing pages, pick the one to keep. Usually it is the page with:
- The most backlinks (check with the backlink checker)
- The most clicks and impressions over the last few months
- The best, most complete content
- The cleanest URL for the topic
Step 5: Fix the losers
- Same intent, both thin: merge the useful parts into the winner and 301 redirect the other page.
- Different intent, similar wording: rewrite the title, H1 and focus so the difference is obvious.
- Little value, no traffic: remove it or set it to noindex.
Then update internal links across the site so they point to the winner. The internal link suggestions tool helps you find pages that should link to it.
Step 6: Recheck in a month
Return to the query in Search Console after four to six weeks. You want to see one URL receiving the impressions and, ideally, a better average position. Run the cannibalization checker again on the section to confirm the overlap is gone.
A real-world example
An electronics blog had three posts: "Best budget phones", "Top cheap smartphones this year" and "Phones under โน15,000 compared". All three earned impressions for "best budget phone", none ranked above position twelve, and Google kept switching between them. The team merged them into one regularly updated comparison, redirected the other two URLs and pointed every related article to it. Within a couple of months the single page was ranking on the first page โ not because of new content, but because its signals were no longer split.
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Frequently asked questions
How many pages can I compare at once?
Enter the group of pages you want to compare. Working one topic at a time gives the clearest results.
Do I need Search Console to find cannibalization?
Not to find candidates, but it is the best way to confirm that pages really compete in search.
Should I delete the weaker page?
Prefer merging and redirecting, especially if the page has any links or traffic. Delete only pages with no value.
Is the checker free?
Yes, with no sign-up required.