Level: Advanced
Cannibalization happens when two or more pages on your site unintentionally target the same keyword, splitting authority and confusing search engines about which page should rank.
The Excel Technique
Pull a page-to-keyword mapping export, then use a pivot table with keyword in Rows and a count of distinct pages in Values. Any keyword showing a count greater than one is a candidate for cannibalization, worth a manual review to confirm whether it's a genuine conflict or simply natural topical overlap.
Example Scenario
A pivot table across your full site's page-to-keyword mapping surfaces 22 keywords where two or more pages appear to target the same term. Manual review confirms 14 of them are genuine, unintentional conflicts worth consolidating into a single stronger page.
Where This Fits in Your Keyword Research Process
This pivot-table approach works, but it only catches exact keyword matches; a dedicated cannibalization checker can catch broader overlap patterns across your full keyword-to-page mapping more systematically.
Next step: Use Keyword Cannibalization Checker from SeoWolf's Notepad to run your full page-to-keyword mapping through it as a systematic first pass before building the pivot table, catching overlap patterns the exact-match pivot approach alone might miss across your site's structure.