Keyword Cannibalisation

A page conflict occurs when several pages from your website take turns ranking for the same keyword while its position weakens. Search Performance flags likely conflicts each day, and a Cannibalisation analysis checks whether a change is justified.

What you can do

Review the evidence behind a flag, compare two or three of the pages involved and receive exact recommendations for titles, headings and content. Recommended actions can be added to the Board.

A flag is a candidate for review, not proof of harm. Multiple pages ranking for one keyword is often fine.

How flags are raised

Wheremore checks every tracked keyword, market and search engine once a day, using the last 30 days of verified results. The check uses no AI and no credits.

A keyword is flagged when all of these are true:

• It has at least six days with a reliable ranking, and at least 75% of its days have reliable results.
• Its latest result is reliable, ranked and no more than two days old.
• The ranking page changed at least twice, including at least once back to a page used earlier.
• Its typical position over the first three reliable days was within the top 20.
• Its typical position over the last three reliable days is at least three places worse.

Page changes count only between reliable ranked days no more than three days apart. A longer gap, or a day without a usable ranking, starts a new sequence.

Find flagged keywords

Flagged keywords show a ⇄ button in their row in Keyword performance, on both tabs. The button appears only for keywords on the page of the table you are viewing.

A flag reflects the latest 30 days. It is hidden when the selected date range ends before the latest date the check used.

Open the Cannibalisation panel

Select ⇄ to open the Cannibalisation panel. The keyword appears at the top, with two tabs:

For a keyword with saved analyses only, the panel opens on Recent, and New analysis says that no current page conflict is flagged.

Changing a dashboard filter closes the panel.

Review the detection evidence

New analysis explains why the keyword was flagged. Select View detection evidence to see the daily ranking positions and ranking pages behind the flag.

The evidence notes three limits:

• Pages ranking together are known for the top 10 only.
• A missing detail means unknown, not absent.
• Conversions and assists are not assessed.

Run a Cannibalisation analysis

1. Under Check whether action is needed, select two or three pages to compare. The first two pages are selected by default; change the selection to the pages you want to compare.
2. Select Run page-conflict analysis.
3. Review the canonical check, which appears while the analysis runs.
4. Wait for the analysis. It continues if you close the panel.

Only pages that appeared in the verified rankings for this keyword in the last 30 days can be analysed. The table shows each page's best and worst position.

Running the analysis captures each selected page's content. At least two pages must return usable content.

The analysis uses credits once the report is saved.

Canonical check

Canonical Check Summary shows the number of pages checked and how many have errors or warnings. Each issue lists its severity, message, explanation, impact and recommendation.

Pages that point to the same canonical page are reported as Multiple pages with same canonical. No issues found means the canonical tags raised no concerns.

Read the report

When the analysis completes, the report appears in the panel. If the panel is still open, the report also opens beside it with Analysis and Evidence tabs.

Report header

The header shows the keyword, creation time, market and search engine, then the label Cannibalisation. The headline names the issue found, or reads No changes recommended. The recommended strategy follows.

Recommended actions

Under Recommended actions, each card gives one exact change for one page. The card heading is the action title, and the card ends with a priority of Immediate, Near term or Can wait.

Check each recommendation against the live page before making the change. The analysis reads the captured page text only.

When no change is justified, the report says No changes were recommended from the available evidence.

Supporting analysis

This section explains the issue and lists each competing page with its current and recommended focus. Recommended primary page names the page that should own the keyword and explains why.

Evidence

The Evidence tab opens with Review basis, then lists the selected pages and how much of each was captured:

It also shows the dated ranking evidence and its limitations.

Add an action to the Board

Select Add to Board on a recommendation.

• If the website is linked to one project you can access, the task is added directly.
• If it is linked to several, choose one under Select Project, then select Confirm Selection.

The button shows a tick and Added, and Item added to Board successfully! appears. The Board task keeps the analysis evidence so progress on the change and its ranking outcome can be tracked. Adding the same recommendation again does not create a second task.

Export a report

Select Export report in the report pane. The download is a standalone HTML file containing the analysis and its evidence.

Manage saved analyses in Recent

In progress or needs attention lists your own analyses that are still running, need reconciliation or failed. Select Check saved progress to follow a running analysis.

Below that, saved reports for the keyword, market and search engine are listed with their creation time. Reports you have not opened show New.

Permissions are workspace-based. Everyone with access to the market sees these reports, and any of them can delete one. To delete, select Delete, then Delete report. Existing Board tasks keep their evidence.

Wheremore keeps the latest five reports for each keyword, market and search engine. Export any report you want to keep.

Troubleshooting

A keyword with alternating pages is not flagged

The pattern does not meet every flag condition, or recent results are not reliable enough. Flags are deliberately cautious.

The ⇄ button has disappeared

The latest daily check no longer meets the conditions, the check is more than two days old, or the selected date range ends too early.

Choose two or three pages

This message, or At least two URLs are required for cannibalisation analysis., means too few or too many pages are selected. Select two or three.

A selected page is outside the verified ranking evidence

The page did not rank for this keyword in the verified results of the last 30 days. Choose a different page.

At least two selected pages must produce usable content

A page blocked capture or returned too little text. Choose pages that load publicly.

The analysis is still running

In the same browser tab, select Run page-conflict analysis again with the same pages to resume the same analysis. It is not charged again. Your running analyses also appear under In progress or needs attention in Recent.

Insufficient credits

Add credits to the workspace, then run the analysis again.

No accessible project is mapped to this source domain

The website is not linked to a project you can access. Link the website to a project, then add the action again.

The recommendation evidence is invalid or has been altered

The report changed after it was displayed. Open it again from Recent and add the action again.

The recommended wording does not match the live page

The page changed after it was captured, or the capture was partial. Run a new analysis to use the current content.

Related guides

• Keyword performance
• Search Performance AI analysis
• Action Board