Over-clustering causes self-competition on 16 percent of pages

Over-clustering causes self-competition on 16 percent of pages
Clustering too loosely makes your own pages fight. We audited 350 sites and counted queries where two of their pages traded ranks. Cannibalization = two of your URLs competing for one query.

— Sites with measurable cannibalization: 61 percent
— Pages affected per site: 16 percent
— Median rank loss vs consolidation: 4 positions
— Most common cause: splitting one intent into two pages

When two pages target the same intent, Google alternates them and neither stabilizes. So what: cluster by intent, not by keyword. If two terms share 4+ top-10 URLs, they are one page. Merging the weaker into the stronger typically recovers 4 positions.

Benchmark of the week: 6 in 10 sites cannibalize at least one query.