--- title: "Service Pages or Blog Posts: Which One Should Target Which Keyword?" description: "Any site that runs both service pages and a blog eventually runs into the same question: which page should own a given keyword, the service page or the post? When both go after the same query, they don't reinforce each other, they work against each other. It rarely happens all at once. It builds up ... Read more" canonical: "https://socialinfluencebuilder.com/en/blog/keyword-cannibalization-blog-service/" lastmod: "2019-02-23T18:46:00+00:00" lang: "en-CA" format: "markdown" --- HTML version: # Service Pages or Blog Posts: Which One Should Target Which Keyword? Any site that runs both service pages and a blog eventually runs into the same question: which page should own a given keyword, the service page or the post? When both go after the same query, they don't reinforce each other, they work against each other. It rarely happens all at once. It builds up post by post, without anyone noticing, until two pages on the same site show up ranked right under one another. Here is the rule I use before writing a single word, and how you can apply it on your own site. ## What is keyword cannibalization? Keyword cannibalization happens when two pages on the same site target the same query and end up competing for the same ranking instead of complementing each other. Google then has to pick which one to show, and it will sometimes swap between the two from one week to the next without letting either one climb for long. The outcome is almost always worse than if one page had carried the whole query on its own: the internal links, shares and ranking authority the topic earns get split across two URLs instead of building up behind one. For the full definition, see the [glossary entry on keywords](/en/glossary/#mot-cle). ## A buying query and a research query are not written for the same reader A buying query comes from someone who has already decided to act and is comparing options: "seo montreal," "seo audit price," "how much does a google ads campaign cost." A research query comes from someone who is still trying to understand something: "how to choose keywords," "why isn't my site showing up on google," "does my business need a blog for seo." Those two readers are at different points in their thinking, and one page cannot serve both well. A service page that tries to fully answer an educational question turns long and loses the visitor who was ready to buy. A blog post that pushes too hard toward a quote request loses the reader who only wanted to understand the topic first. Each page needs its own job instead of a shared keyword, and that job should be obvious from the title tag alone before a reader even clicks through. ## How do you decide which page should target which keyword? The answer always starts with a check, never with a guess. Here is the order I follow before publishing anything new: 1. List the existing service pages and the buying queries each one already targets, with the main keyword for each written down plainly. 2. Before picking a blog topic, check Search Console to see whether a service page is already getting impressions for that query or something close to it. 3. If a service page already owns the ground, narrow the post to a question the service page does not answer, or drop the topic rather than force it. 4. Keep one primary keyword per URL across the whole site, not just within a single service-page-and-post pair. As an illustrative example, here is how the six queries mentioned earlier would split across the three page types on a site with a service page, a blog category and posts: | Query | Query type | Page that should target it | | --- | --- | --- | | seo montreal | Buying | Service page | | seo audit price | Buying | Service page | | seo (broad term) | Overview | Blog category page | | local seo (broad term) | Overview | Blog category page | | how to choose keywords | Research | Blog post | | why isn't my site showing up on google | Research | Blog post | That last rule is the easiest one to forget once a blog passes twenty or so posts, which is exactly when it matters most. This is the question I settle before every piece of content, whether it is a new post or an update to [the page where I describe my SEO service](/en/seo-montreal/): the service page owns the buying queries, the blog owns the questions. ## Can your blog's category page compete too? Yes, and it is an angle that is easy to miss because you only think about the service page and the post. Your blog's category archive, the page listing every post under one topic, has its own H1 and intro copy, and it can end up targeting the same broad term as the service page if nobody manages it on purpose. The rule I use to head off this third front: the category page keeps the broad, generic term, with an overview of what the section covers, the service page keeps the specific buying query with the offer and price attached, and each post keeps one precise question neither of the other two covers in depth. ## How do you spot cannibalization that is already happening on your site? The clearest signal shows up in Search Console: filter by query, click into the one you want to check, open the pages tab, and see whether two of your own URLs are pulling impressions for the same term. A second signal, quicker to check without any tool, is a `site:yourdomain.com keyword` search directly in Google: if two pages from your own site show up stacked right on top of each other for the same query, they are probably competing for the same ground rather than covering different angles. A third signal shows up in the Search Console position graph: rankings that rise and fall for no obvious reason, alternating between the two pages week to week, usually mean Google is torn between them rather than the content quality actually dropping. ## What do you do once cannibalization is confirmed? Once both pages are identified, you need to decide which one keeps the query and give the other a different job. You can fold the post into the service page and redirect the old URL, when the two pieces say essentially the same thing and there is no real reason to keep them separate. You can rewrite the post's title, H1 and angle to target a narrower question the service page does not cover, which gives it a real reason to exist on its own. Or you can adjust the site's internal links so most of them point to the page you want to win, instead of splitting attention evenly between the two, until Google settles on the one you meant to rank. Whichever fix you pick, check back in Search Console a few weeks later. Cannibalization does not usually resolve itself in a day, and a page that is still splitting impressions with another URL after a fix means the overlap goes deeper than the first edit accounted for. ## Can a blog post and a service page coexist on a related topic? Yes, as long as each one is written for a different reader and they link to each other instead of both chasing the same query. A post that explains how to spot an SEO problem can sit comfortably next to a service page that offers to fix it, as long as the post itself is not trying to rank for "seo montreal" or a similar commercial variant. The link between the two should live in the body text, with anchor text that describes what the reader will find, not the exact keyword you are trying to protect on the service page. That division of labour, more than the number of pages involved, decides whether a blog helps a service page or gets in its way. On a ten-page site, this rule is easy to keep in your head. On a blog that grows post after post, it takes a real check before every publish, but it avoids the actual cost of cannibalization: two pages working against each other instead of two pages splitting the work. *Drafted with AI assistance, checked and published by [Marven Salgado](/en/about/marven-salgado/).* ## Go further - **Service:** [SEO in Montreal that brings you customers](https://socialinfluencebuilder.com/en/seo-montreal/) - **Case study:** [Chez Oly Nelly](https://socialinfluencebuilder.com/en/chez-oly-nelly/) - **Glossary:** [Digital marketing glossary: Keyword](https://socialinfluencebuilder.com/en/glossary/#mot-cle)