How overlaps are found
- Normalise keywords. In normal mode, case and punctuation are ignored, simple plurals are reduced (“plumbers” → “plumber”), filler words such as “in”, “for”, “the”, “near” and “best” are removed, and the remaining words are sorted. So “emergency plumbers in Leeds” and “Leeds emergency plumber” become the same keyword group.
- Normalise URLs. Domains, trailing slashes, query strings and case are ignored, so the same page written two ways is not flagged.
- Group and flag. Any keyword group mapped to two or more different URLs is a conflict. Pages mapped to many unrelated keyword groups are flagged as unfocused.
If you include a third column (clicks or impressions), the page with the higher figure in each conflict is suggested as the one to keep as the main target.
What to do about a conflict
| Situation | Usual fix |
|---|---|
| Two pages say almost the same thing | Merge the content into the stronger page and 301 redirect the weaker one |
| Pages serve different intents (a service page and a how-to article) | Re-focus each on its own intent and link from the article to the service page |
| Location pages overlap with the main service page | Make each location page genuinely local, or consolidate (see the Location Page Planner) |
| The weaker page has value for users but not search | Keep it, re-target it, and use internal links to point to the main page |
Check redirects you create with the Redirect Map Validator.
Limits
This tool compares the plan you paste. It cannot see which pages Google actually ranks for each search. In Search Console, open Performance, filter by a query, and look at the Pages tab: if several of your URLs share clicks for one query over time, that confirms the overlap.