Operator glossary
Keyword cannibalization
Your own campaigns bidding against each other for the same query — broad stealing exact's traffic at worse economics, two ASINs splitting one term's demand — paying yourself less by paying twice.
Cannibalization has two Amazon shapes. Campaign-level: without negative discipline, broad/auto campaigns enter the same auctions your exact campaigns own, taking impressions at discovery-tier bids and muddying attribution. Catalog-level: two of your own ASINs both chasing one query split its velocity — sometimes intentionally (owning two page-one slots), often just diluting rank.
The campaign cure is mechanical: exact owns the term, negatives evict it everywhere else. The catalog call is strategic: two listings strong enough to both rank is shelf domination; two mediocre listings sharing one term's demand is usually one strong listing wasted — consolidate via variation or differentiate the targeting.
The numbers
- Campaign form: broad/auto entering exact's auctions — fixed with negatives; attribution muddies without it.
- Catalog form: two own-ASINs splitting one query — dominate deliberately or consolidate, never drift.
Related terms