Algorithm, Search & Distribution
Keyword cannibalisation
Also called: keyword cannibalization, content cannibalisation
The term comes from web SEO, where several pages on one site chase an identical query and dilute each other. On YouTube it happens when a creator covers the same how-to three times across four years, each version titled almost identically. Search has to choose. Viewers see near-duplicate options, and the signals that could have built one strong result get spread thin across three weak ones. The usual fix: keep the best performer, retitle the others around the angle each actually covers, and point the old descriptions at the current one.