diff --git a/app/lib/shared/count_topics.dart b/app/lib/shared/count_topics.dart
index 1dfd51cdf..60585138c 100644
--- a/app/lib/shared/count_topics.dart
+++ b/app/lib/shared/count_topics.dart
@@ -2,16 +2,28 @@
 // for details. All rights reserved. Use of this source code is governed by a
 // BSD-style license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
 
+import 'dart:collection';
+import 'dart:io';
+
+import 'package:collection/collection.dart';
 import 'package:gcloud/storage.dart';
+import 'package:logging/logging.dart';
+import 'package:path/path.dart' as p;
 import 'package:pub_dev/package/backend.dart';
 import 'package:pub_dev/package/models.dart';
 import 'package:pub_dev/shared/configuration.dart';
 import 'package:pub_dev/shared/datastore.dart';
 import 'package:pub_dev/shared/storage.dart';
 import 'package:pub_dev/shared/utils.dart';
+import 'package:source_span/source_span.dart';
+import 'package:yaml/yaml.dart';
+
+import '../frontend/static_files.dart';
 
 final topicsJsonFileName = 'topics.json';
 
+final _log = Logger('count_topics');
+
 Future<void> countTopics() async {
   final topics = <String, int>{};
 
@@ -32,3 +44,102 @@ Future<void> countTopics() async {
   await uploadBytesWithRetry(
       reportsBucket, topicsJsonFileName, jsonUtf8Encoder.convert(topics));
 }
+
+typedef CanonicalTopic = ({
+  String topic,
+  String description,
+  Set<String> aliases,
+});
+
+final canonicalTopics = () {
+  try {
+    final f = File(p.join(resolveAppDir(), '../doc/topics.yaml'));
+    final root = loadYamlNode(f.readAsStringSync(), sourceUrl: f.uri);
+    if (root is! YamlMap) {
+      throw SourceSpanFormatException('expected a map', root.span);
+    }
+    if (root.keys.length > 1) {
+      throw SourceSpanFormatException(
+        'only the "topic" key is allowed',
+        root.span,
+      );
+    }
+
+    final topics = root.expectListOfObjects('topics');
+    return UnmodifiableListView(topics.map<CanonicalTopic>((entry) {
+      final topic = entry.expectString('topic', maxLength: 32);
+      if (!isValidTopicFormat(topic)) {
+        throw SourceSpanFormatException('must be valid topic', entry.span);
+      }
+      if (entry.keys.length > 3) {
+        throw SourceSpanFormatException(
+          'only keys "topic", "description" and "aliases" are allowed',
+          entry.span,
+        );
+      }
+      return (
+        topic: topic,
+        description: entry.expectString('description', maxLength: 160),
+        aliases: Set.unmodifiable(entry.expectList('aliases').nodes.map((node) {
+          final value = node.value;
+          if (value is! String) {
+            throw SourceSpanFormatException('must be a string', node.span);
+          }
+          if (!isValidTopicFormat(value)) {
+            throw SourceSpanFormatException('must be valid topic', node.span);
+          }
+          return value;
+        })),
+      );
+    }).toList(growable: false));
+  } on Exception catch (e, st) {
+    _log.shout('failed to load doc/topics.yaml', e, st);
+
+    // This is sad, but we can just ignore it!
+    return UnmodifiableListView(<CanonicalTopic>[]);
+  }
+}();
+
+/// True, if [topic] is formatted like a valid topic.
+bool isValidTopicFormat(String topic) =>
+    RegExp(r'^[a-z0-9-]{2,32}$').hasMatch(topic) &&
+    !topic.contains('--') &&
+    topic.startsWith(RegExp(r'^[a-z]')) &&
+    !topic.endsWith('-');
+
+extension on YamlMap {
+  YamlNode expectProperty(String key) {
+    if (nodes[key] case final YamlNode v) return v;
+    throw SourceSpanFormatException('expected a "$key" property', span);
+  }
+
+  YamlList expectList(String key) {
+    final value = expectProperty(key);
+    if (value case final YamlList v) return v;
+    throw SourceSpanFormatException('"$key" must be a list', value.span);
+  }
+
+  Iterable<YamlMap> expectListOfObjects(String key) sync* {
+    for (final entry in expectList(key).nodes) {
+      if (entry is! YamlMap) {
+        throw SourceSpanFormatException('expected an object', entry.span);
+      }
+      yield entry;
+    }
+  }
+
+  String expectString(String key, {int? maxLength}) {
+    final node = expectProperty(key);
+    final value = node.value;
+    if (value is! String) {
+      throw SourceSpanFormatException('"$key" must be a string', node.span);
+    }
+    if (maxLength != null && value.length > maxLength) {
+      throw SourceSpanFormatException(
+        '"$key" must be shorter than $maxLength',
+        node.span,
+      );
+    }
+    return value;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/app/test/shared/topics_test.dart b/app/test/shared/topics_test.dart
index 437d6337e..301dab648 100644
--- a/app/test/shared/topics_test.dart
+++ b/app/test/shared/topics_test.dart
@@ -33,4 +33,70 @@ void main() {
       ],
     );
   });
+
+  test('isValidTopicFormat', () {
+    expect(isValidTopicFormat('widget'), isTrue);
+    expect(isValidTopicFormat('abc'), isTrue);
+    expect(isValidTopicFormat('foo-bar'), isTrue);
+    expect(isValidTopicFormat('foo42'), isTrue);
+
+    expect(isValidTopicFormat('-widget'), isFalse);
+    expect(isValidTopicFormat('a'), isFalse);
+    expect(isValidTopicFormat('foo-'), isFalse);
+    expect(isValidTopicFormat('42bar'), isFalse);
+  });
+
+  test('validate doc/topics.yaml', () {
+    // First we ensure that topics are loaded, this validates the file format!
+    final topics = canonicalTopics;
+
+    // Check if there are any duplicate topics!
+    final duplicates = topics.duplicates();
+    if (duplicates.isNotEmpty) {
+      fail(
+        '"doc/topics.yaml" must not have duplicate entries, '
+        'found: ${duplicates.join(', ')}',
+      );
+    }
+
+    // Check if any canonical topics are aliases for other topics
+    for (final topic in topics.map((e) => e.topic)) {
+      if (topics.any((e) => e.aliases.contains(topic))) {
+        fail('The canonical topic "$topic" is also listed in "aliases"!');
+      }
+    }
+
+    // Check that each alias is only used once!
+    for (final alias in topics.expand((e) => e.aliases)) {
+      if (topics.where((e) => e.aliases.contains(alias)).length > 1) {
+        fail('The alias "$alias" is listed in "aliases" for two topics!');
+      }
+    }
+  });
+
+  test('duplicates', () {
+    expect([1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1].duplicates(), contains(1));
+    expect([1, 2, 3, 4, 5].duplicates(), isEmpty);
+    expect([1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5].duplicates(), contains(5));
+    expect([1, 2, 1, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5].duplicates(), contains(5));
+    expect([5, 2, 1, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5].duplicates(), contains(5));
+  });
+}
+
+extension<T> on List<T> {
+  /// Return elements that appear more than once in this [List].
+  Set<T> duplicates() {
+    final duplicates = <T>{};
+    final N = length;
+    for (var i = 0; i < N; i++) {
+      final candidate = this[i];
+      for (var j = i + 1; j < N; j++) {
+        if (candidate == this[j]) {
+          duplicates.add(candidate);
+          break;
+        }
+      }
+    }
+    return duplicates;
+  }
 }
diff --git a/doc/topics.yaml b/doc/topics.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a0f94e066
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/topics.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+# Canonicalizing topics
+# =====================
+#
+# Packages published to pub.dev can define `topics` in `pubspec.yaml`, see;
+#   https://dart.dev/tools/pub/pubspec#topics
+#
+# The list of topics is free-form, and package authors are expected to make up
+# new topics as needed. Naturally, this will lead to duplicates and topics that
+# only differ in spelling. For example, one package might use the topic "widget"
+# while another package uses the topic "widgets".
+#
+# This file aims to mitigate duplicate topics by establishing _canonical topics_ 
+# with descriptions and a list of aliases.
+#
+# Aliases for a topic will be resolved when the `pubspec.yaml` is parsed.
+# Ensuring that a package tagged with the alias "widgets" will appear on pub.dev
+# as if it had been tagged with the canonical topic "widget".
+# Similarly, search queries will be normalized to canonical topics.
+#
+# Topic descriptions serve as documentation for next time an aliases is
+# proposed. Descriptions can also be used in tooltips or topic listings:
+#   https://pub.dev/topics
+#
+#
+# Canonical topic format
+# ----------------------
+#
+# Entries in the `topics` list in this document, must have the form:
+#
+# ```yaml
+# topics:
+# - topic: <canonical-topic>
+#   description: <description for use in tooltips, documentation, etc>
+#   aliases:
+#   - <aliases-topic>
+#   - ...
+# ```
+#
+#
+# Contributing
+# ------------
+#
+# You are welcome to submit pull-requests with additional aliases, canonical
+# topics and/or improved topic descriptions. 
+#
+# Please limit pull-requests to propose one topic per PR!
+#
+#
+# Editorial guidelines
+# --------------------
+#
+# The decision on whether or not to merge two similar topics can be difficult.
+# When in doubt we should error on the side of causion and avoid merging topics.
+# However, if mistakes are made these changes are reversible.
+# And we should not be afraid of accepting that sometimes a single topic can
+# have multiple meaning, even if this makes the topic hard to use.
+#
+# The editorial guidelines are intended to evolve as we gain more experience
+# merging/managing topics.
+topics:
+- topic: widget
+  description: Packages that contain Flutter widgets.
+  aliases:
+  - widgets