Managing SEO for large companies can be tough. Many people work in different offices and often have trouble staying on the same page. Even when everyone shares the same goals, old optimization efforts can create problems.
Legacy systems are a common problem. Old micro-sites can waste resources. Lack of support from the IT department can also hinder necessary changes.
Over time, various issues arise. For those entering the enterprise SEO field or dealing with large clients, understanding these challenges is important.
This guide will explore what enterprise SEO involves and how to tackle common challenges.
What is Enterprise SEO?
Enterprise SEO can mean different things. Some see it as managing SEO for large organizations. Others think it focuses on big websites. Both perspectives matter.
Enterprise SEO has different goals compared to traditional SEO. Traditional SEO aims to get traffic within a set budget and effort. Enterprise SEO focuses on growing market share, reducing costs, and maintaining reputation.
Technically, enterprise SEO and traditional SEO are similar. Both need keywords, technical soundness, flawless indexing, and good content. The main difference is the scale. With larger sites, the challenges are bigger too.
Difference Between Enterprise SEO and Traditional SEO
Enterprise SEO involves more scale and complexity than traditional SEO.
Scaling
Scale is the main difference. It impacts nearly every part of a marketing strategy. Take internal linking as an example. For small websites, strategic internal linking can boost SEO. But for large sites like Apple, with millions of pages, this task is huge. Marketers need automation to handle this. Automated tools can find relevant content and insert links on thousands of pages. This saves time and improves SEO on large sites.
SEO Tools
Tools for enterprise SEO are more advanced. They often need custom solutions. For example, Semrush offers a special plan for large businesses. This plan has many features and high limits. It also includes extra tools for fast-moving enterprises. Some businesses need custom pricing options for even larger needs. These platforms provide features for large-scale operations. This includes deeper data analytics, automation, and integration with other tools.
Stakeholder Collaboration
Simon Brisk, SEO Strategist of Click Intelligence said, making SEO changes in an enterprise requires coordination across many departments. For instance, improving page speed needs cooperation and approval from different teams. This is complex, especially if custom development or legal reviews are needed. Success in enterprise SEO depends on managing internal processes and aligning teams with SEO goals. Effective communication and showing SEO strategy benefits can help speed up this process.
Keyword Choice
Enterprise sites have the resources to target a wide range of keywords. This includes competitive ones. For example, Amazon can compete for high-volume keywords due to its strong domain authority. Smaller sites might struggle with this because they lack extensive backlinks and brand presence. However, enterprise sites should also target niche and long-tail keywords. This helps capture specific search intents and opportunities.
Webpages
Large sites often face issues like duplicate content and page bloat. Page bloat happens when there are too many unnecessary pages. This can dilute SEO efforts and consume the crawl budget, hurting overall search performance. For example, an e-commerce site might have thousands of product pages, leading to duplicate content. A company with services in multiple locations might struggle to create unique content for each page.
Challenges
Here are some of the common challenges faced in enterprise SEO:
Lack of Speed
Enterprise organizations often deal with slow processes. This is a major weakness. Getting budget approvals, support from different departments, or sign-offs for an SEO project can take a long time.
Effective enterprise SEO needs quick action. Delays in implementing recommendations can stop you from meeting marketing goals. One big problem is that SEO is often not prioritized. This is because department heads and executives do not always see its importance. This causes delays.
Global enterprises face even bigger challenges. Teams in different regions handle website edits. These tech experts have many tasks and may not prioritize SEO correctly. They might not understand why SEO tasks are important.
To speed up SEO implementation, align the SEO plan with current marketing and product efforts. This way, SEO tasks do not compete with other priorities. This leads to faster execution. Use Agile methods. Explain why SEO tasks are needed, not just what needs to be done. Show the business value. Break big projects into small tasks.
For example, instead of just saying “optimize title tags,” explain how this can increase revenue without extra costs. Start by working with the content team to improve title tags for key pages.
Limited Resources and Internal Hurdles
A significant issue in enterprise SEO is the lack of sufficient resources. Sometimes, just one or two people manage the entire SEO strategy. Even with a larger team, which might include SEO generalists and technical experts, the need for full-time content writers can be overlooked. Some organizations mistakenly believe AI can handle all content needs, but AI often lacks the quality and depth of human writing.
Another problem is the comparison between SEO and PPC. PPC teams usually have an easier time getting budgets approved because they can show clear results through detailed reports. Executives want the same kind of measurable outcomes from SEO, but SEO needs a specialized solution and a full team to provide those metrics.
Limited resources can create obstacles in gaining executive support. Budget constraints might lead to SEO tools that don’t offer the detailed data needed to convince executives. Without effective reporting and education, it’s hard to secure more investment.
Show the benefits of SEO early. Work with other marketing teams to highlight how SEO insights can improve various areas. For example, share information about reducing costs for terms where the site already ranks well organically. This approach can help demonstrate SEO’s value to a broader marketing strategy.
Centralized vs. Decentralized SEO and Governance
Centralized SEO involves one main team that handles all strategic decisions and manages the SEO efforts. In a decentralized setup, multiple teams or brands work on SEO separately, often with little to no coordination.
When SEO is managed by a central team far from daily tasks, or by different teams across various locations and time zones, achieving SEO goals becomes challenging.
The choice between centralized and decentralized SEO highlights the need for a strong SEO governance plan. Governance helps maintain SEO performance, rankings, and the user experience. In smaller teams, governance may not be formal, but as teams grow or become more spread out, having clear governance policies is needed to protect and improve SEO results.
Challenges in Implementation
Making SEO changes in an enterprise environment can be quite challenging. Often, outdated systems complicate the process. These legacy systems can be expensive to upgrade or replace and they may have limitations that hinder SEO efforts. Using solutions like edge workers can help address some issues if the systems rely on a CDN. New tools, such as the upcoming Patches system, will assist in fixing problems with old systems that are frequently ignored.
Legal teams can also present obstacles. They may block content changes, link-building efforts, or restrict outreach activities. Finding ways to make SEO improvements without needing extensive legal approval is essential.
Working with other teams is crucial for success. Presenting SEO projects in a way that promotes collaboration increases the chance of successful implementation. Ensuring that these projects are carried out smoothly and involve input from various departments will help achieve meaningful results.
Prioritizing SEO Efforts
In large enterprises with many products and extensive websites, prioritizing SEO efforts can be tough. Start by aligning SEO projects with the company’s key goals. Focus on high-priority products or services, where teams are more likely to support SEO initiatives. Their success and bonuses often depend on these priorities, making them more willing to invest resources.
To tackle prioritization, use a tool like an impact/effort matrix. This helps show which SEO tasks will deliver the most benefit compared to the effort they require. It’s a useful way to communicate what needs attention first.
Work with other teams to estimate the effort required for SEO tasks and adjust plans as needed. While these projects might seem mundane, getting the basics right is crucial for success. At the enterprise level, even routine improvements can lead to significant gains.
SEO Maturity Model
Enterprise SEO teams often face similar hurdles as they grow, a concept known as the SEO maturity model. Initially, teams may work sporadically. Over time, they centralize their efforts, set standards, and become more proactive by educating other departments.
Jessica Shee, Editor of m3datarecovery.com said, a key to success is having a leader who can effectively promote SEO within the organization. This leader not only works on SEO tasks but also spends time showcasing SEO achievements, creating forecasts, conducting meetings, and providing regular updates.
Jessia said, “Education and long-term planning are important. Building standards, maintaining a knowledge base, and creating clear procedures help ensure stability. Avoid frequent changes, such as constant URL updates, which can lead to extra work and minimal benefits.
Monitoring critical pages and keywords is important. Regularly tracking the performance of top pages and keywords helps identify successful strategies and any issues. Tools like the Compare Pages feature can offer valuable insights into how well important pages are performing.”
To catch technical issues early, regular monthly crawls may not be enough. Automated tests can be set up to detect problems before they go live. Scanning staging and development environments with tools like Ahrefs Site Audit helps find issues before public release.
Instead of full-site crawls, which are time-consuming, consider crawl sampling. This approach allows for daily checks on selected pages or recent updates to quickly identify any problems. Implementing a system for continuous, prioritized crawling can further enhance issue detection and response, offering real-time updates on page changes.
SEO Misalignments
Effective SEO requires focusing on the right priorities. Even with a large budget and a skilled team, success depends on targeting the correct areas. Many enterprises make the mistake of prioritizing new content creation over optimizing existing high-traffic pages. While new tactics can seem appealing, sticking to proven SEO strategies often brings better results.
To overcome this issue, it is important to create a prioritization framework. This framework should connect SEO actions to business objectives and track their effectiveness. This approach helps avoid spending time on activities that do not improve SEO performance.
Historical neglect of SEO can also be a major challenge. Older websites often have hidden problems such as outdated redirects, slow loading times, and duplicate content. These issues may have built up due to past staff changes or a lack of investment in SEO. Identifying and fixing these issues is vital for a solid SEO foundation.
To address historical problems, prioritize tasks based on their impact. Use tools to track and manage these issues, starting with those that affect traffic and performance the most. Conduct a comprehensive SEO audit to reveal these issues. This audit will examine website content, technical health, and structure. Focus on the most significant issues first and use industry benchmarks to justify why addressing these problems is crucial before creating new content.
Enterprise SEO holds significant potential and comes with high stakes. When a company fully commits to SEO, it can position itself as a leader in its industry.
