BOSTON — Content marketers often struggle to keep up with the Google algorithm that can make or break their efforts, making search engine optimization a challenge.
SEO strategy was a top concern for marketers at HubSpot’s Inbound 2022 user conference. People rely on search engines to find the content they want, and web pages that rank on the first page of search results for a keyword phrase can receive a lot of traffic. Marketers need to understand how to optimize their content for search engines if they want to improve their page rankings.
Top SEO challenges marketers face include algorithm changes, underdeveloped AI, slow results, and too many tools.
1. Google algorithm changes
Google changes its search algorithm several times a year, which can affect organizations’ website traffic. Changes tend to reward high-quality content relevant to your main keyword phrase. However, the algorithm evaluates many variables, including content links, site speed and content completeness, and many marketers who attended Inbound said they’ve struggled to keep up with the changes .
“From March to now, we’ve seen a 20% drop in organic traffic across all of our clients, which is a little concerning,” said Gracie DeSantis, inbound marketing specialist at marketing agency Vye. “It’s like, ‘Is this something we’re doing as an agency?’ I think a lot is the [algorithm] updates”.
Marketing teams can’t control Google’s algorithm, but they can control how they respond to it. Organizations looking to improve their SEO strategies should not only be aware of what Google says publicly on their algorithm, but also build a strong brand to develop authority in their markets.
In a session called “What’s Next: How to Navigate Marketing Around Search and Social Algorithms,” Neil Patel, co-founder of marketing agency NP Digital, explained that Google’s algorithms favor established brands and, therefore, marketers should view branding as an SEO strategy.
To build a strong brand, organizations can offer free online tools, Patel said. Free tools, such as plagiarism checkers or calorie calculators, often generate a lot of brand queries on Google from people who want to use the tool, and this can increase an organization’s brand authority and rankings. seo
Inbound 2022: topics and summary
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2. Artificial intelligence
Almost every industry uses AI in some way and marketing is no exception. While AI-based SEO tools can help marketers find alternative keywords and generate anchor text variations, they often struggle to produce complex content on their own.
“It’s hard to get AI to write an entire article nowadays, because [the technology] It’s not there yet,” said Dale Bertrand, founder and president of marketing agency Fire&Spark. “What we’ve found is that it’s going in the wrong direction.”
Despite its inability to write full articles, AI can still help writers create content. For example, it can generate title tags, subtitles, and other pieces of content that writers can edit, add to, and build on.
“It used to be that whenever I wrote an article, I’d pick a keyword, write an outline, and then write the article,” Bertrand said. “Now, I request a tool with a keyword, and then it suggests more keywords and questions that I should use in my headings, and it will suggest sentences and paragraphs. Then I have to edit it by a human.”
In addition, marketing teams can use AI to generate what Bertrand calls “efficient content.” That could include comparison pages, templates or FAQs, where AI can do a better job generating that kind of content, Bertrand said.
3. Slow results
SEO strategies can help organizations increase site traffic, but results can take months to manifest. These strategies involve many factors, such as content quality and quantity, page authority, and site UX, which take time to develop.
SEO marketers must overcome challenges such as algorithm updates, AI, slow results, and siled tools.
Business leaders often underestimate how long they have to wait to see traffic improvements, said Cole Godsey, senior director of marketing at 121eCommerce, an agency that helps clients build e-commerce websites. Results usually take at least three months to appear, Godsey said.
Marketers need to commit to a long-term SEO strategy and not let slow results discourage them. They should invest time and resources in building a library of high-quality content, specifically tailored to the needs of their audience. Additionally, to increase site authority, organizations can acquire backlinks (instances where one website links to another) from other sites that Google deems trustworthy.
4. Too many tools
SEO tools can streamline processes like keyword research, but an overabundance of tools can hinder productivity. For example, an SEO strategist might use one tool for keyword research, one for performance tracking, and one for web crawling. When software stacks include too many separate tools, users can experience frustration as they switch between different applications.
“It can be overwhelming,” Godsey said. “One of the things I’ve had to do over the years is cut back on all the resources I use.”
To optimize an SEO software stack, marketing leaders should first identify any duplication of features. For example, an organization may pay for a standalone keyword research tool, but also have a web crawler with its own keyword research capabilities. In this case, marketing leaders could remove the standalone tool. Additionally, marketers may choose to replace all or most of their separate tools with an SEO software suite to improve the UX of their software suite.
Over time, search engine algorithms have become increasingly sophisticated and harder to manipulate with shortcuts such as keyword stuffing. To be successful, marketers must keep up with algorithm changes, create high-quality content, and build their brand authority. AI tools can help streamline the content creation process, but publishers need to point them in the right direction. Additionally, SEO vendors should develop a long-term strategy and optimize their SEO software suite.
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