By Erin Rodrigue

In the 1990s, SEO success relied on keywords. In 2023, new SEO challenges have emerged.

While keywords still matter, other considerations such as page authority, loading speed, and regularly-updated content all play a role in maximizing SEO impact.

Here’s a look at eight SEO challenges brands are facing in 2023.

Top 8 SEO Challenges in 2023

1. Staying ahead of algorithm changes.

HubSpot surveyed 400+ web traffic analysts to identify top SEO challenges. The leading challenge — experienced by 50% of marketers — is staying on top of search engine algorithm changes.

This isn’t surprising — in 2020 alone, Google ran more than 500,000 experiments that led to 4,000+ changes to search. For many marketers, staying current with these changes is like hitting a moving target.

So how can you succeed when Google keeps moving the goal post? The key is to respond to these changes strategically.

First, remember that there’s no need to overhaul your entire SEO strategy in response to a minor change. Instead, your time is better spent staying on top of industry news. If a big algorithm change is on the horizon, the SEO industry will talk about it.

If a significant algorithm change does happen, wait for the dust to settle before making any moves. Why? In some cases, Google reverts to a previous version if an update doesn’t go to plan.

If you’ve spent time and effort rebuilding your SEO plan from the ground up, you’ll have to spend more time and money undoing the change.

2. Not ranking higher in search results.

Unlike paid search, SEO takes time to show results — and it’s usually a result of smaller efforts.

There are some “solutions” to fix a low ranking, such as pivoting to technical SEO and content marketing. SEO experts have also identified some factors that play into your ranking, like the E-E-A-T framework. E-E-A-T in SEO stands for “experience,” “expertise,” “authoritativeness,” and “trustworthiness.”

However, even more important is developing a long-term strategy that focuses on a handful of initiatives at a time. Remember, SEO is a long-term game. The work you put in today will pay off down the road.

Consider a recent Google search update that may be prioritizing “AI-generated crap” over human-written text. While this type of update can temporarily depress search engine rankings, changes from Google in response to search results and user feedback will prompt further changes.

3. Focusing too much on keywords.

Keywords matter, but they’re not enough to get your site on page one of Google search. Consider a company that provides mobile car detailing services.

If they spend time and money ranking for terms such as “mobile car detailing,” “car detailing at my home,” and “car cleaning service near me,” they’ll see an initial boost in search rankings.

But this lift will be short-lived if Google crawls their site and discovers that it’s full of outdated, irrelevant content.

The result? Moving up the search ladder requires a mutli-metric …read more

Source:: HubSpot Blog

Author: Aaron