Top Enterprise SEO Challenges And How To Solve Them

There are numerous challenges associated with enterprise SEO solutions, though it is termed a long-term process. Large organizations tend to have people working in various departments that do not share the same bandwidth. In spite of the fact that individuals have aligned their goals, issues exist with past optimization.

It is uncommon to have legacy systems in place as old micro-sites consume resources or critical changes are being made at an enterprise level. Numerous challenges will and continue to exist when it comes to enterprise SEO issues.

Below are some of the difficulties with enterprise SEO and the ways by which you may overcome them. Most of them are associated with large-scale enterprises.

Enterprise with proprietary or legacy systems in place

Old CMS systems pose considerable challenges. Some departments may not have access to these systems, a few will have SEO capabilities whereas others will not. Though the learning curve for these systems is high.

Solutions

Learn what the system can do and start outlining how to perform these tasks. A few things that come to mind are

• Redirect options
• Structured data
• Template designs
• Plugin options
• Ability to edit data

If you are not able to perform these tasks you may consider a system update or even migrating to a new CMS

Use of the wrong tools for the job

A common issue with enterprise SEO solutions is that they may be using the wrong tools for a job. The main reason is due to the false promises made by the sales team. However, a few of them may not be able to offer the refinement necessary to work across multiple departments.

Solution

Firstly, there is a need to analyse all the tools to figure out which is beneficial for an organization and the ones that hold you back. Then have a discussion with the vendors about enterprise options and remove tools that do not provide the functionality enterprises need for search engine optimization.

Improper content deployment leads to lost job opportunities.

Content is only useful when it is deployed properly. Enterprise SEO issues lose out on the opportunity to capitalize on trends and news due to bad deployment strategies.

Solution

Explore ways where everyone is able to align with the content goals. A few things that you need to undertake here are

• For the entire organization have a content calendar
• Governance models are to be put in place
• Create and update workflows

Then you need to outline the content and pass it through the editors, writers and final approvers. Once workflows are built out, content can be deployed faster to cash in on timely news and trends. Procedures must be in place to prevent issues like keyword cannibalization and duplicating meta titles.

Micro-sites consuming resources

It is not uncommon for enterprises to have micro-sites that are developed over time. this is one of the major difficulties with enterprise SEO.

Solution

Micro sites provide an excellent opportunity to gain links and focussed information is provided though they consume a lot of resources. Ideally, there is a need to consolidate these sites to the main site and ensure all the stakeholders are part of the transition process.

Lack of cohesion and communication among groups

When multiple groups and teams are involved, your job as an SEO specialist becomes difficult. Unfortunately, it can turn out to be a challenge to develop cohesion among the groups.

Solution

Enterprise SEO solutions require deep-rooted relationships with people in an organization. This means you need to engage with teams and managers that go beyond their own. A few things you will want to do are

• Start forming common goals
• Networking with others in the enterprise
• Communicate with others about changes
• Use collaboration and communication tools

The goal is to get everyone on the same page, to make integral changes to an organization enabling them to reach their SEO goals

Development teams not keen on buying SEO strategies

Development teams must adopt your SEO strategy, but it is a major challenge that they face. One of the major difficulties with enterprise SEO relates to the same. A few handy tips can help the IT departments buy into your strategy.

Solution

These teams and enterprises are crucial when it comes to technical SEO. Every day you will have to work along with multiple stakeholders but the most important will be in the IT and development teams. You will want to:

• Have cordial relations with the teams
• Discuss the issues and plans
• Working through solutions that these teams offer you

 Working with these development teams is one of the best things that you can do in helping an enterprise to reach their goals.  An aspect that works exceptionally well is the importance of working together in sharing your wins with the development team.

An example is you can share these wins  if they helped you scale up servers and speed optimization tweaks are made for better ranking and results. Explain what worked and help you accomplish them during these meetings.

Overlooking technical SEO issues

Technical SEO has an immense role to play in working with SEO as there are no moving parts of a large corporation you will be exposed. While technical aspects of SEO may not be exciting or fun, they are crucial to address.

Solution

If you feel technical SEO has been ignored, it is time to get things in order and work

• Creation of an internal link structure
• Scanning and correcting crawl issues
• Improving site speed
• Lowering server response time.

These are some small enterprise SEO issues with technical SEO that get overlooked over a period of time. If these issues are addressed at an early stage, it becomes easier to reach your optimization goals.

The IT mindset

Scales are growing up as the company continues to grow. The management is often reluctant to alter the marketing budget as already things that are in place work. Such a mindset is a problematic one when teams are looking to buy- in.

Solution

If you want people to buy into your strategy and push it further everyone has to buy- in. With everyone involved, you need to take a unique approach. It needs to include

• Showcasing results
• Creation of graphs and charts and how these changes are impacting business
• Once experience improves showcasing user stories.

Teams want effective SEO solutions on all counts as this helps the business grow. People buy in when they see these results and if you are not able to showcase these results yet, run projections on how these changes will have a positive impact on your business.

Lack of governance

Lack of governance may point to anarchy for the current and future SEO teams. You must implement the necessary modifications if the firm lacks governance.

Solution

Business requires rules that enable them to maintain the highest level of quality and comply with standards. There may be governance for multiple areas in an enterprise that includes step-by-step rules and regulations that have to be followed by

• Publishing teams
• Content teams
• Developers
• Designers
• Etc

When undertaken properly governance will help in the creation of a cohesive digital strategy, enhance web accessibility, and reduce errors and bugs that enable an enterprise to maintain consistency.

Lack of tools in place to track effectiveness

Enterprises are expected to make a return on their investment. You need to track SEO to showcase its effectiveness. Unfortunately, many organizations do not have the tools in place to track down the effectiveness of SEO campaigns.

Solution

Owners and managers want to see results. If you are not able to show them how work impacts business you will quickly find yourself out of the job. Use tools to track

• When you make changes
• How these changes are impacting business
• Periodic reports on effectiveness

If you are able to showcase SEO provides value, then it is easier for everyone in an organization to buy into the plans and strategies.

Lack of redirect control

For Enterprise SEO solutions, redirects can get out of hand quickly as they may cause more harm to an SEO campaign than good.

Solution

Redirects need control and a few things that need to be done to get things under control are

• Crawlers are to be run in locating all redirects
• Fix broken loops or redirects
• Creation of governance over redirects

One person who could approve redirection and make sure there are no possible problems with them would be ideal.

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