The top 5 strategic SEO mistakes enterprises make (and how to avoid them)

Enterprise SEO comes with unique challenges: massive websites, coordination across departments, and the need for a strategic vision.

Without careful planning, common SEO mistakes can lead to wasted resources and underperformance in the search results.

This article explores some of the top strategic mistakes enterprises make with SEO and, more importantly, how to avoid them.

• Failing to secure the “right” buy-in for SEO initiatives.
• Underinvesting in SEO continuing education or training.
• Ineffective hiring and onboarding of an SEO agency.
• Overlooking the value of maintaining high-quality content.
• Not prioritizing technical SEO.

1. Failing to secure the ‘right’ buy-in for SEO initiatives

When you get buy-in from the right people in your organization, you can rest assured the SEO program will have more resources and prioritization.

This is not just about the CMO seeing the value in SEO, either. SEO must be seen as a strategic business initiative all the way to the top.

Case in point: An enterprise client of my SEO agency knew that their SEO program would only be successful if every department with a stake in the website’s success were on board.

The company chairman called a meeting to discuss the value of SEO.

This is not common but was necessary for this project. Every key team got behind the SEO program, and the company experienced massive results.

So, what are some of the common challenges when securing buy-in? One of the biggest is a lack of understanding of SEO’s value.

The C-suite is working hard on their own initiatives and areas of expertise. They may not fully grasp how SEO contributes to business growth and revenue.

This is where you come in.

• Show them the data, like how people are searching for the things your organization provides.
• Explain to them how SEO supports the customer journey in many different ways.
• Demonstrate how SEO can support company goals.
• Illustrate how SEO drives revenue and its long-term ROI compared to initiatives like digital advertising.
• Address common misconceptions about SEO as a non-essential or supplementary activity.
• Pilot a small project or address the “quick wins” and give tangible results.
• Propose an SEO plan that can be executed with current resources, but that could be scaled later.
• Assign an SEO champion within each department to advocate for best practices and drive implementation across teams.

Having SEO conversations can be an eye-opener for leadership. And it may be just the thing they need to take notice of SEO as an essential marketing program.

Once you get buy-in from the right groups, you can break down those business silos that can slow progress in an enterprise organization.

Dig deeper: How to convince leadership why they can’t ignore SEO

2. Underinvesting in SEO continuing education or training

Continuing education is one of the most powerful tools in your SEO team’s toolbelt.

It can:

• Help your team stay proactive, not reactive, in the ever-changing world of SEO.
• Facilitate better collaboration between internal teams and external SEO vendors.
• Empower your team to innovate and test new strategies.

Any good SEO professional or team will naturally want to stay up-to-date with what’s happening in the SEO world. It’s a requirement to succeed.

But the question is, how are you supporting them in their continuing education?

Make time

Ensure that employees are allowed the time for continuing education, not just working on projects.

For employees, this means not trying to cram learning in after hours but as a part of their regular work week without feeling stressed about it.

Give support

What educational opportunities resonate with your SEO professional or team?

Give them the freedom to choose and the budget to buy. This includes virtual and in-person events, professional memberships and materials.

Foster knowledge sharing

Since you’re working on making SEO a strategic business initiative, all stakeholders will benefit from learning about SEO.

Invest in SEO training for other teams beyond marketing, for example, the C-suite or IT, to create a baseline knowledge of SEO at the company.

Host internal workshops regularly to share insights and updates about SEO, too.

Test what’s been learned

Encourage your team to test what they learn through small-scale experiments or pilot projects.

Dig deeper: 5 questions to evaluate any SEO training course

3. Ineffective hiring and onboarding of an SEO agency 

When companies are ready to partner with SEO agencies, they must hire and onboard effectively for the best chance at a productive partnership.

Missteps here can lead to misaligned goals, wasted resources and subpar performance. So what to do?

When hiring an SEO agency, be sure to:

• Properly vet the agency.
• Evaluate the agency’s company ethics and level of expertise.
• Figure out if the services offered are actually what you require to succeed.
• Make sure the agency’s processes mesh well with your company culture.
• Watch out for any red flags that signal a poor-quality agency.

The onboarding process is just as important as the hiring process. Here are some important things to consider as you forge a new partnership with an SEO agency:

• Make sure they know your business: Share detailed insights into your company’s history, products, services and market positioning.
• Define roles and responsibilities: Clearly outline the tasks and expectations for both your team and the agency.
• Establish regular communication channels: Set up consistent meetings and reporting to keep things aligned.
• Set realistic expectations: Agree on achievable timelines and outcomes.

Dig deeper: How to hire an SEO agency: The definitive guide

4. Overlooking the value of maintaining high-quality content

Enterprise companies usually need volumes of content for their SEO programs to compete in the search results.

With the sometimes overwhelming amount of content needed, it can be easy to lose sight of quality while trying to hit targets.

With multiple teams and departments contributing content, enterprises also struggle with inconsistency in quality, tone and SEO best practices.

Here are some tips for high-quality enterprise SEO content:

Establish centralized guidelines and quality control

Managing content at the enterprise level requires consistency and collaboration:

• Create a centralized content quality framework for all departments. Include standards for tone, formatting, SEO best practices and E-E-A-T.
• Provide cross-departmental training to establish a baseline understanding of SEO principles for all contributors.
• Consider a dedicated quality control person in each department to review and approve all content before publication.

Prioritize search intent 

Focus on creating content that addresses the needs of your target audience first. Decide how you will maintain this quality while scaling content as needed.

Meeting search intent will result in higher engagement and better rankings than producing high volumes of generic content.

Use tools to monitor and optimize performance

Use analytics to measure content performance and identify gaps. Regularly refresh top-performing, outdated or underperforming content to maintain relevance and effectiveness.

I recommend spending 50% of the time refreshing older content.

Ensure AI-generated content meets quality standards

While AI tools can be valuable for scaling production, human oversight is key.

Have a system in place to uphold quality when using AI-generated content. Make sure it meets your brand’s standards and complies with Google’s quality guidelines.

Dig deeper: How to survive the search results when you’re using AI tools for content

5. Not prioritizing technical SEO 

Enterprise websites can be massive, creating unique challenges for technical SEO. Unfortunately, these challenges compound at scale.

Even the best SEO strategies can fail if technical SEO isn’t handled well.

But technical SEO at the enterprise level isn’t just about fixing bugs; it’s about creating sustainable processes.

Prioritize processes and cross-departmental responsibilities

Enterprise websites need workflows for technical SEO issues. Start by creating clear systems that outline how to identify, prioritiz, and resolve issues.

Assign ownership to specific teams, such as IT or web development, to ensure a quick response when challenges arise.

Finally, educate teams about the importance of technical SEO and their responsibilities.

For example, content creators should structure new pages with proper tags and metadata, while developers should ensure site changes are vetted for SEO implications.

When all departments work together, technical SEO becomes a seamless part of the workflow.

Use automation and tools to manage complexity

With massive websites and multiple teams, automation and tools are helpful for enterprise SEO.

Here are some tips:

• Centralize and align your toolset: As much as possible, streamline your SEO tools into a unified system that integrates with the platforms you use.
• Focus on scalable tools: Invest in tools that can grow with your website’s needs.
• Automate the repetition: Use automation for predictable, time-intensive technical SEO tasks.
• Monitor, refine, repeat: Regularly audit tool performance and workflows to ensure tools are aligned with your SEO goals as they evolve.

Plan for long-term maintenance

As your website grows, so will its technical challenges. A proactive approach will sustain SEO performance:

• Schedule technical audits before major initiatives.
• Stay ahead of the curve by aligning site initiatives with emerging search engine changes.
• Make sure SEO is built into any major update to a website.

Avoiding common SEO mistakes is the path to enterprise success

Success at the enterprise level is defined by adopting the right mindset and workflows. This means creating a culture that prioritizes SEO as a strategic initiative and embedding it into every department that has a stake in the website.

With a clear vision, a commitment to improvements and the right processes, your enterprise can stand out in the search results and achieve sustained search growth.