Did you know that large enterprises manage an average of over 1 million pages on their websites? With such vast digital real estate, traditional SEO strategies just won’t cut it.
Welcome to the world of ? Enterprise SEO, where the stakes are higher and the rewards even greater.
For global businesses aiming to dominate the digital landscape, understanding and mastering Enterprise SEO is the game-changer. In this blog, we’ll be diving into what Enterprise SEO is, the biggest challenges, and some of our top most actionable tips that you can integrate into your strategy. Read on for more!
Table Of Contents
- What Is Enterprise SEO?
- Benefits Of Enterprise SEO
- Enterprise SEO vs. Small Business SEO
- Challenges Of Enterprise SEO
- Top 5 Actionable Tips
- Conclusion
What is Enterprise SEO?
Enterprise SEO isn't just traditional SEO on a larger scale. It's a specialised approach tailored for big organizations with vast websites. Here's what sets it apart:
- Unique Methodologies: Enterprise SEO employs strategies specifically designed for large-scale sites.
- Enhanced User Experience: It ensures a seamless experience across the domain, catering to varied audiences.
- Entity Brand Presence: Beyond rankings, it's about maintaining a consistent brand image online.
- eCommerce brands which have millions of products
- News outlets with hundreds of articles uploaded each day
- Financial institutions such as national banks
- Travel platforms with reviews and lots of user-generated content
- SaaS companies that offer varied products and are scaling quickly
Take a look at our video for more tips and tricks!
Benefits of Implementing Enterprise SEO
When done right, Enterprise SEO can offer a plethora of advantages.
Some of the biggest advantages to Enterprise SEO include:
Wider Reach
With a much wider reach, you can cater to a global audience, offering tailored content to different demographics. This can be implemented across all stages of the funnel, ensuring you€™re capturing a much wider market space.
Staying Competitive
An effective Enterprise SEO strategy ensures you're always a step ahead. Competitors in fast-moving industries are going to be regularly updating their sites and looking at new and innovative ways to boost their site visibility in SERPs. With Enterprise SEO you can do the same, but better.
Streamlined User Experience
By integrating best practices into your Enterprise SEO campaign, you can produce a well-optimised site that will help users to find what they€™re looking for quickly and efficiently. User experience is a core part of Google€™s algorithm and continues to be at the forefront of marketing campaigns for all sized businesses. Set the example with your Enterprise business.
Enterprise SEO vs Small Business SEO
In defining Enterprise SEO, the question arises – well, what’s the difference between regular, vanilla, white bread SEO?
The primary difference lies in scale: Enterprise SEO should be implemented by vast websites with thousands of pages, demanding intricate strategies and more budget allocation. Conversely, small businesses focus on optimising fewer pages with limited resources to implement them.
Challenges of Enterprise SEO for Large Organizations
The Scale Factor
Enterprise sites often have thousands, if not millions, of pages. Managing and optimising such a vast number of pages requires sophisticated strategies and tools.
A larger site means that crawlers need to get in and understand the content on the website, while being able to crawl and index effectively. This is where the significance of site architecture comes in.
Crafting an SEO-centric site architecture that inherently fosters links between various segments is imperative to any Enterprise SEO strategy.
A well-structured website aids search engine crawlers in discovering and indexing every page on your site.
If certain pages on your website are buried deep within the site’s architecture or aren’t linked from any other page, it becomes challenging for Googlebot to locate and index them. This means that users are also unlikely to find them and that they won’t be visible on the search engine.
Alongside this, you need to consider the importance of internal linking. On a much smaller site, a few strategic internal links can substantially elevate its ranking. On larger sites, internal linking is vital, sometimes for a page to be discovered.
Take a colossal website like YouTube as an example. With millions of pages, a mere handful of internal links barely scratch the surface.
To truly harness the power of internal linking on such a platform, a more expansive approach is essential. Devising a script to autonomously embed internal links to pivotal pages might be the answer. Regardless, manual scaling of internal linking for such vast sites is nearly an insurmountable task.
Content Production
Another pivotal facet of SEO that demands scaling for enterprise sites is content creation.
For eCommerce platforms, this translates to curating distinct content for every product, category, and subcategory.
For content-centric sites, it necessitates the formation of a dedicated editorial team and optimisation specialists.
For platforms abundant in user-generated content, scaling is achieved through rigorous moderation and fostering a vibrant community.
Getting The Buy In
Having an internal SEO specialist means getting buy-in can be more consistent and effective.
Requiring approval from multiple departments for changes to be made to the site can hamper results for Enterprise SEO, with it often being more challenging than necessary.
Longstanding and global brands often miss the mark on simplifying their CMS stack, so you’ll see that these enterprise brands have custom CMS or multiple frameworks they’re working off instead of a simple WordPress or Shopify build.
Enterprise SEO is more about selling ideas internally to push through positive changes, the principles of improving rankings remain the same as a traditional SEO campaign. In these more complex setups, talking to the right people who have the weight to carry change is half the battle.
If internal teams are too separated, a simple change to a title tag can take months to implement as it has to be approved by several teams.
This can also be the case with developer backlog and not gaining buy-in from various departments who are responsible for actually implementing the changes. There are other methods, such as Edge SEO which can utilise new techniques (such as overwriting the cached version of a site using the CDN to implement changes) to help overcome this process.
However, good communication and strong negotiating skills to showcase the value of the work being done is often the key to a successful Enterprise SEO campaign.
Navigating Technical SEO Challenges
Legacy Systems & Technical Debt
As businesses evolve, they often accumulate what's known as "technical debt." This refers to the outdated systems, platforms, or technologies they continue to use, often due to initial investments or resistance to change.
These legacy systems, while functional, might not align with current SEO best practices.
They can introduce challenges like slow page load times, non-responsive designs, or poor site architecture, all of which can hamper SEO efforts.
Addressing this requires a proactive approach. Organisations must prioritise regular Enterprise SEO audits to identify areas where legacy systems are impacting SEO.
The next step is migrating to modern, SEO-friendly platforms . While this might entail upfront costs and resources, the long-term benefits, including improved site performance, enhanced user experience, and better SEO rankings, make it a worthwhile investment.
Embracing modern technology not only resolves existing SEO issues but also equips businesses to adapt to future digital trends.
Understanding Duplicate Content in Large-Scale Websites
Duplicate content is characterised by significant chunks of content that mirror or closely resemble other content on the site.
This phenomenon is especially prevalent on large-scale platforms, notably e-commerce sites or those with many service offerings.
The implications of such duplication include:
- Confusion for search engines, making them ponder over the content's primary version.
- Potential detrimental effects on the site's SEO ranking due to ambiguity.
Combatting Duplicate Content
- Canonicalisation: Employ canonical tags to guide search engines towards the primary version of a page, especially when dealing with similar content across multiple pages.
- Craft Unique Descriptions: eCommerce platforms should prioritise crafting distinct product descriptions, even for products that are mere variations of each other.
- Routine Content Audits: Undertake regular content checks to pinpoint and amend overlapping or redundant content.
Tackling Page Bloat: The Silent SEO Killer
Page bloat is defined by an overabundance of low-value or redundant pages on a site. The repercussions of unchecked page bloat include:
- Consumption of the site's crawl budget, delaying the indexing of new or updated content.
- Dilution of the site's authority, thereby hampering its SEO prowess.
Strategies to Mitigate Page Bloat
- Periodic Site Reviews: Consistently review and eliminate outdated, irrelevant, or subpar pages.
- Leverage 'NoIndex': For indispensable yet non-SEO valuable pages (e.g., legal pages), utilise the "noindex" directive.
- Optimise User Contributions: For sites that entertain user-generated content, a stringent moderation system is crucial to ward off substandard submissions.
Multiple Regional Versions
In the age of globalisation, many enterprises cater to audiences spanning multiple countries and languages.
As a result, they often host various regional versions of their website, tailored to local languages and preferences. While this approach enhances user experience, it inadvertently introduces the risk of duplicate content. Search engines, without clear directives, might struggle to determine which version to display for a particular audience, leading to potential SEO issues.
The remedy lies in the implementation of hreflang tags. These tags serve as clear indicators to search engines, specifying which version of a webpage is intended for which geographic or linguistic audience.
By integrating hreflang tags, enterprises can ensure that a user in Spain, for instance, sees the Spanish version of the site, while a user in the UK sees the English version.
This not only enhances user experience but also optimises the site's SEO performance across regions.
Keyword Strategy: Leveraging High Domain Authority
Enterprise websites often possess a distinct edge when targeting competitive keywords, primarily due to their inherent high domain authority.
When Walmart creates a product page, it has a higher chance of ranking than a new brand selling the same products today.
However, enterprise sites mustn't rest solely on the laurels of their domain strength.
While they are well-equipped to target highly-competitive head terms, it's equally crucial to integrate long-tail keywords into their strategy.
These longer, more specific keyword phrases cater to niche audiences and can drive highly targeted traffic, often with a higher propensity to convert.
By harmoniously blending long-tail and competitive head terms, enterprise sites can craft a holistic keyword strategy that maximises reach, engagement, and conversions.
Unique Backlinking Opportunities for Enterprise Sites
Enterprise websites, given their expansive reach and brand recognition, often find themselves mentioned across various digital platforms. These unlinked brand mentions represent a goldmine of backlinking opportunities.
When another site references an enterprise without a direct link, it's an implicit nod to the brand's authority and relevance in the industry. However, these mentions, while valuable for brand visibility, can be further leveraged to enhance the site's SEO profile.
Digital PR is way more accessible to enterprise SEO and a given when elevating an already existing authoritative brand.
Access to data sets to create insightful and linkable content is way easier. Given that the brand is already acknowledged, the request for a link is less of a cold pitch and more of a collaborative proposition.
In-House Marketing Teams
Enterprise companies often have entire marketing departments that cater to different marketing channels. Small businesses don’t normally have the infrustructure for more than 2 people in their marketing teams at best.
For enterprise SEO, this can be a major advantage or a roadblock to SEO strategy at times, with more stakeholders and indirect impacts from other channels.
With more stakeholders and internal people comes the biggest holdback to SEO success - internal politics.
With solid collaboration between channels, such as SEO and PPC working to get maximum search visibility instead of cannibalising each other. If teams are in lockstep on getting results together instead of individually, SEO growth is more likely.
Often in more savvy companies, they’ll have an in-house SEO specialist to lead the charge from within on what’s needed to move the needle in SEO. This is highly recommended for brands with most of their traffic and revenue coming through search engines.
Top 5 Actionable Enterprise SEO Tips
In this section, we’re highlighting the top 5 most actionable Enterprise SEO tips that we always look at when crafting our own campaigns for our enterprise clients.
Ground Your Strategy in Data
Making assumptions can lead to misguided strategies. Always base your decisions on concrete data.
Start with comprehensive competitor research , market segmentation, and benchmarks. Always be prepared with data, especially when presenting to stakeholders.
Craft a Compelling SEO Story
People resonate with stories. Transforming your strategy into a narrative can make it more engaging and memorable.
Begin with impactful metrics and analytics , like revenue numbers, to grab attention.
Highlight key benchmarks and end with unique insights about competitors. Make your strategy presentation a journey that leads to informed decisions.
Segment Your Recommendations
Enterprise websites are vast, and SEO touches multiple facets, from technical aspects to content and links.
Divide your strategy into clear sections. For instance:
- Three major technical SEO fixes
- Three major content strategy ideas
- Three major backlink or digital PR ideas
Three’s the magic number, after all.
Set Clear, Achievable Goals
Goals provide direction and a measure of success.
Define specific targets, like improving page speed or increasing organic traffic by a certain percentage. Ensure these goals are realistic and based on your initial data and research.
Develop a Comprehensive SEO Roadmap
A roadmap provides a clear path for execution and showcases commitment to the strategy.
Use project management tools to create detailed SEO roadmaps. Break them down by months or quarters, leading to a full-year plan. Group related tasks into themes for clarity and ease of tracking.
In Conclusion
Enterprise SEO stands out as a specialised discipline tailored to large-scale organizations. From unique methodologies to intricate strategies, it addresses the distinct challenges and opportunities vast websites present. Whether it's leveraging high domain authority, capitalising on unlinked brand mentions, or navigating the complexities of internal politics, mastering Enterprise SEO is crucial for global businesses to maintain a competitive edge.
As we've explored in this guide, a holistic approach encompassing technical, content, and strategic elements, backed by the right enterprise SEO tools and in-house expertise, can propel enterprise sites to unparalleled SEO success.
