To complete and appear in search, teams need to create content that’s helpful to humans, machine-readable, and useful enough to be cited by AI — often all at once. This guide explores the top SEO challenges, plus free and paid tools that help marketers improve their search visibility.
Table of Contents
- Top 11 SEO Challenges in 2026
- The Modern SEO Playbook: Strategies for 2026 and Beyond
- Frequently Asked Questions
Top 11 SEO Challenges in 2026
The top SEO challenges in 2026 span four areas: the rise of answer engines, content and competition pressure, measurement gaps, and technical performance. Adapting to all four requires rethinking long-standing SEO strategy. Here are the top 11.
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The Rise of AEO
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the practice of making a brand visible in AI-generated responses from tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. As buyers increasingly research through these systems, getting cited, summarized, and recommended has become its own category of SEO challenge.
1. AI Overviews and Zero-click Search
AI Overviews and zero-click search reduce the traffic that reaches websites by answering queries directly on the results page. In 2026, earning visibility increasingly means appearing inside AI Overviews and SERP features, not just ranking below them.
Google’s AI Overviews, launched in 2024, have reduced the number of clicks from SERPs by as much as half. Instead of clicking through to the source, readers can scan snippets, summaries, and multimedia content on the search page itself.
Many websites have seen organic traffic decline as a result. As of early 2026, roughly two-thirds of U.S. Google searches end without a click to an external website, according to SparkToro research based on Similarweb clickstream data.
Multiple SERP features
Today, instead of focusing solely on ranking positions, marketers aim to earn visibility and citations across multiple SERP features, including:
- AI Overviews.
- Featured snippets.
- “People also ask” summaries.
What marketing teams can do:
- Structure content with a direct answer in the first sentence under each heading.
- Use clear heading hierarchies that mirror common question formats.
- Include structured data markup (FAQ schema, How-To schema, Article schema) to signal answer-ready content.
- Write in semantic triples (clear subject-predicate-object sentences) so LLMs can extract and cite specific claims.
2. Staying Visible as Buyers Adopt Answer Engines
Consumers increasingly turn to answer engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity for information and research, alongside traditional search. Answer engine adoption creates a new SEO challenge: brand visibility in AI-generated responses is measured not by rankings, but by whether a brand is cited, mentioned, or recommended when buyers ask related questions.
AEO works alongside SEO, not as a replacement. Marketing teams that optimize for AEO while maintaining strong SEO fundamentals are well-positioned for visibility across both traditional and AI-powered search.
A word of caution: Answer engine traffic can create attribution challenges. When buyers browse in ChatGPT and then navigate directly to a brand’s website, the visit may appear as direct traffic rather than organic search. Marketing teams tracking AEO impact should monitor branded search volume, direct traffic trends, and assisted conversions alongside traditional SEO metrics.
What marketing teams can do:
- Follow AEO best practices, such as focusing on user intent, using schema, and optimizing for voice search.
- Structure content so each section independently answers a specific question, uses consistent terminology, and presents quotable, verifiable facts with clear attribution.
- Update key pages for AEO. Use the checklist below as a guide.
AEO Readiness Checklist
| aeo element | what to check / update | why it matters FOR aeo / SEO |
|
Structured content |
Clear headings, bullet lists, tables, and direct answers | Makes it easier for answer engines to extract |
|
Structured data markup |
Schema for articles, FAQs, products, and organizations | Helps engines understand expertise |
|
Metadata |
Accurate title tags and meta descriptions | Supports clarity, relevance, and visibility |
|
Answer-first sections |
Direct responses near the top of pages | Improves citation and summarization likelihood |
|
Content accuracy |
Updated facts, expert context, original insights | Builds trust signals for AI-generated answers |
HubSpot’s AEO Grader gives marketers a scored snapshot of how answer engines represent their brand today — measuring visibility across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity in a single audit.
HubSpot AEO (available in Marketing Hub Pro and Enterprise) allows marketing teams to monitor brand visibility across answer engines, analyze competitor positioning, and receive prioritized recommendations to increase citation frequency.
Content and Competition Challenges
Content and competition challenges center on standing out as AI floods the web with mass-produced content. To compete, brands need original, multimedia content that performs across channels. Taste makes an even bigger difference.
3. Creating Unique, High-Quality Content
Strong content requires original expertise, clear structure, and authoritative claims — qualities that generative AI can’t reliably produce at scale. So, volume is no longer the problem. Instead, teams are tasked with creating high-quality content that earns trust long term.
Brands face growing pressure to express a unique point of view. That means, content needs expertise, originality, and credibility in addition to volume. Marketing teams must strike the right balance between human expertise and AI assistance. Content generated entirely by AI may rank temporarily but fail to earn user trust or citations from authoritative sources.
What separates high-quality content in 2026:
- A distinct editorial voice that builds brand recognition over time.
- Original images, graphics, and videos.
- Authenticity and humor.
- First-hand expertise, original data, or proprietary research that AI can’t replicate.
- Clear, structured formatting that serves both human readers and LLM extraction.
- Specific claims and points of view, not vague generalizations.
4. Creating Content for Everyone (LLMs, Search Engines, and Users)
Creating content for everyone means satisfying three audiences at once: search engine crawlers, LLMs, and human readers — each with overlapping but distinct needs. In the past, marketers mainly optimized for keywords and user experience; today’s content has to work for all three.
| AUDIENCE | PRIMARY NEED |
| Search engines | Indexing, ranking, crawlability |
| LLMs and answer engines | Summarization, citation, extraction |
| Human users | Clarity, trust, decision support |
What this means in practice: For LLMs to extract and cite content accurately, content marketers should open each section with a direct, standalone answer to the implied question. Use specific entity names instead of pronouns (like “marketers” instead of “they”), and avoid content that requires surrounding context to make sense.
For human readers, the same content should feel natural, credible, and actionable — not robotic or over-structured. So, content marketers should write how subject-matter experts would be proud to put their name on and that a generative AI would be confident to cite. For a deeper framework on content optimization, explore HubSpot’s content optimization strategies guide.
Today’s content rules require keywords, strong UX, direct answers, structured data, and human expertise — all while staying enjoyable to read.
5. Showing Up in Multimodal Search
Multimodal search returns answers using a mix of text, video, images, and community content, without requiring users to click away to a separate images or videos tab. Users can also search in AI Mode using photos, voice, video, or documents. More than one in six U.S. searches use voice or images, with image searches alone growing over 40% month over month.
The basics of how brands get featured in multimodal search results haven’t fundamentally changed from previous years, but the urgency has. Brands that rely on a single content format risk losing visibility across AI summaries and rich results.
How to improve multimodal visibility:
- Add descriptive, keyword-rich alt text to all images (e.g., “seo challenges checklist for marketing teams”).
- Publish video content on YouTube with optimized titles and descriptions that reflect common search queries.
- Include structured data markup for images (ImageObject schema) and videos (VideoObject schema).
- Publish original data or research that earns citations in image packs and knowledge panels.
6. Optimizing for Cross-platform Discovery
Staying visible across platforms requires brands to maintain an active presence on social channels, video platforms, and community forums, not just their own website. Google now surfaces entire Reddit communities and social media profiles in SERPs, alongside a dedicated “what people are saying” module that surfaces recent posts across social platforms.
Queries like “crocheting” now return results from platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Reddit, even when extensive blog content exists:
The challenge for marketers isn’t choosing between SEO and social; it’s investing in cross-platform optimization. Marketing teams that treat SEO as a website-only discipline risk losing reach to creators and platforms that are better aligned with social discovery, where buyers increasingly get recommendations.
Practical steps for cross-platform optimization:
- Write social media captions using plain, keyword-rich language that target audiences are searching for.
- Publish consistently on platforms where target audiences are active (YouTube, LinkedIn, Reddit, TikTok).
- Participate in relevant Reddit communities and other forums where buyers ask questions.
- Monitor Google SERPs for the target keyword to identify which platforms are surfacing in results.
Complete SEO Starter Pack
An introductory kit to optimize your website for search.
- Increase your organic traffic.
- Plan your keyword strategy.
- Debunk SEO myths.
- Build a blog strategy.
Download Free
All fields are required.
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7. Google Update Volatility
Google rolled out four core updates in 2024 (March, August, November, and December) and kept that pace into 2025 with core updates in March, June, and December. That frequency makes algorithm volatility one of the most persistent SEO challenges marketers face.
Succeeding through constant change means responding strategically, not reactively. Marketing teams can use the framework below when responding to algorithm updates.
Google Update Review Framework
| phase | recommended approach |
| Before | Avoid unethical SEO techniques (paid do-follow links, fake AI-generated authority). Build sustainable SEO with HubSpot's SEO training. |
| During | Resist making immediate changes. Rankings fluctuate as results recalibrate, and premature fixes waste time. |
| After | Follow industry analysis of emerging SEO trends and implement proven best practices once the update has stabilized. |
Remember that there’s no need to overhaul a brand’s entire SEO strategy in response to a minor shift in performance or algorithm change. Some updates will only temporarily depress search engine rankings.
Search volatility is real, but marketers are adapting. In a recent HubSpot survey of U.S.-based SEO professionals, only 2% expected Google algorithm updates to decrease their search traffic in the next six months.
HubSpot’s SEO tools monitor content performance and SEO signals over time, making it easier for marketing teams to determine whether ranking changes are due to algorithm updates or underlying content or site issues. Marketing teams can analyze SEO performance in HubSpot to distinguish update volatility from structural content problems.
Measurement
Measurement is a growing challenge in SEO because traffic alone no longer reflects success. As organic search fragments across AI summaries, rich results, and zero-click experiences, SEO measurement in 2026 should track qualified traffic, conversions, pipeline, and revenue alongside rankings.
8. Proving SEO Success
Proving SEO success in 2026 requires KPIs that go beyond pageviews — metrics that show visibility, engagement, and whether SEO drives conversions. Pageviews, CTRs, and SERP rankings no longer tell the whole story as AI search and social search shape buyer decisions, and they don’t prove ROI on their own.
What marketing teams can do:
Replace traffic-only reporting with KPIs that capture visibility, attribution, and revenue impact. The table below maps outdated metrics to stronger alternatives.
New SEO KPIs for 2026
| CHALLENGES | OLD KPIS | WHY IT'S A PROBLEM | BETTER KPIS TO TRACK |
| Zero-click searches | Ranking position, clicks, pageviews | Traffic underreports visibility | Impressions, SERP feature presence |
| AI summaries & rich results | Ranking position, clicks, pageviews | Influence without attribution | Assisted conversions, branded search lift |
| Disconnected tools | CTRs, conversions | SEO impact is hard to prove | Multi-touch attribution, CRM-linked data |
Technical SEO Challenges
Technical SEO challenges stem from unresolved performance and crawlability issues that keep many sites from reaching their search potential in 2026. Site speed, mobile usability, and Core Web Vitals directly affect rankings and also influence whether content is surfaced or ignored in AI Overviews.
Without regular monitoring, even small technical issues can limit search visibility. Some common technical SEO issues include blocked search engine crawlers, weak internal linking, and duplicate content.
9. Crawl Budget and Indexing
Crawl budget affects how efficiently search engines discover and re-crawl a website’s pages. Search engines like Google allocate a limited number of crawls per website based on its authority, server performance, and content freshness. When crawl budget is wasted on low-value URLs such as parameter-based pages, staging content, or thin pages, high-priority content may go unindexed or receive delayed updates in SERPs.
As websites grow larger and AI Overviews compete for the same indexed content, efficient crawlability has become a direct factor in whether content appears in both traditional SERPs and AI-generated answers.
How to fix crawl budget and indexing issues:
- Use Google Search Console’s Coverage report to flag pages that are discovered but not indexed.
- Use noindex tags to block low-value pages from consuming crawl budget.
- Submit updated XML sitemaps to accelerate re-crawling of important pages.
HubSpot’s SEO tools surface crawl and indexation recommendations directly inside Marketing Hub, helping marketing teams identify which pages are blocking search visibility without switching between platforms. Marketing teams can view SEO recommendations in HubSpot and analyze SEO performance in one place.
10. Site Architecture and Internal Linking
Site architecture is one of the top technical SEO challenges in 2026 and affects crawlability, internal linking efficiency, and context between pages. A well-structured website educates search engines on its content hierarchy. Poor site architecture — such as orphaned pages, flat navigation, and inconsistent internal linking — affects whether a site’s content is accurately ranked, summarized, and cited by answer engines.
How to improve site architecture:
- Build a hub-and-spoke content model where pillar pages cover broad topics and cluster pages link back with descriptive anchor text.
- Audit internal links using Screaming Frog or Ahrefs to find orphaned pages.
- Add contextual internal links from high-traffic pages to newer or underperforming content.
- Standardize the site navigation to surface the site’s most valuable pages within one or two clicks.
- Use breadcrumb navigation to reinforce the content hierarchy.
HubSpot’s SEO tools surface internal linking gaps through SEO recommendations and suggest pages that could benefit from additional internal links, making it easier for marketing teams to maintain a healthy site structure over time. Explore SEO recommendations in HubSpot.
11. Duplicate Content and Canonicalization
Duplicate content weakens indexing and dilutes ranking signals by causing search engines to split authority across multiple versions of the same page. It occurs when the same or near-identical content appears at multiple URLs. When search engines or AI engines are uncertain which version of a page to surface, they may choose neither.
Canonical tags (<link rel=”canonical”>) are the primary tool to signal to search engines which version of a page should be indexed and ranked. Implementing them correctly is a prerequisite for any site running e-commerce, CMS-generated URLs, or syndicated content.
How to fix duplicate content:
- Audit canonical tags using Google Search Console or Screaming Frog to identify inconsistencies.
- Set a preferred domain (www versus non-www, HTTP versus HTTPS) and enforce 301 redirects.
- Add canonical tags to paginated series pointing to the root page.
- Use noindex for session-based or parameter-based URLs that shouldn’t appear in SERPs.
The Modern SEO Playbook: Strategies for 2026 and Beyond
The modern SEO playbook combines three elements: technical fundamentals, AI search optimization, and a framework for continually reviewing and refreshing content. These practices address the challenges above as a connected strategy rather than one-off fixes.
While no one can predict exact changes to algorithms, these three best practices will help marketers stay proactive in 2026.
Building for AI and Traditional Search
Content structured for both traditional search rankings and AI summaries uses clear headings, direct answers under each heading, strong source attribution, and semantic formatting. AI-driven search changes how users discover answers and how websites earn visibility — which means content written solely for keyword rankings will underperform in AI Overviews and answer engines.
How to structure content for both audiences:
- Open each section with a direct answer. The first sentence under every H2 and H3 should answer the question implied by the heading, without requiring context from earlier in the article. LLMs extract standalone paragraphs — if the first paragraph requires context, it may be skipped.
- Use semantic triples throughout. Write in clear subject-predicate-object structures. Instead of “it helps teams track performance,” write “HubSpot’s SEO tools help marketing teams track organic search performance across content assets.” Specific entity names, not pronouns, give LLMs the clarity needed to cite content.
- Repeat key concepts across formats. Present key information in both paragraph form and structured formats (tables, bullets, numbered lists). LLMs benefit from repetition and are more likely to extract information when it appears in multiple formats within the same article.
Technical SEO Essentials
Maintaining technical SEO starts with routine website audits that uncover errors, content gaps, traffic opportunities, and issues that quietly limit search visibility over time.
Three audit types are most valuable for marketing teams maintaining strong technical SEO in 2026:
Audit Types
| AUDIT TYPE | WHAT IT EVALUATES | WHY IT MATTERS FOR SEO |
| Technical audit | Crawlability, indexation, page speed, Core Web Vitals, internal linking, caching issues | Identifies issues that block search bots, slow pages, or prevent content from being indexed |
| Content audit | Blog posts, landing pages, product or sales pages | Flags underperforming pages for updates or consolidation |
| UX / performance audit | Mobile usability, layout stability, navigation, page load experience | Poor user experience can reduce engagement and indirectly affect rankings and visibility |
Brands should perform a technical audit two to four times a year to check for underlying issues affecting their visibility. Content audits are useful for assessing performance and creating a plan to optimize content. UX audits should take place at least once a year in collaboration with UX/UI designers.
Recommended tools for SEO audits:
- HubSpot’s Website Grader: Free tool for site performance, SEO, and mobile usability scoring.
- HubSpot’s SEO tools: Surface crawl and indexation recommendations inside Marketing Hub. View recommendations.
- Google Search Console: Identifies coverage errors, indexation issues, and Core Web Vitals failures directly from Google.
- Screaming Frog: Crawls entire websites to surface broken links, duplicate content, missing metadata, and redirect chains.
- Semrush: Platform with tools for keyword research, competitive analysis, site audits, and AI search tracking.
- Ahrefs: Comprehensive SEO audit platform with site health scoring, backlink analysis, and content gap identification.
Continuous Optimization Framework
A continuous optimization framework is a repeatable monthly workflow that keeps SEO performance steady through algorithm changes. It lets marketing teams maintain visibility, respond to updates, and compound improvements over time by working in one-month sprints focused on the highest-value projects.
The four-stage continuous optimization framework includes a monthly performance review, competitive analysis, content optimization, and ongoing testing and implementation.
| STAGE | KEY ACTIVITIES |
| 1. Performance review | Review organic traffic trends, ranking changes, and SERP feature presence in Google Search Console and HubSpot. Flag pages that have dropped significantly. |
| 2. Competitive analysis | Audit competitor content for newly published posts on target keywords. Identify content gaps and opportunities to improve depth or freshness on existing pages. |
| 3. Content optimization | Update underperforming pages with fresh data, improved structure, and new internal links. Prioritize pages within the top 20 rankings that could reach the top 10 with targeted improvements. |
| 4. Testing and implementation | Implement structured data updates, title tag tests, and internal linking improvements. Track changes in a changelog to isolate what's driving ranking movement. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is SEO dead or evolving in 2026?
SEO is evolving, not dying, but the discipline looks significantly different in 2026 than it did five years ago. Traditional ranking signals like backlinks, keyword density, and on-page optimization still matter. However, SEO success now also depends on earning visibility in AI Overviews, featured snippets, and answer engine responses from tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.
Brands winning at SEO today treat it as a multi-channel visibility strategy — one that includes technical health, structured content, answer engine optimization, and cross-platform discovery.
How do you optimize for answer engines?
Answer engine optimization (AEO) requires structuring content so that AI systems can easily extract, summarize, and cite it in response to user queries. The most important practices include opening each section with a direct answer to the implied question, using semantic triples, and publishing specific, verifiable facts with proper attribution.
What is crawl budget, and why does it matter?
Crawl budget is the number of pages a search engine will crawl on a website within a given timeframe, determined by factors including site authority, server performance, and content freshness. When crawl budget is consumed by low-value pages like duplicate URLs, parameter-based pages, or thin content, high-priority pages may be indexed more slowly or missed completely.
How do you measure SEO success beyond traffic?
Modern SEO measurement tracks qualified traffic, assisted conversions, pipeline, and revenue alongside rankings and pageviews. Meaningful KPIs in 2026 include:
- Featured snippet and AI Overview citations
- Branded search volume growth
- Assisted conversions via multi-touch attribution
- CRM-linked pipeline from organic channels
What are the most important technical SEO factors?
The technical SEO factors that most affect rankings in 2026 are Core Web Vitals, mobile usability, crawl budget, canonical tags, and XML sitemap accuracy. Site architecture is also a significant technical factor that many sites neglect.
How do you fix common SEO problems?
Marketers can fix common SEO problems through a combination of technical audits, content updates, and structural improvements. For technical issues like crawl errors, slow page speed, or duplicate content, the first step is to diagnose the issue with a technical audit, then address it on the backend.
For content issues such as keyword cannibalization or declining rankings, a content audit can guide marketers in deciding which pages to update, consolidate, or redirect. For measurement problems, connect Google Search Console data with a CRM platform like HubSpot to track SEO impact beyond traffic to pipeline and revenue.
Solving for SEO Challenges
Solving SEO challenges in 2026 comes down to keeping up with evolving content standards while creating useful content for readers. The issues are complex, but the throughline is simple: SEO investment compounds over time, so consistency matters more than chasing every change.
Along with a solid SEO strategy, marketing teams should adopt a learning and innovation mindset — staying ready to adapt to rapid change and continue building new skills. Consistent investment in SEO pays off over time.
Editor's note: This post was originally published in June 2022 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
Complete SEO Starter Pack
An introductory kit to optimize your website for search.
- Increase your organic traffic.
- Plan your keyword strategy.
- Debunk SEO myths.
- Build a blog strategy.
Download Free
All fields are required.
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