HubSpot’s SEO strategy is the talk of the SEO world today. For what? Just look at this image:
Organic traffic appears to have declined sharply, from 13.5 million in November to 8.6 million in December, according to Semrush (disclosure: MarTech is a Semrush company). HubSpot’s blog appears to have taken most of the impact.
Google may want to stop rewarding websites that publish content outside their area of expertise – which lack depth and topical authority. The type of content that is more about driving organic traffic on Google than being written for people. What Google might call “SEO first content” (or useful content).
Some of the topics seeing huge declines for HubSpot seem to be blogging about famous quotes, writing a resignation letter, and cover letter examples.
Why we care. SEO keeps getting more difficult. HubSpot has executed a masterful content strategy for years that has been imitated by countless other brands and websites. For years, many have considered it the gold standard for B2B supplier blogs. It now appears that the SEO playbook no longer works, likely due to a combination of Google core updates and AI insights. Think about depth, not width.
SEO reactions. Some SEOs attribute the huge traffic drop to HubSpot’s lack of topic authority, while others have pointed to possible “thin content” issues. Here’s a sample of some of the reactions to the news of HubSpot’s falling SEO results:
Taylor (Berg) Chapa, group manager, web strategy and experience at Headspace, had a great thread onsome highlights:
“I don’t want a [mental health] “Why do I feel funny when I’m in love” or “Thanksgiving” or “love quotes” is not a good use of resources and we weren’t the site for that. “Our biggest competitor was so focused on traffic that they couldn’t even rank for MH keywords. And they still don’t do it. and all because they have a “traffic at all costs” keyword strategy.
The decline of Hubspot SEO is a great example of reaching a critical mass of content relevance. A fun little secret: At my last job, we were never happy with our biggest competitor. I specifically said not to do it. For what? Because this competitor was creating content completely outside of MH.
– Taylor Berg Chapa blue sky @taylorberg (@taylorannberg) January 23, 2025
Gemma Brunson wrote on X:
“So, about this massive drop on the HubSpot blog… just look at what they posted. They deserve the wreck for being such lazy SEOs and content marketers! »
So, about this massive drop on the HubSpot blog… just look at what they posted. They deserve the wreck for being such lazy SEOs and content marketers! pic.twitter.com/sWG2bUF49X
– Gemma Brunson (@WhoreOfSEO) January 22, 2025
Chris Long had an interesting analysis of HubSpot’s blog traffic on X.
SEO in 60 seconds: HubSpot blog traffic was completely demolished (-70% drop).
We analyzed their site and found that 53% of their pages had a word count of 2,000 words or less: pic.twitter.com/fxolMchbLH
– Chris Long (@gofishchris) January 23, 2025
Adam Ryan, CEO of Workweek, wrote on X:
“If this is true, it is very bad for businesses that rely deeply on SEO. HubSpot has one of the best blogs, invests heavily in this content and has done so for over a decade. If they can’t…”
If this is true, it is very bad for businesses that rely deeply on SEO.
HubSpot has one of the best blogs, invests heavily in this content and has done so for over a decade.
If they can’t… https://t.co/XrfAL5RFYg
–Adam Ryan 🤝 (@AdamRy_n) January 23, 2025
