Building authority has a compounding effect on how brands perform in organic search. And the acceleration of AI in search is only increasing the importance of developing authority, trust and credibility as a signal on the topics or areas you are known for or known to be helpful for. 

That’s according to new research from enterprise SEO platform BrightEdge.

Why we care. Economic uncertainty has kept marketing budgets flat (or even reduced) and put greater focus on SEO this year. But that also means SEOs are being asked to drive more revenue and conversions without a greater investment in SEO.

58% plan to use AI for content and SEO in 2023. Search marketers want to use AI-generated content – but they just haven’t quite figured out how yet, according to BrightEdge: 

• Only 10% of marketers use AI for SEO content generation, but 58% aim to this year.

One reason for that 10% figure is likely an abundance of caution. ChatGPT and similar tools can generate content quickly – but quality remains a concern due to AI “hallucination” and many SEOs worry Google will be able to detect and penalize AI content.

Google has warned against using AI-generated content for years – although that guideline has softened in 2023. Now, Google cares less whether a human or AI writes your content, as long as your content is helpful to people and not created to manipulate the search results. 

Why this change? Most likely because Google plans to soon add generative AI to its search experience.

90% of organizations prioritizing SEO in 2023. Building up brand expertise and authority delivers what BrightEdge refers to as “compounding value.” Basically, this means the websites that are winning in their industry/niche continue to increase their share of search.

• “As a result of SEOs focusing on high value, impactful work success in 2022, we are seeing more buy-in from organizations, with 90% of organizations prioritizing SEO in 2023,” said BrightEdge CEO Jim Yu.

For every $1 put into SEO today, organizations can find compounded benefits over time, resulting in greater ROI, Yu said.

This reminds me of Mike Grehan‘s classic “filthy linking rich” concept – that popular sites get more popular. Or, the better you do at SEO, the better you perform in organic search. Do you rank in Position 1 because you have all those links or do you have all those links because you rank in Position 1? 

Top 4 enterprise SEO concerns in 2023. BrightEdge also revealed the challenges SEOs are focusing on:

• Search engine updates (41%)
• Changing consumer behavior (33%)
• Technology advancements (14%)
• Competitors (12%)

Dig deeper. Organizations Are Turning to SEO Now, BrightEdge whitepaper.