HubSpot's fall: a lesson in topic authority
SEO Laboratory 
2025/09/26 
Kastytis 
In February 2023, HubSpot had a monthly volume of about 24 million clicks from Google. Today, that number is only ~4.2 million. All because of the topic authority algorithm changes.
📉 What happened to HubSpot?
- Google's 2024 updates heavily penalised content that was not closely related to their main domain theme.
- SEO experts note that many of the lost pages were ones that had previously generated traffic on popular but not entirely relevant topics (e.g. quotes, cover letter ideas) - Google has started to give less weight to pages that were trying to capture as much traffic as possible.
- Also, "Google AI Overviews" addresses issues directly in search results, often eliminating the need for users to click on links, especially for informative content.
✅ What is the main lesson?
- Ranking on everything is a risky strategy.
- You shouldn't waste resources on content that is not relevant to your niche.
- Be an expert in your field - publications must be deeply relevant to your work.
- Use niche keywords: in texts, headings, meta descriptions, directories.
Thematic authority means that Google rewards websites that demonstrate deep expertise in a specific fieldnot those who try to cover everything.
🔍 A few more facts from the world of SEO
- Analysis by prestigious SEO publications shows that HubSpot's decline is often attributed to short, superficial content ("thin content") and low-quality pages that no longer meet E-E-A-T guidelines.
- Such a fall is no exception. SEO There is a growing consensus around the world that algorithms now place more value on websites that are a reflection of their core values and competences.
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