Every day, billions of Google users look up products and information. The fact that search engines are frequently one of the top sources of traffic for websites should come as no surprise.
Source: Safalta.com
You must rank among the top search engine results for your target keywords in order to fully utilize the potential of this traffic source. The relationship between the two is straightforward: the more people visit your page the higher you rank.Advanced SEO refers to a group of tactics that call for a more thorough knowledge of marketing technology, search engine algorithms, and SEO. These techniques and approaches go beyond the fundamentals of SEO and can give you an advantage over your rivals.
Here are the top 13 advanced SEO tactics for 2023, as determined by Semrush.
1.
Improve the Time to Value of Your Content
Your users can find what they're looking for as fast as they can thanks to a short time to value.
But many web pages have poor time to value due to hero images, author bios, and drawn-out introductions.Your bounce rate, time duration, and session duration may all suffer from poor time to value. And this might have an impact on your rankings and traffic.
So how can time value be improved? by positioning the page's most crucial details and components at the top. Above the fold is preferred. Use the BLUF (bottom line up front) or inverted pyramid method for journalism. Place the data that users are seeking at the top, in other words. Get to the point quickly and keep your introductions brief. Spare no one your time.
2.
Increase Topic Cluster Size
A topic cluster is a collection of articles or other content that has been purposefully linked with and from one another and that centers on the same central idea.
Usually, pillar pages, pages that focus on a broad topic, form the center of topic clusters.The cluster is made up of material on related subjects, and it acts as a hub for links that lead to the pillar page. Because they assist you in producing content that exemplifies topical authority, applicability, and expertise, topic clusters are an efficient SEO strategy.
Consider it like this: You wouldn't likely regard a website as an authority or professional on a subject if it contained only one piece of content on the subject. But what if it contained a large collection of connected articles that were linked among themselves to show their topical relevance? You might assume that the website was knowledgeable in the subject matter.
Google and your users share the same sentiments. It might not be the most straightforward task to convert the content on your website into a topic cluster structure. But it's a decision that will benefit your site in the long run and could pay off. The days of focusing on ranking for a single keyword are long gone. By 2023, you ought to be considering how to rank for particular subjects and respond to user inquiries even before they are made. A great way to adopt this mindset is to develop topic clusters.
3.
Utilize Strategic Internal Linking
While adding internal links to your pages is basic SEO practice, using internal links strategically to increase relevance and authority calls for subtlety and in-depth SEO expertise.
Search engines can better understand your site's content and structure with the help of effective internal links.
They aid users in navigating your website.Your most crucial pages should be linked to other, semantically and topically pertinent pages. Additionally, you ought to employ descriptive anchor text that shares the same search intent as the main keyword of the page it points to.
Base your strategy on the pages that receive the most links from your website as a powerful way to start enhancing internal linking. The most effective pages on your website are the ones with the most referring domains. These strategies should be monitored and evaluated from time to time.
4.
Utilize FAQ Schema to Expand Your SERP Real Estate
Without raising your rank, you can raise your search visibility and divert traffic from your rivals.
How? By expanding the space on your SERP (search engine results page). Integrating FAQ schema into your sophisticated on-page SEO is a fantastic way to accomplish this. FAQ schema enables questions you address in your content to show up in search engine results pages (SERPs). If your page has content in the question-and-answer format, this is a strategy to take into account. Even if you already have a strong ranking, you can still deprive your rivals of clicks by moving them further down the first page.
5.
Utilize paid advertising for link building
One of the most challenging and time-consuming elements of SEO is link building.
Typically, top results on the front page receive more backlinks than other results.
Why? simply because they outperform other results in terms of clicks and traffic.More people reading your content increases your chances of obtaining links, assuming that everything else is equal. Google Ads can help you take advantage of this reality if you've got a budget for link building. Find informational intent keywords in your niche first, then serve up search ads within SERPs.
Additionally, you should pick a keyword that seems to be likely to attract backlinks. These keywords frequently produce content that is referenced in other articles. Run your advertisements for a minimum of one or two months at a price that makes sense to you.
Keep an eye on the links' quality and establish a cost per link. To find an approach that works for your business, you'll probably need to experiment with various keywords and bids. This tactic is workable on Facebook, Bing, and even Google.
6.
Featured Snippets may be taken.
Another way to make the most of your SERP real estate and guarantee that your content receives as much organic traffic as possible is to use featured snippets.Position zero means that featured snippets are displayed over every other organic result in the SERPs. Additionally, they occupy at least three times the space of an ordinary organic result. These snippets are already being used by your SERP rivals to drive traffic.
However, frequently, their snippets are passages from their content that weren't intended to be featured snippets. By adapting your content for the featured snippets, you can take advantage of this opportunity and steal their snippets. Whatever your competitors have written, make it better. Moreover, be clear and succinct.
7.
Launch A/B testing.
You can compare the efficacy of various versions of your data using A/B testing.
Determine which web pages on your site are crucial to your company.
Then decide which specific metrics on those pages you want to enhance.Think about any adjustments you could make that could benefit both the business and those metrics. Simple elements like text size, button colour, and header text can have a big impact on how consumers engage with your website.
As soon as you can, start putting your hypotheses to the test. A/B testing tools are available. They make it possible for you to test the things you'd like to test painlessly. You can optimize your website by using A/B testing.
8.
Changing Up Your Images
Visual components catch the eye and keep your users interested.
Users who are actively engaged on your website are less likely to leave it quickly.
which may raise your ranking.Spread out your visuals. To achieve this, incorporate GIFs, animated graphics, and videos into your content. Images are wonderful and are a great way to convey information.
However, animated graphics and GIFs can convey a great deal more data. They can also automatically play and repeat. This grabs users' attention and makes them want to watch. Include GIFs and animated images in your content, such as animated SVGs. They can keep visitors on your website longer and stop them from leaving. This can raise your ranking and increase traffic. Think about including videos in your content as well.
9.
Find Unlinked Mentions to Improve Your Links
Anytime your brand is mentioned online without a link, that is a "unlinked brand mention." This may appear in forums, news articles, blog posts, social media, and more.
Anywhere it occurs, there is a chance to obtain a backlink.
These kinds of backlinks can raise your SERP ranking and increase referral traffic.More SEO value and potential customers result from this.
When you are conscious of the company's mentions, you can contact the authors and request links from them. Usually, authors are willing to include links, especially in the early days after the mention. You can keep tabs on competitor brand mentions by using media monitoring. Observe how people are talking about your rivals online.
10. Removing or reusing ineffective content
Your website's pages should all have a purpose. Whether that goal is to rank well and attract visitors, convert leads, gather backlinks, or just increase your authority.
You should continuously assess the effectiveness of your content to make sure it is fulfilling its intended purpose. If a piece of content isn't necessary, it should be deleted or repurposed. If not, it is just a matter of using services (and maybe holding your site back).
11.
Locate and resolve keyword cannibalization problems
Cannibalization of keywords is unrelated to keywords.
The key is intent.
When you have two or more pages that are targeting the same intent, it occurs.
The truth is that as long as each page is optimized for a different intent, you can have multiple pages optimized for the same keyword.Certain keywords have disjointed intents. This indicates that a mix of informative and commercial pages may appear in the top 10 results for this type of keyword.
12.
Create Q&A Pages Based on Questions Others Have Asked
Users can find direct answers to queries they might have about their initial queries in the People Also Ask (PAA) sections of Google SERPs.
These queries are useful because they are ones that Google users frequently search for.To fully respond to them, however, only a few sentences are needed. They are consequently low effort. And even though they each typically receive few searches, when combined, they have a significant impact.
You should use the queries from the PAA component in your titles and H1s. Just below the H1, respond to these queries in a clear and concise manner. Usually, you'll only need two or three sentences to answer each question completely. Utilize lists when appropriate.
13.
Investigate Your Log Files
A highly technical SEO strategy that you should be aware of is log file analysis.
Investigating log files can:
- Demonstrate where the crawl budget is being misused (and how much)
- assist you in determining what is causing crawl errors
- Identify pages that aren't frequently crawled.