Advanced SEO refers to a set of techniques that require a deeper understanding of SEO, search engine algorithms, and marketing technology.
These tactics and strategies go beyond SEO basics and can give you an edge over your competitors.
Here are 13 of the most effective advanced SEO strategies in 2023.
1. Improve Your Content’s Time to Value
Time to value in SEO is the time it takes for a user to get value from a piece of content.
The time to value of your content should be short.
Short time to value enables your users to get what they’re looking for as quickly as possible.
But with hero images, author bios, and long-winded intros, many websites have poor time to value.
In the example below, there is a hero image and a whopping 739 words before the first tip.
Poor time to value can negatively affect your bounce rate, dwell time, and session duration.
And this could affect your traffic and rankings.
So, how do you improve time to value?
By putting the most important information and elements at the top of the page.
Ideally, above the fold.
Use the BLUF (bottom line up front) or journalistic inverted-pyramid approach. In other words, put the information users are looking for at the top.
Keep your introductions short and get to the point.
Don’t waste anyone’s time.
Investopedia does a great job with time to value.
In the image below, they hit on a definition of the term in the image. And then a summary of the article in the “Key Takeaways” section. Right at the top.
Users can get exactly what they are looking for immediately and without really having to scroll.
It’s no surprise that this page consistently ranks in the top three on Google.
2. Build Out Topic Clusters
A topic cluster is a group of articles or pieces of content that share a central topic and strategically link to and from one another.
Topic clusters provide comprehensive coverage of a topic.
This coverage improves topical authority and enables your readers to have their queries (as well as any follow-up queries) satisfied on your site.
Typically, topic clusters revolve around a pillar page, which is a page that targets a broad topic.
Content that covers related topics makes up the cluster and is used to link to and from the pillar page.
You can visualize a simple topic cluster in the image below.
Topic clusters are an effective SEO tactic because they help you create content that demonstrates topical authority, relevance, and expertise.
Think of it this way:
If a website only had a single piece of content on a topic, you probably wouldn’t consider them an authority or expert on it.
But if it had a whole cluster of related content that used internal linking to demonstrate the topical relevance between them?
You’d probably think the site knew what it was talking about.
Your users (and Google) feel the same way.
Migrating your site’s content into a topic cluster structure may not be the simplest of tasks.
But it’s one that will pay dividends and can contribute to your site’s long-term success.
Long gone are the days of thinking about ranking for single keywords.
In 2023, you should be thinking about how to rank for topics and satisfying your users’ queries before they even search them.
Building out topic clusters is a great way to get into this mindset.
3. Leverage Strategic Internal Linking
Internal linking is one of the most underrated SEO tactics.
While adding internal links to your pages is beginner SEO stuff, using internal links strategically to boost relevance and authority requires nuance and advanced SEO knowledge.
Good internal links help search engines better understand your content and site structure.
They also help users navigate your website.
The strategic part comes from knowing how and where to link to which pages.
You should be linking to your most important pages from other semantically and topically relevant pages.
You should also be using descriptive anchor text that has the same search intent as the primary keyword of the page it points to.
One impactful way to start improving internal linking is to base your strategy on your site’s most linked-to pages.
To do this, load up Semrush’s Backlink Analytics for your website, head to the “Indexed Pages” tab, and sort by “Domains.”
The ones with the highest number of referring domains are your website’s most powerful pages.
You can use these pages to redistribute and pass link authority (i.e., PageRank) to other relevant pages on your site.
Look for opportunities to link these pages to topically related pages that need a push in organic visibility.
And think carefully about the anchor text you use.
This tactic works and should be evaluated regularly.
You should also use this technique when you launch new content and look for opportunities to link to it internally.
