Did you know that, according to HubSpot, 75% of search engine users never scroll past the first page of search results?
Here’s the problem with that stat: SEO is too common of a marketing tactic, and too frequently used by your competitors, for basic strategies to help you reliably place on that first page. For your web content to become a true organic search traffic driver, you need to leverage more advanced SEO techniques.
That means link building, but supercharged. Keyword optimization, but taken to the next level. Mobile optimization, featured snippet prioritization, and page speed have become a must to stay competitive in the advanced world of SEO.
It takes time, expertise, and a good measure of strategy. And yes, a managed SEO service like Verblio Plus can help. To get started, this guide can help you understand and begin implementing the most significant advanced SEO strategies to rank on the first page of Google, Bing, and other search engines.
Getting Started with Advanced SEO
Even advanced SEO should start with the basics. That means both a simple understanding of what advanced SEO is all about, and background knowledge on how we got here: why building more advanced SEO strategies matters so much now. Let’s get on the same page before we start charting out the strategies.
What is Advanced SEO?
Advanced SEO is what happens when you move past the checklist of basic search engine optimization and consider the deeper purpose and goal of core SEO strategies. It’s about understanding how search engines really work, then tailoring your efforts to match search intent, not just the keywords they use.
This level of SEO digs into algorithm updates, semantic search, and technical SEO factors like crawl efficiency. It’s strategic, scalable, and driven by data.
You have to get technical, and you have to get in-depth. Basic SEO might give you a content outline, but advanced SEO can help you turn that content outline into a physical structure and compelling content that gets found and shared.
With basic SEO, you show up by going through the motions. With advanced SEO, you can take that next step and increase your chances of showing up at the top.
The Evolution from Basic to Advanced SEO Strategies
Advanced SEO is complicated. The good news is that if you start with the basics, you’re already part of the way there. High-quality content, after all, doesn’t need complex strategies. Internal links will always matter. Even the basic idea of scheduling each blog post into a calendar of regular content appeals to search engine algorithms.
The key to advanced SEO is taking those concepts further. Google doesn’t reward a blog post just for existing anymore. Instead, it rewards pages that deliver exactly what the user wants, trying to make sure that the top search results will always be the most relevant and engaging.
It’s why Google’s algorithm updates hit hard and often, almost always designed toward that search intent optimization. Pages optimized for keywords have to consider what users are trying to do. Then, they have to link to other, more relevant content. Every decision you make needs to be driven by data and the environment, designed to optimize for search engines and the user.
The 9 Core Advanced SEO Strategies
With that background, let’s get started on the actual advanced SEO strategies you can pursue. From keyword research to hub-based pages, these are your top SEO tactics for increased search results.
1. Leveraging Keywords That Drive Results
First things first: you can’t win at SEO if you’re optimizing for the wrong terms. It’s why advanced search optimization starts with smarter keyword research that goes beyond volume.
Instead, it’s about finding keyword opportunities that match your target audience’s search intent. Tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, and even Google Search Console can tell you which long-tail keyword opportunities exist in your niche, but it’s up to you to determine what your audience is trying to do when they search using those terms.
Are they researching products in your niche? Are they comparing your product with others, or are they ready to buy?
Each of these possibilities comes with a different type of content that aligns with their needs. Once you understand what that is, it’s about maximizing your entire piece to that content. The more topic depth you’re building around that keyword and intent, the better.
You can’t win at search if you’re optimizing for the wrong terms. That’s why advanced SEO starts with smarter keyword research. It’s not just about volume anymore. It’s about matching keywords to search intent, spotting gaps your competitors missed, and knowing which queries will actually lead to traffic and conversions.
The takeaway: Don’t just chase keywords because they have a high search volume. Find the ones that align with your goals, then create content that matches your users’ search intent.
2. Internal Linking Done Right
Basic SEO guides will tell you that your content needs some internal links. Advanced SEO means making sure that those internal links actually make sense together to form one cluster of related content.
Because here’s the secret, as SEMrush puts it in its own advanced SEO guide: “Good internal links help search engines better understand your content and site structure.” Every link you add provides a hint to Google on how you want your users to move through your site and which of your content is related.
Think about it this way: which page would you rather visit as a user? An isolated page that answers your basic search query but little else, or the same page that links to related content, should you want to dig deeper. As part of an advanced SEO guide, wouldn’t you want to learn more about SEO-driven content strategy as a whole?
Your most important web pages especially deserve lots of backlinks. And, the more descriptive the anchor link is, and the more search intent lines up between the pages your internal links connect, the better.
The takeaway: Think about your internal links as the threads that build your website’s narrative structure. That way, users (and search engines) don’t have to rely on your navigation or site search to stay engaged and keep diving deeper.
3. Building Stronger Link Profiles (Link Building)
Links from other websites still matter. In fact, they’re one of the strongest signals Google uses to determine the authority of your website and page. If others link to you, it counts for something.
But advanced SEO isn’t about chasing random backlinks. It’s about building a link profile that’s strategic and relevant.
One backlink from an authoritative, niche-relevant website is worth more than dozens from low-quality directories. Guest posts on respected industry blogs, resource pages that actually help your audience, and in-depth guides that other experts want to link to can go a long way.
Tools like Ahrefs can show you where competitors are earning your link, enabling you to replicate or outperform them. But you can also engage in broken link building, which means finding outdated or dead links on relevant sites and offering your content as a replacement. You help them fix a problem while gaining a valuable backlink.
The takeaway: Put quality over quantity. Take an active role in pursuing links from sites you know to be high-quality to build Google’s (and the audience’s) trust.
4. Optimizing for Featured Snippets
Google search results are not just linear anymore. To maximize the real estate on search engine results pages, you need to prioritize the parts of the SERP that aren’t just straightforward website links. We’re talking, of course, about featured snippets.
As SEMrush puts it, “featured snippets appear in position zero.” They’re special search results designed to help users find answers quickly. Depending on the query, that means a definition of a term, a video explaining a process, or a list providing a quick overview. According to Search Engine Land, they get more than 10% of clicks anytime they appear on a SERP.
Getting into that spot means not just providing the right content, but telling Google where to find it. Tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush can help you identify which keywords either already have a snippet or are just waiting for one. Next, this guide to structured data and schema markup can help you ensure that search engines read your content the right way.
Also consider AI Overview as the new featured snippet and endeavor to get in there.
The takeaway: Go beyond high-quality content. Strategically target where you want to land in a featured snippet, then make sure both the content and the structured data is right for that specific keyword.
5. Page Speed Matters More Than Ever
Slow websites lose traffic. Fast-loading pages are a core user expectation, which means that search engines like Google deeply care about page speed.
That means we need to pay more attention to technical SEO. Backlinko’s Advanced SEO guide calls out how load times impact both search visibility and user engagement, emphasizing the importance of treating speed like a strategic priority.
Start with a performance audit using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights. Look at metrics like Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). These are what Google calls its ‘core web vitals’, and they give you what you need to start optimizing your technical SEO.
From there, it’s time to take action. Compress and resize large images, using modern formats like WebP. Enable browser caching and minimize the JavaScript on your site. As you begin to serve a broader geographic audience, a content delivery network (CDN) can help you store content assets closer to your users’ locations, enabling them to load faster.
The takeaway: Faster pages rank better, but also feel better. They reduce friction and build user trust, improving engagement—which is why Google prioritizes page speed in the first place.
6. Mobile-Friendly SEO is a Must
More than half of all organic traffic comes from mobile. Depending on your industry and location, it might be even higher. Not optimizing your website for smaller screens is a huge opportunity, risking frustrated users and lower rankings.
Google now uses mobile-first indexing, which means it evaluates your mobile site to decide how your pages should rank, even for users finding it on a desktop computer.
Start with a mobile audit, using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to check for layout and usability problems. Then, prioritize mobile checks in your technical SEO strategy, including:
- Making your design responsive, which means it can adapt to any screen size without separate mobile URLs.
- Tap targets, making buttons and links large enough to be tapped easily.
- Legible fonts without zooming
- Fast load times, especially for images
- Avoiding popups that can cover content on mobile
The takeaway: A mobile-friendly site earns trust and reduces friction. But it’s also essential for today’s search engine algorithms, making it a core requirement for any successful SEO effort.
7. Leveraging Google Crawls for Indexing Success
If Google can’t find or crawl your content efficiently, it won’t rank. Every website has a crawl budget, which is the number of pages Googlebot is willing to crawl in a given timeframe.
Part of advanced and technical SEO is making sure that your budget is spent as efficiently as possible. Outdated, duplicate, or irrelevant pages can run the risk of Google skipping your most important content.
Start by tightening your site architecture. Make it easy to navigate, with your best pages accessible within just a few clicks from the homepage. Remember internal linking? It can also help guide Googlebot and other crawlers toward high-value content and block low-priority pages like filtered search results.
Keep your XML sitemap clean and up to date. Submit it regularly through Google Search Console. Then, fix broken links, cut redirect chains, and address crawl errors quickly.
The takeaway: Treat crawlability as a priority within your technical SEO efforts. A clean, fast-loading site helps Google focus on what matters most.
8. Creating Traffic-Driving Content (Content Marketing)
Advanced SEO is not just about fixing what’s broken. You also need to publish content that pulls in traffic every month. Content marketing is a basic SEO strategy, but content marketing done right can make all the difference.
Start by building topic clusters. Create a main pillar page around a high-impact keyword, then write supporting articles that answer related questions. Link them together to help Google understand the structure and depth of your content; there’s that link building again.
In the realm of content marketing, evergreen topics will be most effective. Your highest-ranking and most linked-to pieces solve problems and stay relevant over time. You can still update them regularly with new data or expert insights to keep them ranking at the top.
The takeaway: The best content is part of a connected ecosystem of useful, search-optimized pages that build on each other to drive more traffic over time. That’s how you earn backlinks, driven engagement, and position your site as a go-to resource in your niche.
9. Building a Powerful Pages-Based SEO Strategy
Don’t think of content marketing as just blog posts. Every page on your site has the potential to be an organic traffic driver. Category and landing pages especially provide an opportunity to enhance your credibility and ranking.
- Category pages are the hub for everything you’ve published on a given topic. These can be blog posts, whitepapers, podcasts, videos, and more. It’s the page you want your audience to bookmark as a resource when learning about the topic.
- Landing pages are more specific pages that act as gateways to a specific type of content, offer, or even product for audiences coming in from Google, social media, and other sources. They usually have a clear next step (like downloading a whitepaper or buying a product).
To optimize your category and landing pages for SEO, prioritize search intent in building the content. The match here has to be near-perfect for your users to take the actual next step. Then, optimize your content for intent-based keywords, and build a crosslink network to treat your pages as an internal hub.
The takeaway: Elevate a few landing pages and category pages to become the key hubs within your site. Every other piece of content should be an offshoot of these hubs.
Supplementing Strategies for Added Impact
Implement the above strategies, and you’ll be in good shape for organic search traffic. But you can also go further, truly optimizing your efforts by using these supplemental SEO tactics.
10. Utilizing Paid Ads to Amplify Results
Any strategy to build organic traffic takes time. Paid ads, on the other hand, can give you immediate visibility and a way to amplify your content when you’re just starting out.
For example, you can use Google Ads or social platforms to promote your top-performing blog posts, or posts for which you want to start building visibility. Especially posts optimized for high-intent keywords and driving to lead magnets may be a good choice for a small paid campaign.
Through paid ads, you can also experiment with targeting, copy, and creative before going all-in on an SEO direction. Once you know better which segments of your target audience respond to your content, you can drive your organic efforts in the same direction.
11. Enhancing Content with Animated Images
Every good content needs good visuals. Most often, that means static images, which are easiest to create and pull. But animated visuals like GIFs or lightweight motion graphics can be even more beneficial.
These animations are especially effective when you’re trying to explain a process or drawing attention to key data. The motion draws the eye even while making it easier to break down complex topics.
Load speed makes a major difference, of course. Compress files and only use animation where it truly enhances your message. Re-test pages with animations to ensure their page speed didn’t decline too drastically.
12. Advanced Use of Structured Data
We’ve already written briefly about structured data, which helps search engines crawl your content. The more you use it, the easier it is for Google and others to understand what you’re trying to say and find the right spot in its SERPs for it.
Add schema markup to your pages for articles, reviews, FAQs, and more. The good news: you don’t need to be a developer. Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper is just one of multiple tools that can make implementing it easy. Meanwhile, the Rich Results Test helps you test your schema markup and see where changes need to be made.
13. Competitor Analysis for Pinpointing Opportunities
You might be surprised just how much your competitors’ SEO strategy is available for your view. Tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush can help you understand what keywords they rank for, which of their content performs best, and where their backlinks are coming from.
Once you take a close look at all that data, you can start to find content gaps and missed opportunities that your content can fill. You might also find outdated assets that could benefit from a more recent version.
And if they’re ranking well with thin or poorly structured pages? That’s your opportunity. Jump in and create a better version, fully optimized for Google, and let the crawl algorithm take care of the rest.
14. SEO Audits & Regular Monitoring
In SEO, the only constant is change. Google updates its search algorithm constantly, and user behaviors evolve over time. And that’s before we even talk about your site’s natural growth and evolution.
A monthly SEO audit can help you track where some things might be falling through the cracks. Tools like Screaming Frog and Sitebulb help you identify crawl errors, broken links, duplicate content, and slow-loading pages.
Once you fix the active errors, look at opportunities for improvement. Track traffic, rankings, and engagement in both Google Analytics and Search Console, then take action where you have growth opportunities.
FAQs
What Is Advanced SEO?
Advanced SEO is a collection of high-impact strategies used to improve technical performance, content structure, and domain authority. It’s a series of on-page and off-page tactics focused on site architecture, structured data, internal linking and link building, and performance enhancements that help websites compete on competitive search results pages.
What Is the Difference Between Basic SEO and Advanced SEO?
Basic SEO covers foundational elements like keywords, meta descriptions, and readable content. Advanced SEO is more complex, including site audits, schema markup, crawl budget optimization and backlink profiling. It also takes basic strategies like internal linking and keyword optimization to the next level through more strategic application.
What Does SEO Mean?
SEO stands for search engine optimization. It’s the process of improving a website’s visibility in organic search engine results. SEO helps businesses attract qualified visitors without paid advertising by focusing on relevant content, a clean technical structure, and strong authority signals that forecast your credibility and build trust.
What Is Advanced Search in SEO?
Advanced search in SEO refers to using specific commands or operators within a search engine like Google to refine your search results and find more relevant information. Marketers and SEO experts use these tools to audit indexing, uncover link opportunities, or take a close look at competitors’ content.
Empower Your Content and SEO Strategy With Verblio Plus
Advanced SEO is complex by nature. And yet, it’s vital to making sure that you’re ranking at or near the top results on high-performing and competitive keywords. With the right SEO strategies, your blog content can transform into a powerhouse.
And if you don’t have the fuel to power that powerhouse? Not to worry. That’s where Verblio Plus comes in.
Tailored content strategies and execution can make your advanced SEO strategies a breeze. Invest in the right strategies with experts by your side who can monitor your website, research relevant keywords for you, build the content that makes the most sense for those keywords, and monitor performance over time.
It’s a white glove service, designed for the competitive world of modern SEO. Learn more to get started today.
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