As a digital marketer, you’re probably already familiar with various on-page SEO techniques that can help you rank higher. No doubt, you know how important it is to create high-quality content, incorporate the right keywords throughout the page, optimize the images, make sure page loading speeds are acceptable, focus on mobile-friendliness, and so much more.
But like everything else in life, if you want to take your on-page SEO efforts to the next level, you’re going to have to up your game. So that means you cannot limit yourself to only the basic strategies.
It’s time to consider advanced on-page SEO.
If you’re wondering what this means and how you can implement it into your current plans, you’ve come to the right place. Advanced SEO is simply SEO techniques that require a deeper understanding and a more technical approach to SEO. With in-depth knowledge about how Google’s algorithms work and more practice, you can reap the rewards of advanced SEO in no time at all.
With that said, here are five ways you can use advanced on-page SEO to your advantage and the benefits they can bring to the table.
What Advanced On-Page SEO Strategies Should You Implement Today?
1. Upgrade Existing Content
Nothing stands still in the digital landscape. Facts, statistics, keywords, and ideologies change over time. In order for your content to remain relevant with current search trends and continue to appear on Google’s radar, your content has to be up to date and factually accurate.
With the help of content audit and keyword research tools, you can effortlessly take inventory of your existing content. An audit identifies what blogs are underperforming so you can focus on those first. Analyze what content needs to be updated, improved, promoted again, or possibly even deleted.
Easy ways to update content quickly and efficiently include:
- Updating facts and statistics
- Add more valuable insights
- Mention new trends
- Adding more visual content, such as videos, infographics, etc.
- Reassess keywords
The SEO benefit of updating content:
Search engines recognize updated, high-quality content. This helps move it up in SERPs, improving online visibility. The result is more traffic.
2. Build Topic Clusters
While we’re still discussing content, one of the important on-page SEO areas, there’s another way you can further your on-page SEO efforts. Consider structuring content around a central topic to create clusters. This helps people find relevant, in-depth information conveniently in one location. Moreover, it keeps viewers longer on your website (which Google takes note of) and encourages them to keep coming back to consume more content.
The SEO benefit of topic clusters:
Relevant content is grouped around a central topic, allowing you to showcase your expertise on the subject. More importantly, you have multiple opportunities for internal linking and keep readers longer on your site.
3. Add a Comments Section to Your Blogs
You may think that blog comments are not necessary, but that’s not entirely correct. According to Gary Illyes, Google’s Webmaster Trends Analyst, comments are a great way to judge whether people like your content or not. Plus, it’s the ideal opportunity for you to interact with your audience.
Before a person comments on your post, they typically read previous comments. That allows them to spend more time on your page, helping to boost SEO. To make the most of this opportunity, always reply to comments. This encourages more readers to comment.
The SEO benefit of adding a comments section:
Comments are a way to give your audience a chance to have a conversation with you. The more they read and interact, the longer the dwell time (another one of Google’s ranking factors). And it may come as a surprise to you, but Google actually crawls, indexes, and ranks content from the comments section. So yes, comments matter.
4. Use FAQ Schema Markup
As we all know, FAQs consist of frequently asked questions about a topic and their answers. This question-answer style creates a structured format where Google can easily classify information on the page.
Using a FAQ structured data markup helps content from your page show up in SERPs and generate rich results on Google Search or Google Assistant. So don’t forget to incorporate keywords naturally into the content.
The SEO benefit of using FAQ schema markup:
Because FAQs consist of structured data, the answer to a person’s question may appear directly on SERPs. This has a two-fold benefit. First, FAQ schema markup helps expand your SERP real estate, pushing your competitors further down the page.
Secondly, when answers show up in your content, it’s an opportunity to build your niche authority.
Remember, Google values those sites that help people find information and increases their rankings. This helps expand online visibility and boosts CTR. Moreover, highly targeted traffic lands on your website, the chances of a conversion increases.
5. Fix 404s
A 404 is just another way of saying “Not Found”. It can happen when you click on a link, and the server cannot find that page anywhere.
Imagine searching for something on the internet and finding a link that you think will have the information you need. However, when you click on it, all you see is a 404 page.
This might be due to a broken link, outdated page, or a mistyped link, among other reasons. Either way, it creates a poor user experience, compromises your website’s integrity, and hinders Google’s attempt to crawl and access the site.
Even though a 404 is a common occurrence, it does not by any means negate the fact that it can have grave repercussions on your SEO campaign. So the best thing is to fix this problem as soon as possible. Moreover, if a particular 404 page is receiving a great deal of traffic, you need to use a 301 redirect to channel users to another page to satisfy their search intent. However, if it’s an outdated page, make sure to remove the URL from your XML sitemap.
The SEO benefit of fixing 404s:
A 404 error may or may not directly impact your rankings, but it does have a negative impact on user experience. And this will influence SEO.
Therefore, spending the time to fix broken links or incorporating redirects can enhance user experience, improve your standing in Google’s eyes, and boost your SEO efforts.
Over to you
Whether you plan to focus on SEO or advanced SEO, you need to understand that this isn’t something you can check off your to-do list. It’s a task that you must repeatedly do to make sure your website follows Google’s guidelines.
Some of you may already be implementing a couple of the techniques listed above. But there are plenty more ways you can make your website outshine your competitors. Make the most of this opportunity and take your on-page SEO efforts to the next level.
It’s time to go beyond the SEO basics. Are you ready to take on advanced SEO by the horns?
