What is Advanced SEO? Techniques You Need to Beat the Competition
What is advanced SEO? Do I really need it?
You may wonder after reading some “advanced SEO techniques” posts.
Most of those already assume you know! I’ll tell you below!
What is the Advanced SEO Definition?
OK. So by now we know what SEO is.
Advanced SEO is indeed not clearly defined though.
Yet many people nonetheless seem to agree what it is!
It is also often used as a synonym for “technical SEO”.
I in contrast (and most other people outside the tiny SEO industry) practice content and social SEO (as in creating linkable assets or reaching out to bloggers).
So advanced SEO can’t be all about technical aspects!
My personal impression as to this inherent definition is below.
The two most important aspects of advanced SEO seem to be that
- it appears to consist of complex Web development and analytics tasks
- it is leading to significantly higher organic reach on search engines like Google and beyond.
Yet this is just the most common definition. You need to know what it means to you.
Do not simply copy other people. You’re probably different.
As most website owners have access to advanced SEO techniques and tools it may be a good idea to advance in a different direction than the mainstream.
To beat the competition you need to do more or something different than everybody else.
Helpful website and SEO tools like those by Wix, Semrush, Yoast are used by millions.
Thus you need to step up your game to get ahead faster than others.
How Do SEO Experts Describe Advanced SEO?
The problem is that ‘advanced’ means a lot of things to a lot of people. Some of those meanings are useful and can inform our future efforts, but some are closer to myth than reality. Dr. Peter J. Meyers @dr_pete says on @Moz.
Advanced SEO might feel complicated, but it really all boils down to how much value Google thinks you provide to your users. Andrew Ansley @SEO_Savant_ explains on Raven.
Advanced SEO refers to SEO techniques that are not widely known (…) . These techniques are usually related to technical SEO and to latest changes made to the Google ranking algorithm. Alex Chris suggests on Reliable Soft.
Aren’t you tempted to spice your routine up with a bit of advanced [that is] uncommon SEO techniques that will increase your chances to rank higher, faster, and with even more energy? Valerie Niechai asks on Link Assistant.
Advanced often mean a technique that an experienced listener hasn’t heard of before. Very subjective. I pity the conference planners! Mark Alves @markalves adds on Twitter.
In What Direction is SEO Advancing?
Before you embark on an advanced SEO journey make sure to advance in the direction that is really advancing your goals.
Do not just blindly implement advanced SEO techniques that are common by now. Just because it’s difficult does not mean it’s better.
Ask yourself a few questions at first before implementing advanced SEO techniques or paying for tools that promise to be advanced.
Technical SEO is usually needed as a foundation for website success but does not guarantee it when you neglect content and social SEO.
- Did you implement most if not all basic SEO best practices already?
- Are complex Web development and analytics tasks really advanced or merely difficult to implement?
- In what other directions could your SEO advance to?
- Does advancing mean evolving or just getting more complicated?
- Why strive for complexity when simplicity is often the best advancement?
- Is advanced SEO just another synonym for modern or SEO 2.0?
- Can you broaden your scope instead of trying to be better at SEO exclusively?
I agree that you need to differentiate between basic SEO or SEO basics and advanced SEO
Yet I am not sure the current way the SEO industry is advancing along is the ideal course.
Also when you reduce advanced to solely technical aspects of it – that often are only on-page factors – into account we are only specializing but not advancing.
When we compare the SEO industry to other industries we’ll notice that there efficiency is key not complexity for it’s own sake.
You can’t automate SEO anymore like you could a few years ago.
Thus advancing more and more into the Web development and analytics direction is a step back. Modern SEO is about people not technology.
I’ve been obsessing about analytics for years but the actionable insights are limited.
You can spend the whole day on analyzing your traffic and expect much better results due to the sheer amount of effort.
You need to find some middle-ground. Check analytics and ensure your website technology is sufficiently supportive of search engines. Don’t exaggerate.
While there are new tools – which of course have to be programmed – relying on automation and programming for SEO backfires!
There are many reasons why employing advanced technical SEO or “leveraging” AI content can backfire.
Why? It’s due to the fact that E-E-A-T human input is increasingly used for search results ranking.
In general AI technology has already ruined the Web!
Actual Advanced SEO Techniques and Tools
OK, theoretically speaking we know that advanced SEO is not one size fits all.
Also SEO success can depend on many things – including yourself and your skills.
Let’s take a look at actual SEO techniques that could be viewed as advanced in some sense.
- Optimizing Content to Stand Out (Skyscraper Technique)
- Devising Linkable Assets People Link to (Link Magnets)
- Aiming for Fickle Google Features (Featured Snippets etc.)
- Involving Influencers in Your Content (Crowdsourcing)
- Creating Surveys and Data-Rich Content (Being the Source)
You see it’s not just about technology. The actual technology part is also largely dependent on Google so be cautious.
Likewise the tools of the trade get more advanced albeit complicated.
For example there are plenty of tools that spider your website to imitate Google bots and to find issues upfront.
Think of Semrush, Screaming Frog, Exploding Topics. They are advanced in different senses of the word.
What SEO is All About These Days
As you see at the end of the day SEO is not only about SEO anymore!
It’s also about soft business and interpersonal skills. Outreach is the best example.
SEO becomes increasingly intertwined with an overall marketing strategy.
Currently SEO is advancing in a few different directions: technical, social and content!
- technology and complexity (Web development, analytics)
- social media (networking, public relations where the public actually is)
- content creation (blogging, writing, “rich media” like video)
These directions are very different, but the movements towards them takes place at the same time.
While some people concentrate only on one of those, others attempt to cover all of them.
That’s my point: You can’t limit yourself to advanced SEO in the sense of complex Web development and analytics.
Tracking conversions, sales, ROI is fine but you can’t succeed in the long run when you analyzed your perfect customer without ever talking to her or him.
Using meticulously coded websites that make search engines happy will never be a success strategy when you can’t offer pillar content.
In SEO 2 often the simple solutions are the best.
Why not socialize with the potential consumer or to find out what he wants instead directly of sifting through website usage data?
Advanced Can be Simple Too
Yes, sometimes advancing is simple. Don’t scan me! Just ask me want I want.
It’s done offline by asking “can I help you?”. You can do it online too.
Advanced SEO is about making your preferred audience visit your site and then making the visitor find what s/he wants.
This is advanced SEO or SEO 2! When it comes to basic SEO you just want
- to rank
- get found
- or garner huge traffic.
In advanced SEO you make sure the traffic is viewed as people, customers, multipliers.
In SEO 2 people out there do not hate SEO! They love it!
They often don’t even notice it because it just perfectly fulfills their wishes.
Advanced SEO is not about technical skills only. It’s also about social skills.
Did you beat the competition already by using advanced SEO?
Tell us about it in the comment section! I might add your techniques and tools to the post itself!
Nice definition.
I fully agree and would like to add:
– SEO can not disregard the fundamentals of marketing and sales.
– SEO should be highly incorporated into the overall marketing campaign.
– Branding efforts must be unified.
– Insights gained from key word research, typically only done by SEO’s, should be spread to every part of the organization or ad agency handling the account.
When it comes to SEO I agree there needs to be different levels , there is not a “one size fits all” solution. Is Advanced SEO more about highly advanced tactics or taking SEO to the next level (SEO 2.0)? To me Advanced SEO is more about building a holistic strategy revolving around the entire UX – looking at things like path analysis to better understand visitors and how they consume content… basically SEO 2.0 comes down to what’s next.
I fully agree that SEO is a lot more than just strategic placement of keywords and getting quality inbound links. It has to take care of marketing and branding aspects also as it is integrated with SEM and internet marketing strategy for any business.
I like your article – and I agree with the popular focuses of “internet marketing” but I disagree with the concept of Advanced SEO and here is why….
-SEO is of course becoming more complex as more competitors join the race and algorithms become more complex but it’s still the same game.
-Web development has always been on a trend of more complex technology as technologies improved.
-Social is not a new focus, its always been there with forums, press releases, and boards. Just the new social sites are improved versions.
-Content has been a core focus for years – maybe there is more video and other media content – as technology and improved bandwidth allows for it.
-Also I totally disagree with the idea that basic SEO focuses on traffic and rank compared to advanced with looks at traffic as customers. SEO’s have been promoting brands and conversions since the beginning.
The concept should really be a comparison between good internet marketing pros that are creative and use all resources available to them versus bad SEO’s that don’t invest themselves in their clients goals; not basic versus advanced.
Great post. I agree, advanced SEO is taking it to the next level with social skills…kind of like graduating from high school and moving on to college. Fantastic SEO markup on the page by the way.
Dratewka: very good post :) I’m loving it :) yeah, seo as advanced as it gets, the advantage of it, the roi that follows the advancement, the forward move(ment) that follows the promotion (as in rank :), I guess, this is what ‘advanced seo is about’ :)
I agree, but seo advanced is more about analyzing how google works if you do that or this, is the ability to know what to do to keep the success and when to do it.
Ultimately advanced SEO is simply good SEO. It really comes down to simply taking the time to do the right on page and off page work to improve your sites chances of being found high in the search results. When all’s said and done it’s a matter of quality, more so than quanity.
I feel that a lot of people tend to consider label “gray”/”black” methods as be “advanced” SEO. I’m not sure if I agree with all definitions being applied to SEO, but people do need to learn how to apply SEO so it isn’t in a bubble. Classic SEO (SEO 1.0) is the basics. It should be combined to traditional methods of marketing and branding, in combination with social media and web 2.0.
For me, I see advanced SEO as “testing”. Playing around and learning new tactics beyond, “get links”
[…] from the daily buzz. Is advanced the new better SEO or just a part of it like basic SEO? I don’t know, the pundits do not even agree on waht advanced SEO really is. It certainly has something to do […]
I think it’s great use of mind to integrate both advance and conventional seo tactics for website promotions.
how i wish you blog posts had dates on them. Any SEO should be advanced SEO – otherwise, how are you tracking your efforts/ dollars?
[…] There is no single definition of advanced SEO. There are a few of attempts to describe what it might mean or consist of and what not but there is no entity or authority that could define such a broad term like advanced SEO. I can’t define advanced SEO either. What I can do though is to collect 30+ advanced SEO tactics, techniques and resources. […]
You are right Advanced SEO is all about social skills…..:)
I agree that SEO it’s more than backlinks, today SEM it’s half of the work.
I’m currently trying to get into anvanced seo, my websites mvamerica.com is still in the basica stages i’m assuming. any advice
advanced seo is about strategy that makes traffic -> sale. agree with you
I agree with your point of view, promoting a site is actually about strategy and sales funnel – Not just technical link building anymore.
when you say social skills it takes me back to the debate regarding social bookmarking, social networks and how effective can these tools be in advanced SEO.
I have to admit that I still don’t have the answer but I think it will become a much larger part of any SEO strategy in the future