Advanced SEO Techniques That Work In 2024

Here’s a comprehensive list of 17 advanced SEO techniques, strategies, and tactics that can significantly boost your website’s performance.

If you’re fed up with basic SEO advice like “create great content,” you’ll find this list much more useful.

In addition to these advanced techniques, I recommend exploring these actionable steps for improving your Google rankings even further.

1. Rank for “Journalist Keywords”

Journalist Keywords are specific terms that journalists search for when they need information. They are highly effective for generating backlinks on a large scale.

For instance, when we released a study on page speed, we saw a noticeable increase in referring domains.

Initially, the data showed a spike in backlinks when the content was first published, followed by a period of stability, and then another spike later on.

The second spike happened because our study began ranking for several Journalist Keywords, such as:

“Average page loading time”

When journalists look for statistics for their articles, they search for these keywords. Our site appears in their search results right when they need information, leading them to cite our stats in their pieces.

2. Use Animated Images to Improve Time On Site

Our recent study on search engine ranking factors shows that the amount of time visitors spend on a site is linked to higher Google rankings.

To boost this metric, I’ve found that using high-resolution animated images, like animated SVGs, can be effective. These images are similar to animated GIFs but offer better quality.

For example, animated images help keep users engaged by reducing skimming. This leads to longer reading times and more time spent on your page.

A post from Backlinko, which includes several animated images, has an average time on site of 3 minutes and 27 seconds. This suggests that incorporating animated visuals can positively impact user engagement and site performance.

3. Create Content Hubs

28% of Backlinko’s organic traffic comes from content hubs.

So, what is a content hub?

A content hub is essentially a comprehensive resource on a specific topic, similar to a mini Wikipedia. For example, our SEO Marketing Hub serves as a collection of SEO resources, organised into categories like “Technical SEO” and “Link Building.”

Each category within the hub contains several entries, each focused on a particular keyword.

These entries are not written like typical blog posts but are designed more like Wikipedia articles. This format better aligns with the search intent of users looking for specific information, rather than personal opinions. For instance, someone searching for “LSI keywords” is looking for definitions and practical steps rather than personal insights.

Additionally, the entries are interconnected with strategic internal links. This not only benefits SEO but also keeps users engaged for longer. For example, if a user reads one entry, they might click on links to other related entries, increasing the time spent on the site before returning to the search results.

4. Target Comparison Keywords

Comparison Keywords are search terms that involve comparing different options, such as:

– Content marketing vs SEO
– iPhone vs Android
– Webflow vs WordPress

These keywords are valuable for several reasons. First, people using Comparison Keywords are generally more informed. For example, someone searching for “SEO tools” may be new to the field, whereas someone searching for “Ahrefs vs Semrush” is already familiar with SEO tools and is looking to choose between two options.

Additionally, Comparison Keywords often face less competition. For instance, the keyword “Ahrefs vs Semrush” has around 500 searches per month and a $6 CPC, with a relatively low keyword difficulty score of 34 out of 100.

I recently targeted this keyword with a post, and it quickly ranked in the top 3 search results.

Pro Tip: Focus on creating content around “you vs competitor” Comparison Keywords. Pages like these, such as Drift’s “Drift vs Intercom,” tend to perform very well in search rankings.

5. Use Dynamic Parameters for Pagination

Exploding Topics faced a major technical SEO problem right from the start: new pages were taking days, or even weeks, to be indexed by Google. This was due to our crawl budget being quickly exhausted, causing Google’s crawlers to take a long time to discover new content.

One solution that helped us address this issue was changing our paginated page URLs to use dynamic parameters. We switched from this format:

https://explodingtopics.com/business-topics/page/2

to this format:

https://explodingtopics.com/business-topics?page=2

This change made it easier for Google to understand our paginated URL structure, reducing the time Google spent re-crawling these pages and allowing more efficient indexing of new content. Additionally, this adjustment seemed to increase the number of pages Google crawled overall.

If crawl budget problems arise again, we can use the URL Parameters tool in Search Console to prevent Google from crawling paginated pages, but this is only applicable with dynamic parameters.

6. Build Backlinks With Podcasts

I’ve been a guest on over 120 podcasts, and nearly all of them have linked back to me. This makes podcasts a great alternative to traditional guest posts. Unlike writing a guest post, where you need to find a site, pitch, draft, and edit, appearing on a podcast is simpler: just show up and you’re done.

Going on podcasts was an early link-building strategy for Exploding Topics. I advised my co-founder Josh to reach out to startup podcasts. His interesting story led to several positive responses and interviews.

To get featured on podcasts, focus on these tips:

Pitch for their audience: Highlight what listeners will gain from your appearance.
Get a mic: Invest in a quality microphone, as good audio is crucial.
Start small: Begin with smaller podcasts to build your skills and leverage these appearances for larger shows later.

7. Forge a Content Alliance

A Content Alliance involves collaborating with another business or site on a piece of content. For instance, I worked with Fractl on a post that was published on Moz’s blog, using data from Exploding Topics.

Alternatively, you can partner with someone who has the data you need. For example, I teamed up with BuzzSumo for a content analysis, using their data and promoting the post to my audience. This collaboration was successful, bringing in 20,545 visitors in its first month.

8. Maximize SERP Real Estate

The top Google result captures around 32% of organic clicks. To get more clicks without needing to rank higher, focus on taking up more SERP Real Estate. This means appearing in various Google features.

For example, a Featured Snippet can significantly expand your SERP presence. I also managed to rank a YouTube video on Google’s first page, which increased my SERP Real Estate.

Other ways to boost your SERP presence include:

Medium articles
Guest posts
YouTube videos
Rich Snippets
Top Stories

9. Embed Original Images In Your Content

High-quality, original images can improve your content and SEO. Avoid using duplicate images like stock photos, as they can hurt your rankings. Invest in creating professional visuals and custom charts.

Original images not only enhance your content but can also be used by others, generating backlinks. For example, a chart from our post has been used on various blogs, with many linking back to Backlinko.

10. Optimize Your Content For Keyword Relevance

Effective on-page SEO involves more than just repeating a keyword. Google evaluates relevance through quantifiable signals. Including LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords can help signal to Google that your page is relevant to the target query.

Use tools like Clearscope and Surfer SEO to find and include relevant LSI keywords in your content. These tools analyze top-ranking content and suggest terms that can improve your relevance and rankings.

11. Create a Comments Section On Your Blog

Adding a comments section to your blog can benefit your SEO in a few ways:

Ranking Factor: Comments may influence rankings directly.
Increased Engagement: More content and interactions can boost the time users spend on your site.
Content for Google: Comments are considered content by Google and can be indexed and ranked.

I put significant effort into managing Backlinko’s comments. I respond to nearly every comment and have someone who spends over an hour daily moderating them to ensure high quality.

12. Uncover People Also Ask Keywords

People Also Ask sections appear in 41% of Google search results, according to Semrush. They’re worth targeting, but finding these questions can be challenging. You can use tools like Answer The Public to discover related questions more efficiently.

13. Add “Content Features” To Your Page

Content Features, such as calculators, comparison charts, feature breakdowns, pros and cons lists, summaries, and quote boxes, make your content more engaging and useful. Google’s Quality Rater Guidelines highlight the importance of Supplementary Content. For instance, adding a comparison table and a skills list to my SEO guide led to a significant traffic increase of 36.9%.

14. Publish Topic + Year Content

Creating blog posts focused on current trends, like an annual guide to SEO for the specific year, can drive targeted traffic. For example, my “SEO 2023” guide attracts a good amount of traffic due to the less competitive keyword. This strategy works best when the content is thoroughly focused on the year in question, rather than just adding the year to an existing title.

15. Get Backlinks From Unlinked Brand Mentions

Unlinked brand mentions are instances where your brand is mentioned in articles but not linked. To get these mentions to link to your site, email the author and request a link. This approach has a high success rate because the author is already familiar with your brand. Act quickly, as new posts are more likely to be updated with your link. BuzzSumo’s “Brand Alerts” feature, with its unlinked mentions filter, is useful for this strategy.

16. Optimize for Google Discover

Google Discover is like a newsfeed that shows you content based on your interests, not just from people you follow. It can drive significant traffic; for instance, I once received 6,000 visitors from Google Discover over 90 days.

While Google claims you can’t optimize specifically for Discover, that’s not entirely accurate. They do suggest that high-quality images improve your chances of appearing in Discover feeds. Each Discover result includes a prominent image, so having a standout image can boost clicks and visibility.

To improve your chances with Google Discover:

– Ensure your content is fresh (you’ll get the most Discover traffic on the day your post is published).

– Use original, high-quality images, charts, and graphs.

– Engage on Twitter (Google indexes these interactions).

– Drive significant traffic to your pages.

– Focus on popular topics relevant to users’ browsing history.

17. Find Low-Competition Keywords From Reddit

You can find low-competition keywords by using Reddit. Here’s a simple method:

Enter a subreddit into Semrush.
Review the keywords that pages within that subreddit rank for.

This will give you a list of low-competition keywords. Reddit’s high domain authority means they rank well, but their threads are often cluttered with irrelevant comments. You can create better content by:

Organising information clearly.
Adding multimedia like images and videos.
Including external links to useful resources.
Providing the latest techniques and information.

Essentially, a well-structured post is likely to outrank a Reddit thread. Use a CPC filter to find valuable keywords by setting the minimum CPC to about $2 to avoid low-value terms.

Bonus Strategy #1: Visualize Your Sitemap

A flat website structure is crucial for technical SEO, especially for large sites. To check your site’s architecture, use tools like the SEO site audit feature in Semrush or VisualSitemaps.