Search engine optimization, or just SEO, is constantly evolving. You need to keep up with the SEO world if you want your content to rank high. It is impossible to use the same SEO techniques for years; you must adapt. But how to do so? How to do advanced SEO and prepare for the future? Keep reading and find out.
Semantic Core
The SEO semantic core is something every webmaster should create. It’s nothing else than a list of search queries their target audience will search for when looking for a product or service they provide. So, the first step is to find all the keywords your website should rank for. Create a list of all the keywords you want to rank for. The length of the list depends on the website. If it is a huge website, creating a semantic core can take months. For small websites, you can do it in a few days. After making a list, you will be stuck with a bunch of relevant keywords. It is mandatory to categorize and group those keywords, so you have to start keyword clustering.
Keyword Clustering
Clustering keywords is a practice of grouping keywords into groups (clusters) that are relevant to each page on the website. So, every page should have its own group of relevant keywords. If it is a small website of 5 or 6 pages, you just need to group the keywords regularly into those pages. On the other side, if you are working on a large site, you will need to create an SEO silo structure with central hub pages.
SEO Silo Structure – Category Hubs
The SEO silo structure is the best way to organize large websites. If you correctly organize everything, your site will see considerable improvements in terms of page authority. The authority will spread across all relevant pages within a silo. So, when you build links, the whole silo will gain from it. You will also see a massive improvement in rankings, faster indexing, and a better overall user experience with a lower bounce rate.
As you can see from the example above, we have a gaming website spread into three silos; CS:GO, DOTA 2, and LOL. Every silo is also a central hub page (pillar page) which links to other cluster pages inside that silo. Cluster pages also link to each other and to the central silo hub. This way, they are all interlinked and connected within the same topic. But how to organize the page, so the search engine knows exactly which pages belong to which hub? The best way to do so is via link structure. Your desired URL structure should be: https://www.yourwebsite.com/silo1/post-name.
In the example above, the link for Dota2 should be https://www.yourwebsite.com/dota2, while the link for Dota 2 betting is https://www.yourwebsite.com/dota2/betting.
The Dota 2 page is actually a category hub which should have content relevant to that category. So, it should contain everything about that game and have appropriate headings that will link to other pages inside this silo. So, the article should mention Dota 2 News, Dota 2 Tournaments, and Dota 2 betting respectfully, so we can interlink them all. This page should me a main pillar page with at least 2000 words.
Content Pruning
If your website used to rank high but after the core update, you have seen a significant drop in a number of impressions or visitors, it is time for content pruning. Content pruning is actually removing all the low-performing content from your website archives. Sometimes, it is mandatory to remove such content. When push comes to shove, it is better to cut one hand off so the rest of the body can live. In case the content is really relevant and you can’t delete it, then you should opt-in for the SEO skyscraper technique. Simply, look for pages that are performing better than yours, analyze what they are doing, and do it better!
The SEO techniques mentioned above are all advanced techniques that you should consider if you are serious about this. Every technique is unique and can be used on its own. However, for best results, it would be best if you implement them all. It will take a lot of time and effort, but it will be worth it.
