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Fine-tuning your website's search engine optimization (SEO) is a continuous process. Every new Google Core Update — most recently in August 2024 — can trigger significant fluctuations in keyword rankings and traffic.
Maintaining top spots in search rankings requires SEOs to systematically review and adjust their practices to the ever-shifting environment of online search.
Here are seven advanced SEO strategies to help you boost your search visibility going into 2025, following Google's latest update.
Related: Here's the SEO Combination You Need to Win Google's Algorithm
Focus on topic clusters
To start with, there is a key strategy that has become worth its weight in gold given Google's Helpful Content guidelines in particular — structuring your content in topic clusters.
According to Google's guidelines, your website needs to demonstrate experience, authority and expertise in your niche to achieve the top spots in search results. One way of doing this is to develop a coherent strategy to structure your content and provide a great experience for your website visitors.
Say you run a business that provides graphic design services, and you have a blog to attract new clients and showcase your skills and your expertise. Instead of posting about disparate topics throughout the year, you could build your posts around carefully selected key concepts or target groups.
For instance, you could write a long piece of cornerstone content on how professional graphic design can help startups develop a coherent brand identity. Then, you can publish a series of shorter "satellite" posts, in which you dive into aspects like the nuances of company logos and website color schemes.
This clustered approach helps you make sure you provide comprehensive information to one target group before moving on to the next.
Eliminate underperforming content
Another advanced SEO strategy is to eliminate underperforming content, either by updating it or removing it from your site.
Having content on your site that is outdated or doesn't resonate with your audience can have detrimental impacts for SEO. At the very least it can significantly increase your bounce rates, which sends a negative signal to Google's algorithm.
To fix this problem, you should go back through your posts and pages and take a deep dive into analytics to assess their performance. Which of them sees no traffic at all? Which used to perform well, but have since dropped off? And which cover topics that are simply no longer relevant? What does the backlink situation look like for each of them?
Once you've run this analysis, take the time to decide which pieces of content to take offline and where to invest time in updates. Trimming the dead wood takes time, but it's definitely worth it.
Related: 9 Key Tips to Help You Get the Most Out of Your Link-Building Efforts
Leverage diverse visuals
Next up, a third SEO strategy for your website content is to diversify your visuals. Most SEOs know that properly optimized images (think alt text!) are an asset when it comes to attracting traffic.
Time to take it a step further and mix things up. GIFs and video content can be even more impactful when it comes to capturing your website visitors' attention. This increases time on site and boosts click-through rates — all positive signals for the algorithm.
Let's take the example of cloud communications provider Nextiva. In their blog post on unified CXM, they link to their own YouTube channel and an explainer video that deep-dives into all the different aspects of the topic that are of interest for clients.
This is a great way to not only boost your engagement and SEO in general, but also to clearly demonstrate your expertise in your niche.
Optimize for zero-click searches
Moving to a higher level, there are several recent innovations in the way that Google displays results that you need to factor into your advanced SEO strategy.
Most importantly, you need to optimize your pages for zero-click searches. In recent years, Google has fine-tuned its search results pages (SERPs) to display all the information needed to answer particular searches. This eliminates the need for users to actually click through to sites — but there are still opportunities here.
For instance, let's take the query below, asking how old business tycoon Warren Buffett is. As you can see, the SERP answers this question abundantly. It's unlikely that someone will click any further.
However, you can still optimize your content for zero-click searches. For instance, you can target the "People also ask" section by adding FAQs to your articles, or by using the questions that appear in the SERPs to structure sub-sections of your website content.
This increases the likelihood of appearing in a prominent position. Even though people's original questions have been answered, many will follow through because their curiosity has been piqued.
Target featured snippets
Another crucial approach is to target the prime SERP real estate offered by featured snippets.
Featured snippets appear at the very top of search results. Unlike other forms of zero-click searches (AI answers, for instance), they often encourage people to click through for more information.
Let's take the example of video editing agency Tasty Edits — and their blog post listing the best video editing services in 2024. They have optimized their content for this particular featured snippet by placing a summary table at the very top, making it easy for Google's algorithm to assimilate the data.
Apart from strategically placing tables, you can also maximize the likelihood of capitalizing on featured snippets by using sub-headings targeting individual snippets, as well as leveraging structured data schemas such as those for how-tos or recipes.
Related: Outrank Competitors in Your Niche with These SEO Tweaks
The bottom line
SEO work is never done and dusted. To keep your site consistently ranking in top spots, you need to continuously update and fine-tune your strategy.
By following the advanced SEO tactics outlined above, you'll be able to defend your position as a top contender going into 2025. Harness topic clusters and diverse visuals, optimize for zero-click searches and featured snippets and eliminate underperforming content.
That way, you'll be able to provide an outstanding experience to your website visitors and win over Google's algorithm.
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