Da Vinci
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 termlike advanced SEO.
I can’t define advanced SEO either. What I can do though is to collect 30+ advanced SEO tactics, techniques and resources.
These methods are no doubt advanced in the sense that they are new and progressive, sometimes more difficult than basic SEO or require special tools and expertise. Some of the tactics are no short term tactics, they’re probably strategies.
Also I’ll attempt to debunk the wide spread notion that just a few tactics out there are somehow advanced SEO by virtue of their sheer complexity, difficulty in implementing or tediousness.
Most notably I refer to the controversial practices of so called PageRank sculpting and IP delivery. While both are highly contested to be valuable at all or “advanced SEO” most SEO methods below are not controversial. They have an undeniably positive impact on your SEO efforts. Some will contest whether they are advanced or even SEO but they don’t hurt your site or business like the two above often do or at least might when badly executed.
Web Design/Development
  • Landing page optimization for organic search results
  • ROI oriented usability testing (Split A/B Testing etc.)
  • Streamlining information architecture towards a predefined sales funnel
  • Enforcing security considerations to prevent crackers from compromising your system and hijacking your site’s authority
  • Implementing dynamic scalability for large sites by self replicating processes
  • Siloing content on important keyword optimized pages (instead of PageRank sculpting)
Web Analytics
  • Identifying the target audience by age, income, education, computer skills, region andunderstanding it
  • Conversion attribution to find out how many stages were involved in making a person finally appear on site or buy
  • Twitter analytics to follow your true fans and connectors who spread the word and realistic Twitter traffic numbers
  • Monitoring long tail keyword combinations and frequency for early acknowledgment of trends
  • Time based and historic keyword research to identify potentials for recurring traffic spikes
Content Creation
  • Creating videos, ebooks, infographics and other rich media for SEO purposes
  • Semantic SEO trying to understand user intent and serving the appropriate content
  • Business blogging beyond solely SEO copywriting keyword rich content for search engines
  • Writing of “magnetic Web content“, with “killer headlines” and irresistible hooks
  • Defining an SEO code of ethics for your company and anticipating upcoming industry standards
  • Allowing and managing and user generated conent with crowdsourcing, tagging/folksonomy
  • Predictive SEO in order to be the first to offer supplies for demands that don’t exist yet
Link Acquisition
  • On topic widget bait for long term recurring results (not just link bait)
  • Creating both funny and engaging quizzes. Example: SEO expert quiz
  • Preparing and implementing contests to actively empower audiences as brand evangelists
  • Establishing reputable awards or annual best of collections. Examples: Web 2.0 awards, Semmys
  • “Pulling a Calacanis” that is stirring controversy to gain attention and make adversaries and supporters to link to you
Social Media Outreach
  • Proactive online reputation building, instead of just reactive firemen like management
  • Social CRM for all relevant groups (beyond “customers”). Example: Influencers
  • Creating and spreading viral memes through various media independently of your own presence there
  • Creating communities both inside and outside your own websites. Example: Dell Idea storm
  • Disseminating social media press releases and cultivating blogger relations
Expanding into New Markets
  • Embracing Twitter plus other Microblogging for business purposes
  • International multilingual SEO on one site or creating parallel sites
  • Geo-location based local SEO and IP delivery for international businesses
  • Mobile search optimization with appropriate CSS formats for different use cases
  • Introducing “real life” SEO with links you can scan with your mobile
So you see that you don’t have to resort to PageRank sculpting or other questionable SEO techniques advocated by some people in the SEO industry who often fail to embrace a holistic fndability appraoch and instead overtly focus on technical aspects.