If you’ve ever ventured into digital marketing, chances are that you have come across ‘SEO’. Every business with an online presence is using some type of SEO to improve its visibility. 53% of all online traffic is organic and driven due to SEO. That’s the majority of all traffic everywhere in the world.
This statistic alone justifies investing time and money into learning and mastering SEO. In the world of digital marketing, rarely any skill is worth as much as SEO, as it is a comprehensive suite of activities and areas in and of itself.
In this guide to the types of SEO, we will be covering the main types of SEO, along with a special focus on the techniques and strategies employed in each type to get the desired results (targets) of that specific type of SEO.
Define SEO And Types of SEO
Before blabbering on about the billion activities involved in SEO, let’s get a basic idea of what SEO actually means.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is the process of optimizing your website to appear on the top of search results and provide the best user experience to visitors. This optimization includes changing and updating various qualitative and quantitative factors about your website, all in an effort to secure more eyes.
SEO aims to make your website the best available source of either information, a product or a service. Obviously, businesses providing goods or services want more customers. According to studies, SEO and organic efforts are 5.3 times more cost-effective in bringing in more visitors and driving more sales than paid ads. Hence all the buzz around perfecting SEO.
A basic reason why SEO exists is that search engines are constantly scouring the internet for resources to satisfy the search queries made by users. Google, the most used search engine, has more than 200 factors based on which it ranks the web pages in order of relevance. Each Google search page has 10 results. Obviously, 90% of all clicks occur on Page 1. Therefore, the higher you rank, the more visitors your website will get.
Why SEO is Important in Digital Marketing?
There are two main reasons why any website wants to increase its traffic and visibility. The first one is to convert that traffic into sales by capturing attention, and the second is to become a reliable information source (and/or run ads that profit off the traffic). With millions of new websites being created every month, there is no shortage of players creating content, resources, products, services, and whatnot. This is when SEO comes into play. To become the top player dealing in any of these resources, you need to get a lot of eyes, which is precisely the aim of Search Engine Optimization.
Its importance is driven further up by the fact that paid ads are expensive. Sure, they can drive traffic and for commercial purposes, even drive conversions and sales, but businesses and websites just starting out do not have the authority (An SEO Metric) to benefit from ads without bleeding a lot of money. Even the websites running ads have to create a pillar of string SEO and gain authority to be in a comprehensive good spot.
What Are Main Types of SEO?
This question can be answered from various perspectives. SEO, as already explained, is a basic practice of improving website elements to rank higher. Now, depending on which elements are to be improved, or which parameters are applied for such improvement, SEO types can change.
The main factors based on which SEO can be categorised are:
SEO Based on Activity Parameters
- On-Page SEO- On-page SEO deals with the optimization of elements on the website such as content, images, blogs, designs, user experience, etc.
- Off-Page SEO- Off-page SEO deals in the optimization of elements that are outside of the website that you are trying to rank higher. These include social signals, links, brand mentions, etc.
- Technical SEO- Technical SEO refers to the optimization of elements that improve the technical performance of a website (loading speed, server issues, website structure, schema markup).
- Mobile SEO: Mobile SEO refers to the optimization of websites for mobile-first indexing and mobile viewership.
SEO Based on Geographical Location
- Local SEO: Local SEO refers to the optimization of a business’s website and online listings to make their presence known in the locality they are located in, in order to drive more local sales.
- International SEO: International SEO refers to the optimization of websites to make them ideal for viewing in multiple countries and in multiple countries.
- Regional SEO: Regional SEO, as the anime suggests, is a branch of SEO aiming to optimize websites for viewership in certain geographical regions.
SEO Based on Nature and Ethics
- White Hat SEO: White Hat SEO refers to ethical practices and actions being used to optimize websites for higher traffic and visibility.
- Black Hat SEO: Black Hat SEO refers to unethical and spammy practices being used to lead to higher traffic often involving fooling and scamming the users.
- Gray Hat SEO: Gray Hat SEO refers to a combination of black and white SEO practices being used together.
Other Specialized SEO Forms
- E-commerce SEO: It refers to the optimization of e-commerce stores to drive more sales.
- Voice Search SEO: Voice search SEO refers to the optimization of websites for being well-ranked in voice search queries, which are longer and more conversational.
Now that we listed and briefly touched upon the main types of SEO, we are going to cover them in more detail and look at the activity list involved in each type.
On-Page SEO: What It Is and Key Techniques?
On-page SEO refers to the optimization of individual web pages to rank highly in search results by tweaking the elements on the webpage. On-page SEO involves optimizing the quality of the content, images, page structure, navigation UI elements, etc. to improve the user experience. Similarly, it also aims to better the structure of the content, and its match to search queries using keywords, etc. for the search engines.
Key Techniques Involved in On-page SEO
- Content Optimization: Content optimization refers to improving the quality of the content on the web page. For informational content, the key is to give the latest information in the most concise and easily understandable way. Ensure that your content is directly aligned with the search queries and is highly relevant to the users.
- Create user-first content instead of Google-first content. Use contextually related words to give the search engines more of an understanding of the context behind the web page. While keeping the above factors in mind, try to make longer content. Longer content can cover information more comprehensively while including more keywords and LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords naturally.
For commercial pages, the key is to create engaging and compelling CTAs. No fluff should be put there and product or service features should be clearly highlighted.
- Keyword Research: Search engine rankings are critically dependent on keywords. Keywords are the main conveyors of intent behind the searches. For example, if a person searches “What is SEO?” then the pages that explain SEO in the best way should be ranked highly. Content creation should always be designed to satisfy user queries, and that is done by creating content based on keywords.
What keywords you have to write about depends on the industry that you operate in. Thoroughly research keywords for your industry and create content pieces around them to drive targeted traffic (people interested in that keyword) to your website.
Use both long-tail and short-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords are keywords like ‘best shoes for hiking’, ‘detailed guide to on-page SEO’, etc. which are longer and more contextual. On the other hand, short-tail keywords are shorter and have more volume and competition, such as ‘sales’, ‘pizza’, etc.
A good advice to always follow would be to closely monitor keyword intent and volume. The closer you can match your content to the intent, and the higher volume you can target, both will lead to increased organic traffic.
- Meta Descriptions and Titles: A title tag is the ‘heading’ or ‘title’ of the content that appears as a clickable link on the Search Engine Result Pages. Right below it is a short description of the content that compels the user to go to your website rather than the other search results which is known as the meta description. It is the most important aspect of On-page SEO. This is where Google gets most of the context for your page.
The title tag should be kept between 50 to 60 characters and should include the primary keyword. The meta description should be around 150 to 160 characters at most, and should also have the primary and secondary keywords (if possible). The meta description should use action-oriented language and a compelling argument to lead users to click on your website.
The CTR (Clickthrough Rate) can be deeply affected by the quality of your meta description and meta title. The CTr refers to the number of people who clicked on your website’s search result in the search engine out of the total number of people who saw that result. It is the effectiveness or persuasiveness of your meta description and title. - Internal Linking: Internal linking refers to linking to your content pieces available on the website. By comprehensively linking to other web pages on your website, you can enhance the user experience by giving them more information about related topics, and more importantly, you can allow search engines to crawl and discover your content in a much better manner.
A good site structure has pillar pages leading to smaller and more individual content pieces. They also transfer SEO value or link juice evenly through your website.
Usually, 3-4 internal links on a 3000-word blog post are enough, and the same for external links as well.
By making sure your older and performing blogs have links to your newer blogs, you can pass link juice to the newer pages and make them rank faster. This is the reason why updating your older content is necessary as it leads to overall better performance of your websites.
- Headings and Structure: Headings and structure of your content also affect organic performance a lot. Headings (H1, H2, H3, etc.) are used to structure content and break it down into more consumable chunks of information.
Use headings to keep your content more readable and enhance user experience. Similarly, use main search queries as headings (involving the main keywords) to boose SEO scores. Usage of SEO tools is also highly recommended for this.
- Image Optimization: Image optimization in SEO plays a vital role in enhancing both the visibility and performance of a website. Optimizing images ensures that they load quickly, improving page speed, which is a crucial ranking factor for search engines like Google. Using the right file formats such as JPEG, PNG, or WebP, and compressing image sizes without sacrificing quality, ensures that web pages are not weighed down by large files, leading to a faster and smoother user experience.
Visual elements also better user experience by making the web page more engaging and more interesting.
Additionally, proper use of alt text is essential for SEO. Alt text provides a text-based description of an image, helping search engines understand the content, which can improve rankings in image search results. Alt text should be descriptive and include relevant keywords where appropriate, as this can further contribute to the overall SEO value of a page.
Off-Page SEO: Building Authority and Trust
The complementary aspect of on-page SEO is off-page SEO. Off-page SEO involves the actions you take outside of your website to improve the rankings of its pages. These external signals help boost Google’s trust in your website, and over time build your website’s authority. A higher authority means your blogs rank easier, and your traffic is sustainable. They also improve the market presence and reliability of your products or your services.
Off-page SEO includes:
- Backlinks: Getting links from other reputable websites is known as link building. The more high-quality backlinks a site has, the more credible it appears to search engines, as the links transfer authority and credibility to your site.
Backlinking is a very strong SEO factor, enough to make websites hire people specifically to build links, and some people are also ready to pay hefty amounts to acquire links, although paid links can lead to more harm than good as Google considers them a form of manipulation if an appropriate ‘sponsored’ tag is not added to the link. Adding a ‘sponsored’ or ‘nofollow’ tag to links makes them lose their value as a ranking factor as Google does not evaluate them.
Backlinks from any website are not good. Links from toxic and spammy websites can harm your website’s performance and may even lead to penalties. Hence, only high-quality links from authoritative websites should be your target. They can transfer some of that authority (link juice) to your pages, leading to higher traffic and rankings.
- Social Signals: Engagement on social media platforms can indirectly influence SEO by driving traffic and increasing visibility. Social mentions serve similar purposes as backlinks. Social signals refer to the engagement metrics—likes, shares, comments, and overall interactions—generated from content shared on social media platforms, and they serve as an important off-page SEO factor.
While Google has not explicitly confirmed that social signals directly influence search rankings, there is a clear correlation between strong social engagement and better SEO performance. Content that gains traction on social media tends to attract more backlinks, increased visibility, and traffic, which are critical factors in SEO.
When users share and engage with your content, it increases brand awareness and drives organic traffic to your site. This can indirectly boost your search rankings by signalling to search engines that your content is relevant and valuable.
Additionally, having a strong social media presence helps to establish authority and trust, as users are more likely to click on links from well-known brands. The more your content is shared and engaged with, the higher the chance of it being noticed by authoritative websites, leading to natural backlinks. While social signals may not be a direct ranking factor, their role in increasing visibility, driving traffic, and generating backlinks makes them an influential component of a well-rounded off-page SEO strategy.
- Brand Mentions: Unlinked brand mentions in news articles, forums, or blogs can also help build authority. The more times search engines come across your name and content, the more chances that you appear credible and trustworthy.
Technical SEO: Optimizing the Backend of Your Website
Technical SEO refers to the optimization of technical elements of a website such as loading speed, structure, security, crawlability by search engines, etc.
The main Technical SEO factors are:
- Website Speed: Ensuring your site loads quickly, as slow sites can hurt rankings. They can also drive away users looking for information to faster sites. Google’s PageSpeed insights is a great tool to analyze and improve Page Speed.
Slow-loading websites can drive away users to other faster options. The main factors for a slow-loading page may include large and unoptimized image sizes, slow server or limited server capacity, or a combination of these and other factors. Images should be compressed and reduced to WEBP or other lighter formats to keep them fast. Similarly, you should ensure that your server has enough capacity and does not get overwhelmed by traffic.
- Mobile-Friendliness: Optimizing your site for mobile devices since search engines prioritize mobile-first indexing. The majority of all traffic is from mobile screens, hence, a mobile-first ideology is necessary in today’s era. AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) is an open-source framework that can help you create faster-loading pages on mobile screens.
While designing web pages, follow a single-column structure that can easily be viewed on mobile screens. Ensure that your website is reactive and its elements can adapt to various types of screens.
- Crawlability: Make sure search engines can easily crawl your site by creating an XML sitemap and submitting it to Google Search Console and ensure there are no broken links or dead ends. Crawlability refers to how easily search engine bots can discover and navigate the pages of a website, allowing them to index the content properly. While crawlability is often associated with technical SEO and on-page factors, it also has indirect off-page implications that can impact a site’s overall search visibility.
External factors such as backlinks from authoritative websites play a crucial role in enhancing crawlability. When a site earns high-quality backlinks, search engine bots are more likely to visit it frequently, as they follow links from trusted sources to discover new content. A well-linked website is essentially signalling to search engines that it is valuable, which can lead to more thorough crawling and indexing.
Additionally, poor crawlability due to broken links or server errors can result in missing out on the SEO benefits of strong off-page factors like backlinks. Search engines might struggle to index new or updated pages, reducing the effectiveness of off-page SEO efforts.
- Secure Website (HTTPS): Ensuring your website uses HTTPS encryption for security, which search engines like Google prioritize. Site security is important not only for SEO purposes but also for protecting intellectual property and other important assets and data that are uploaded to your website.
Local SEO: Dominating Local Search Results
Local SEO is the practice of optimizing websites and social listing of businesses that serve a particular geographical area, or that have a physical store and want to capture the interest around their area. It aims to attract the locals of that area to the store.
The main elements of Local SEO are:
- GMB (Google My Business): Keep your Google business profile updated in terms of the products you offer and the categories you serve. It should also have your updated email address, address, phone number, and name. Doing this is the simple first step in enabling locals in the region to be able to find your store and contact you.
- Localized Content: Create content that appeals to the specific region you aim to serve and target solving the problems that locals in the area face. If your products or services solve a crucial problem of that region, emphasize that as the selling point. Use localized keywords such as “graphic designer in Los Angeles” or “pizza shop in Manhattan.”
Aim to create a community, as local community building and word of mouth can go a long way in determining the performance of your business. - Localized Business Listings: Each country and state, or region, have active directories of businesses listed down and categorized according to their products and services. Try to get listed in all of these directories.
- Local Social Media Presence: The best to get local attention is to crate social media content specific to the region you are serving. For physical businesses with stores, even multiple stores in multiple locations, creating geographical content is a major benefit since it gets the locals to engage and remember your name.
A local social media presence can boost engagement, traffic, and ultimately business.
International SEO: Reaching a Global Audience
Contrary to local SEO, websites that aim to be viewed in multiple countries need to use international SEO. International SEO is the practice of optimizing websites and making them suited to viewership in multiple countries and regions.
The main features of International SEO are:
- Languages: Obviously, when serving an international market, your content needs to be in the language understood by readers in that specific region. There are several ways to do this. You can use different TLDs (Top Level Domains) for different countries and regions, for example, example.fr (France), example.in (India), etc. Most giant websites and big businesses use this method.
Another method is to use subdirectories if your TLD for different languages. For example, example.com/fr, example.com/in, etc. This is also a great way to segregate content and pages according to language.
Hreflang tags should also be used to help with targeting. The hreflang tag is an HTML attribute that tells search engines which language and region a page is targeting. It’s essential to ensure the correct content is shown to users in their respective languages. Use hreflang annotations in the head of your HTML or in sitemaps to indicate language and country targeting. - Translation vs Localization: International SEO has to account for regional differences and cultural sensitivities. The same content cannot work in different countries, even after translation, because the tastes and preferences of people in different regions are vastly different.
This means that you have to create localized content that caters to the specific needs of the regions that the page is directed towards.
International SEO consumes a lot of manpower and energy, hence, it is only suitable for large organizations with a presence in multiple countries. A large team is required with people from all over the world who understand the needs and wants of the people geographically. - Geo-Targeting: In Google Search Console, you can specify the target country for subdomains or subdirectories. This is especially useful if you are using a generic TLD (e.g., .com) but want to target specific regions. If you’re targeting a global audience and not specific regions, it’s best to leave the geographic targeting settings blank. However, a loosely defined target may often lead to low performance.
Mobile SEO: Optimizing for Mobile-First Indexing
Mobile SEO refers to the optimization of websites for mobile and tablet screens. Google primarily uses the mobile version of websites and web pages to index and rank sites, making Mobile SEO crucial for organic success.
Key Features of Mobile SEO are:
- Mobile Friendly Content: Use font sizes that are easy to read on small screens, and ensure text isn’t cramped. Avoid excessive use of long paragraphs and break up content with subheadings, bullet points, and images. Mobile users typically prefer concise, easy-to-scan content. Ensure that your most important information appears “above the fold” (visible without scrolling).
Use responsive images that adjust size based on the user’s screen. For videos, make sure they can be viewed without requiring additional plugins and are embedded responsively.
- Simplified Navigation: Use thumb-friendly CTA buttons and keep a simple one-column interface that makes navigation on mobile screens easier. Avoid using features like hover effects, which don’t work well on touchscreens. Make clickable elements (like buttons and links) easy to tap. Use a collapsible hamburger menu or simple drop-downs to keep navigation clean and easy to use on mobile screens.
- Page Load Speed: Loading speed is a critical factor in mobile SEO. Compress images and videos to reduce file sizes. Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML code to remove unnecessary characters. Use browser caching and content delivery networks (CDNs) to speed up content delivery.
E-commerce SEO: Optimizing Online Stores for Search
E-commerce SEO refers to the optimization of online stores to rank highly in search results and also optimizing the individual pages of the store to drive more sales and conversions. E-commerce stores are very popular and to set up a successful online store, E-commerce SEO is crucial.
The main activities involved in E-commerce SEO are:
- E-Commerce Keywords: To improve your e-commerce SEO, start by focusing on keyword research. Identify product-focused and long-tail keywords that match what your customers are searching for. These keywords should be relevant to your products and reflect user intent, especially those that indicate a desire to purchase, like “buy,” “best,” or “discount.” Use tools like Google Keyword Planner or Ahrefs to find high-traffic terms and incorporate them naturally into your site.
- Product Page Optimization: Optimize your product pages to rank for your target keywords. Write unique, detailed product descriptions that highlight key features and benefits, avoiding manufacturer text that could lead to duplicate content. Make sure your title tags and meta descriptions are engaging, and always include relevant keywords. For product images, use descriptive file names and alt text to help search engines understand your visuals while also improving accessibility.
- Category Page Optimization: Category pages are powerful assets for SEO purposes. Ensure each category page targets a specific keyword or set of related keywords (e.g., “men’s jackets”). Add descriptive text on category pages that summarizes the products, incorporating relevant keywords naturally. Link between related product categories to help users navigate easily and spread link equity across your site. For large category pages with multiple products, use proper pagination strategies (e.g., rel=“next” and rel=“prev” tags) to avoid duplicate content and to ensure that Google can crawl all your product pages.
- Crawl Depth and Navigation: Prioritize site structure and navigation to ensure a seamless customer experience. Keep your e-commerce site’s structure simple and flat so that all pages are just a few clicks away from the homepage (low crawl depth). Use breadcrumb navigation to improve user experience and help search engines understand your site’s hierarchy. Clean, keyword-rich URLs will also make it easier for search engines to index your pages while enhancing usability for your customers.
Voice Search SEO: Preparing for the Future of Search
Voice Search SEO focuses on optimizing your website content to align with the natural, conversational queries people use when speaking to voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, or Google Assistant. With the rise of voice-activated devices, more users are performing searches by speaking rather than typing, which changes how keywords are used and how content needs to be structured. Voice Search SEO can be a strong SEO signal to boost organic performance.
The main features of Voice Search SEO are:
- Conversational Keywords: Voice search queries tend to be longer and more conversational than typed searches. Focus on long-tail keywords and phrases that mimic how people speak, like “Where can I find eco-friendly shoes near me?” instead of just “eco-friendly shoes.” It’s crucial to anticipate the type of questions users might ask related to your products or services. Conversational queries are intended to answer human questions, not just get information about a topic. Examples include “When was the last time a President served two consecutive terms?”, etc.
- Question and Featured-Snippet Friendly Content: Voice-based queries are almost always a search for direct answers and are not intended to direct towards 3000-word pages and guides. Optimize your FAQs section to answer more of the most relevant queries for that keyword. Doing so can get you ranked in the featured snippets, which is Google’s short answer to a keyword query.
- Local SEO and Voice Search SEO: Many voice searches are local, with users asking for nearby businesses, services, or products. Ensure your site is optimized for local SEO by including location-based keywords and updating your Google Business Profile with accurate contact information, hours, and location details. Phrases like “near me” are common in voice searches, so make sure your content reflects local relevance. Most voice searches are done on mobile devices, so it’s essential to ensure your site is mobile-friendly. Focus on fast load times, responsive design, and a clean user interface to provide a smooth mobile experience.
SaaS SEO
SaaS Seo refers to the application of SEO for growing Software-as-a-Service website through strategic content creation, technical optimization, and targeting the right keywords. Because SaaS businesses typically offer subscription-based software solutions, their SEO strategies need to focus not just on attracting visitors, but on converting them into long-term users or customers.
Key Features of SaaS SEO:
- Content Marketing: SaaS SEO heavily relies on content creation and blogging to address customer pain points, and convert them into your customers by driving them towards your software solutions. The consumer journey is segmented into 3 stages:
Top of Funnel: Awareness-stage content that focuses on broad questions and solutions (e.g., “How to Improve Team Collaboration”).
Middle of Funnel: Consideration-stage content where you compare different solutions and provide case studies or detailed guides (e.g., “Best Team Collaboration Tools”).
Bottom of Funnel: Decision-stage content like product demos, customer testimonials, or success stories (e.g., “How Our SaaS Increased Productivity by 30%”).
Organize your content using the pillar page model, where you create comprehensive, cornerstone content (pillar pages) on a main topic, and link to related blog posts (clusters) on subtopics. This improves your site’s internal linking and SEO authority.
- Resource Creation: SaaS SEO heavily relies on creating assets for potential customers such as guides, free templates, case studies, and e-books. Creating these assets allows potential customers to asses your solution and why they might need it. These assets serve as initial attractors of potential customer pools.
- Landing Pages: Conversion-Focused Content: Your landing pages should be optimized not only for SEO but also for conversions. Create dedicated landing pages for each service or feature your SaaS offers, and make sure they target specific, high-intent keywords. Include strong calls-to-action (CTAs), such as “Start Free Trial” or “Request a Demo.” Write compelling, keyword-rich meta titles and descriptions that entice users to click through to your site. The goal is to not just rank higher but to attract the right kind of traffic. Ensure your landing pages clearly outline the key features and benefits of your SaaS product, using concise headlines, bullet points, and easy-to-read content. Focus on what sets your software apart and how it solves customer problems. Make the landing pages visually appealing.
White Hat SEO vs. Black Hat SEO vs Gray Hat SEO
On the basis of ethics, SEO practices can be categorised into a black hat, white hat, and gray hat SEO. There are a lot of manipulative practices available that can boost SEO results, but they can have severe penalties as well. Similarly, deceiving users can also be a method to boost traffic, by using false promises. But this also leads to negative consequences such as penalties, dips in traffic, or removal from Google’s index of sites.
White Hat SEO?
White Hat SEO refers to using ethical and Google-approved strategies to rank a website. It focuses on providing value to users and following search engine guidelines. Key practices include:
- High-Quality Content: Writing helpful, relevant content that answers user queries. Your content should provide value to users and should not just be a farm for traffic. Quality traffic is more important than high traffic.
- Keyword Optimization: Using targeted keywords naturally, without overstuffing. Use conversational and long-tail keywords that help provide more context to the users.
- Technical SEO: Improving site speed, mobile optimization, and ensuring proper site architecture. Ensure that there is no duplication of content.
- Backlink Building: Earning links through outreach, guest posts, and content worth sharing. Again, quality > quantity. Ensure that the backlinks are from high-quality and authoritative websites.
White Hat SEO requires patience, but it leads to sustainable, long-term growth that’s unlikely to result in penalties.
Black Hat SEO
Black Hat SEO focuses on manipulating search engines to achieve quick results. It often violates search engine guidelines and risks penalties. Black hat SEO uses deceptive practices towards both users and search engines. Common practices include:
- Keyword Stuffing: Overloading a page with keywords to manipulate rankings. Keywords should not be used out of context just to rank higher. Keyword stuffing can actually lead to severe penalties.
- Cloaking: Showing one version of a page to search engines and another to users. It is a highly manipulative practice that shows the search engines optimized pages for rankling, while the users are led to another version which might be optimized for user experience, or might be very poor and unoptimized.
- Link Farms: Creating networks of sites linking to each other solely to boost rankings. Inorganic and fake links can temporarily boost rankings but have severe long-term detriments. Spammy and phishing links intended to extract user information can also be found on these link farms.
- Hidden Text/Links: Placing keywords in invisible or off-screen text. It is done to make the search engines think that the page is about a certain topic, while in reality, it might be about something entirely different.
Black Hat SEO can lead to faster rankings but carries the risk of severe penalties, including being deindexed by Google.
Gray Hat SEO
Gray hat SEO refers to using a combination of white hat and gray hat SEO practices in order to ‘game the system. While is unsafe than white hat SEO, it is still safer and more long-term oriented than black hat SEO.
Gray Hat SEO Techniques include:
- Clickbait Headlines: Enticing users to click but delivering on content quality. Clickbait refers to having highly exciting tiles that may or may not be completely related to the content but are highly sensationalised versions of it.
- Paid Reviews: Paying for positive reviews, though it’s against many platforms’ guidelines. A lot of companies use it initially to get a base from which to start and then stop using this tactic to avoid it.
- Private Blog Networks (PBNs): Using multiple websites you own to link to your main site, walking a fine line between link building and manipulation. These are not link farms, but websites serving different purposes under your ownership, used to boost the authority of a new site by linking to it.
Gray Hat SEO can produce faster results than White Hat SEO without the same risks as Black Hat tactics, but it’s still a gamble and is considerably more risky than white hat SEO.
What Are the Best SEO Practices and Techniques?
Technology has progressed a lot in the last few years. It has resulted in giant leaps in the field of SEO. As such, the best SEO practices for 2024 have also changed.
These are some of the best SEO practices you can use in 2024 to boost your organic traffic and visibility through the roof.
- Advanced Keyword Research: Use pillar pages and content clusters to comprehensively cover all the subtopics included in a topic. Give concise and detailed information to your readers with the aim that they never have to seek another information source about that topic. Regularly update your keyword research strategy.
- Regularly Monitor Metrics: Regularly updating content and regular changes in strategy can only be made if the performance of existing content, landing pages, and overall website are being monitored. Establish KPIs relevant to your industry start measuring them with every change and figure out what works best.
- Use AI Tools and SEO Software: This is perhaps the best piece of SEO advice in 2024. Tools such as SEMRush for Keyword Research, Scalenut for On-Page Content Optimization, Ahrefs for link research and comprehensive SEO audits, etc. are an SEO’s best friend. A lot of these tools use AI to fuel their capabilities, which is why they work so well and evolve so fast.
- Adhere to EEAT Guidelines: SEO is not only about creating good content. To work well in 2024, your content should reflect Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust. These are the EEAT guidelines by Google and they are a big ranking factor in terms of SEO. Make sure your content has logical foundations and your site courses to statistics you use to support an argument or information.
Conclusion
SEO is a vast field. In terms of digital marketing, a large part of it can be learnt if you comprehensively go after SEO as a skill. More and more digital marketing professionals are actually calling themselves SEO professionals these days. This is because SEO is a more pressing need for businesses in the modern landscape.
At Mohit’s SEO Training, we provide an exhaustive hands-on SEO course to make you job-ready. Rather than focusing on the theory, we ensure teaching you the practical applications of SEO. Along with the Advanced SEO Training in Bangalore, we are an Organic SEO Consulting Company as well. If you are looking for a full proof SEO Strategy for your business, do contact us.
We provide local SEO services for businesses, SaaS SEO services, Ecommerce SEO Services in India, and International SEO Services. It would be our pleasure to work with us.
FAQs
What are the 4 types of SEO?
The four main types of SEO are on-page, off-page, technical, and local SEO. They are used together to get the best results (except for local SEO, which is specific to websites and businesses that want specialized geographical attention).
How many types of website SEO are there?
The main types of website SEO are on-page SEO, off-page SEO, e-commerce SEO, and technical SEO.
What are the four areas of SEO?
The four areas of SEO are On-Page SEO, Off-Page SEO, Technical SEO, and Content Optimization. When done together, these should lead to an increase in traffic and visibility (organic).
How many pillars are in SEO?
There are typically four pillars in SEO. These are On-Page SEO, Off-Page SEO, Technical SEO, and Content Optimization. They are the most important types of SEO.
How many types of website SEO are there?
There are 12 major types of website SEO, including On-Page, Off-Page, Technical, Local, E-Commerce, Video, Image, International, Voice, YouTube, Social, and Content SEO. All websites can be optimized with SEO, hence there is an infinite number of specializations.
