What is SEO?

It helps your website to get a better position in search engine results. There are four types of SEO that you should know about.

If you are new to SEO, you can begin with our beginner's guide called "What is SEO marketing for beginners?" 

Before you begin improving your website, it is critical to know the different types of SEO that can benefit your business. This involves both effective and ineffective methods. By understanding these various strategies, you can design a campaign that achieves better organic results for your business. Let us get started!

4 Main Types of SEO 

When creating your SEO strategy, it is critical to know the various types of SEO available for your business. Make sure to pick the one that can deliver the best outcomes. Below are the four main types of SEO techniques you'll encounter: 

White Hat SEO: 

Using White Hat SEO techniques is the most effective way to improve search engine of your website ranking over time. These are the strategies recommended by Google to help your site perform better in search results. They follow guidelines of Google and bring positive results for your business.

Here are some of these techniques:

• Creating high-quality content:

Craft valuable content that attracts interested visitors to your site. This includes various types of industry-related content such as blogs, ebooks, videos, and infographics.

• Optimizing HTML:

Improve performance of your site by cleaning up its code, removing unnecessary text, and reducing clutter.

• Sharing on social media:

Utilize social media platforms to drive traffic to your site, boost engagement, and generate leads.

• Making your site user-friendly: Ensure your website is easy to navigate, visually appealing, and engaging with the use of photos and videos.

It is important to note that white hat SEO techniques require patience as they take time to show results. But the results are worth it, as they lead to lasting growth and improved search rankings. 

You can determine if you are correctly implementing white hat SEO by observing how your site's ranking responds to Google's algorithm updates. If your rankings fluctuate, it does not necessarily mean you are doing something wrong. It may indicate that you are using white hat techniques correctly and may need to make some adjustments to adapt to the changes.

With a bit of time and effort, you can easily get your site back on track. White hat SEO techniques are the best approach for long-term improvements in search ranking of your site.

Black Hat SEO:

Black hat SEO techniques are tricks used to exploit search algorithms for achieving higher rankings in search engine results.

Some businesses opt for black hat SEO because it offers quick results without much effort. However, the downside is that using such tactics ultimately harms their businesses in the long term.

Several tactics fall under black hat SEO, including link spamming, keyword stuffing, covering, hidden text or links, using irrelevant but popular keywords, over-optimizing HTML headings, and copying content. Another common black hat practice is buying links.

While these tactics may temporarily improve a website's ranking, they are not sustainable. Search engines like Google quickly catch on to these unethical methods, and if your site is discovered using black hat techniques, it will face severe consequences.

Search engines will penalize your business, and in some cases, your website might be banned from appearing in relevant search results. Google's priority is to provide users with relevant and reliable search results, so they take strict actions against those who try to take shortcuts to reach the top of the rankings.

Gray Hat SEO:

 Gray hat SEO falls in between white hat SEO and black hat SEO. It is not completely good for your website, but it is not explicitly marked as bad either, hence the "gray" area.

These techniques are not officially prohibited by Google, but they are not considered ethical or acceptable for obtaining leads. Gray hat SEO techniques are risky, yet they are often advertised as an affordable solution. Companies offering gray hat SEO reduce their costs by resorting to questionable methods.

• Clickbait articles: Creating sensationalized or misleading articles to attract more clicks.

• Spun content: Generating multiple versions of the same content with minor changes to avoid duplication detection. 

• Link exchanges: Trading links with other websites to manipulate search engine rankings. 

• Paid reviews: Providing compensation for positive reviews to boost credibility. Businesses may use these tactics to try and improve their website's search ranking. However, relying on gray hat SEO can lead to negative consequences that could harm your business instead of helping it grow.

Negative SEO:

Negative SEO is a tricky situation that can affect your business. Unlike your own actions, it is done by someone else, typically a competitor. The goal of negative SEO is to damage the reputation and ranking of rival businesses. This is achieved through unethical methods, like using shady and malicious techniques.

 Some of the common negative SEO strategies include:

• Posting negative reviews about the competitor's business. 

• Hacking websites and changing their content to harm their reputation. 

• Intentionally trying to decrease a competitor's search engine ranking to improve their own. 

Dealing with negative SEO is challenging because you have little control over what other companies do to harm your site. It is essential to monitor your SEO regularly and look out for any unusual or sudden changes in your website's activity or performance.

In summary, negative SEO is when someone tries to harm their competitors through deceitful tactics, and it is crucial to be vigilant while running your SEO campaign.

4 Types of SEO: 

SEO is a big deal in digital marketing, and it involves lots of different strategies. Now, let us explore a few of these SEO strategies.

ON Page SEO

On-page SEO is the primary aspect of SEO, and it involves creating excellent content to boost visibility of your website on search engines like Google. To achieve this, you need to focus on producing high-quality blog posts that position your brand as a leader in your industry.

Search engine algorithms have become more advanced, and Google now recognizes valuable content much better with each update. The days of using deceptive techniques to trick search engines (black hat SEO) are over. To appear in search results, it's crucial to practice ethical SEO methods (white hat SEO).

So, what makes content high quality? Well, if your content: 

• Revolves around one specific keyword or theme,

• Educates or entertains your readers, or both,

• Provides credibility through original research and citations, 

• Offers new insights rather than just repeating information, 

Furthermore, high-quality content is easy to read, which means it should have proper grammar, short sentences, numbered lists, headers that are easy to scan, and credible outbound links.

Regarding keywords, you should include your primary keyword and related keywords in several important places within your content:

• Title tag, 

• Slug (URL),

• Meta description,

• Headers, and 

• Body of the content. 

It is essential to incorporate these keywords naturally and seamlessly. If your content is well-focused and of high quality, the inclusion of keywords should happen organically. However, before publishing your content, make sure to review and optimize these elements to ensure the best results in search engine rankings. 

OFF Page SEO:

Talking highly about your own content may not be enough to gain trust from consumers. Studies show that a vast majority of people (82%) rely on reviews from others, while only a small percentage (4%) trust advertisements. Credibility is the key here. 

When search engines evaluate your content, they look for signals that show others have found it useful. One such signal is backlinks, which are links to your content from external websites. This is where off-page SEO comes into play, and the foundation of it is creating linkable content.

Now, you might wonder what sets high-quality content apart from linkable content. If your content already meets the quality standards we discussed earlier, that is a good start. However, to climb higher in search engine results (SERP), you need to go beyond merely being good.

Linkable SEO content is specially designed to grab attention and, as you guessed, earn backlinks. It can include elements like data-focused information, quotes from industry experts, engaging media such as podcasts or videos, and more.

Once you have created your top-notch, linkable content, your job is not done yet. While your content may naturally attract some backlinks due to its greatness, you should actively work to secure as many backlinks as possible to get the most out of your hard work.

Building backlinks involves more than just having excellent SEO content. You should target highly regarded and popular websites in your industry. Identify the people responsible for their content and reach out to them via email. Politely ask them to consider linking to your content, providing a summary of your content's benefits for their readers and suggesting where the link could go. Be specific, including the preferred anchor text (the text that contains the link to your content). 

Technical SEO

Technical SEO is another crucial aspect of SEO, right after keyword optimization. It involves ensuring that your website meets the modern technical standards to get the most out of your content. To do this, you need to optimize various elements such as:

• Site structure, 

• URL structure,

• Loading speed, 

• Security, and

• Mobile performance. 

These components are vital because they directly affect how accessible and user-friendly your website is, which is essential for search engine algorithms. Even if your content is filled with valuable insights, if your website takes too long to load (like 90 seconds), most users will leave before exploring it. 

To make sure your website is in top shape for SEO, run an SEO analysis and follow the best practices of web design. Keep your topics and target audience clear, and try to simplify your site structure as much as possible, focusing on the most important elements. This way, you can enhance your website's performance and improve the overall user experience. 

Local SEO 

The fourth type of SEO is called local SEO. This type of SEO is not relevant to all businesses, but it can greatly benefit small businesses or any business that serves customers in a specific geographic location. The key factors that matter in local SEO are how close your business is to the customer, how relevant your business is to their search, and how prominent or well-known your business is in the local area.

Improving the first three types of SEO (mentioned earlier) will also have a positive impact on your local SEO results. To do well in local SEO, you should pay attention to these specific areas:

• Creating high-quality content that includes local keywords: Use words and phrases that are relevant to your local audience in your website content. 

• Having active social media accounts: Engage with your local customers through social media platforms to boost your online presence in your area. 

• Optimizing your website for mobile: Ensure your website is easy to use and navigate on mobile devices, as many local searches are done on smartphones. 

By focusing on local SEO, you can reduce your content marketing expenses since you will be targeting specific geographic regions where your potential customers are located. This way, you can reach the right audience without spending resources on broader marketing efforts.