A Quick Guide to Understanding the Types Of SEO Techniques 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) means improving your website visibility by ranking better for relevant keywords or phrases in your industry. Tapping into the power of SEO is more like a rite of passage for every business gunning for better search rankings and traffic. 

Do you want to take your SEO game to the next level? With the right strategy, you can harness SEO to establish your site’s value and enhance growth. But first, you must understand the types of SEO techniques and how they cumulatively contribute to achieving authoritative results. 

In this guide, we’ll provide a clear and structured list of SEO techniques to get you on Google’s first page. 

Different Types Of SEO Techniques

Here are the 12 types of SEO techniques to fuel the game-changing optimization your website needs. 

On-Page SEO

This SEO simply means the conscious efforts you put into optimizing your website for a target keyword. On-page SEO includes optimizing your content by using specific keywords, structuring URLs, or adding meta tags. The long list of On-page SEO practices also covers optimizing images and including keywords in your HTML tag. 

This SEO technique is fundamental to growing your website’s traffic immensely. 

Some of the basic practices for on-page are

• Optimizing content.
• Utilizing keywords.
• Structuring URLs.
• Internal linking.

Off-Page SEO

As you may have guessed, off-page SEO is the opposite of on-page SEO. It means driving more traffic to your website through off-page activities. In other words, you can optimize your website through external actions. 

Typical off-page SEO practices are:

• Building backlinks: This means getting inbound links from reputable or authoritative websites within your field or domain. It establishes your site’s value with Google. Note that this works better when you get backlinks from highly authoritative and credible websites.
• Creating social media profiles: You can start a buzz on social media (Twitter, Instagram, etc.) to lead people straight to your content. 
• Utilizing influencer outreach: Influencers Increase brand awareness and boost your engagement.

Technical SEO

Technical SEO, as the name suggests, deals with the more technical side of SEO. It means technically optimizing your website to help Google bots crawl, interpret and index your page. 

This type of SEO focus on enhancing your site’s functionality and performance. For instance, Google bots prioritize websites that are easy to crawl, have impressive mobile responsiveness, and generally have a responsive design. 

Some technical SEO elements are:

• Managing website speed
• Implementing mobile optimization
• Creating an XML sitemap
• Setting up webmaster tools

Local SEO

Do you need to target audiences in a specific location? This SEO technique is critical to achieving that. As a local business, local SEO enables you to focus on local customers or audiences. 

A helpful practice of this technique is adding a city or location to your content as naturally as possible. Include it in your keywords, titles, and content to rank high on the local map pack and general SERPs. 

Besides, the better you present your services to local clients, the more referrals you’ll get! 

The elements embedded in this type of SEO are:

• Optimizing for local searches
• Optimizing for voice searches
• Creating location-specific content
• Targeting local keywords

White-Hat SEO

The adage: slow and steady winning the race, applies to this technique. Although it takes time, white-hat SEO works wonders when done effectively. 

It simply means optimizing your SEO in a way that Google authorizes. More like going the legal way– and following all search engine guidelines. 

The great thing about indulging in this type of SEO is its sustainability. Although it takes time to see the actual results, it’s pretty rewarding. Besides, you’d have a lower risk of getting banned or dropping down the SERPs due to algorithm tweaks. 

Best practices are:

• Crafting high-quality content 
• Getting backlinks by providing value 
• Keyword research and use. 
• On-page SEO.

Black-Hat SEO

This type of SEO represents the bad kid down the block that your parents don’t approve of. Black-hat SEO technique exploits the loopholes in Google’s search algorithm to boost website visibility. 

As with other illegal practices, black-hat SEO offers quick but unsustainable results. Asides from sustainability, your site will be at high risk of getting banned or blacklisted by Google. Therefore, it’s advisable to avoid black-hat SEO.

Back-hat SEO elements may include:

• Keyword stuffing: Keyword stuffing is a practice that should be avoided at all costs. It involves cramming your content with as many keywords as possible, regardless of the context or relevance to the topic 
• Paid or spammy link building: This simply means using shady tactics like link buying to get backlinks. 
• Cloaking: Cloaking is creating two versions of web pages: one optimized for humans and another optimized for search engines. The aim is to present different content or URLs to human users and search engines.

Grey-hat SEO

Evidently, this is the interception between white-hat and black-hat SEO. Although it’s still an unhanded SEO technique, it doesn’t contradict Google guidelines. And It doesn’t entirely abide by it as well. 

Grey-hat offers quick results without flouting any rules. Some experts call it fair play or a smart SEO move. 

We won’t admit or dissuade that, but Grey-hat is what it is: Grey/ill-defined. Although this tactic isn’t structured, an example may include click-baiting. 

International SEO

International SEO is optimizing your website to rank higher in search engine results for users from different regions or countries. 

While using this technique, you must cater to your audience based on their language and currency. Your target audience should also be able to interact with your website easily. 

Communicate in their language when necessary, and list dates and time in a location-centric format.

Exploring this SEO technique entails providing an excellent user experience on your website regardless of the audience’s location.

Mobile SEO

Mobile SEO is now a priority while ranking sites. What is mobile SEO? It’s optimizing your website for a pleasantly structured view on the desktop and mobile devices. 

You can make or mar a potential customer’s user experience with mobile SEO. As a result, ensure your website is easily navigable and fast on mobile devices to reach customers on the go. 

E-commerce SEO

E-commerce SEO is an integral part of any online business. It makes your website or online store rank high in SERPs to reach more customers and amplify sales. 

To effectively utilize this SEO technique, your website architecture and homepage SEO must be exceptional. 

E-commerce SEO guarantees that your business page will pop up when a target audience searches for your product. 

Negative SEO

Of all the SEO techniques, Negative SEO is aberrant and unscrupulous. It’s the process of crippling a competitor’s ranking factors to improve yours. 

For instance, hacking into a competitor’s website to create several lackluster or suspicious links or paying to publish terrible reviews about them online. 

Negative SEO can lead to legal consequences. 

Conclusions

SEO spurs a website’s success and growth. It boosts your site in search engine rankings, drive more traffic and improve user experience. 

To ensure you get the most out of SEO, focus on one or more of these types of SEO techniques.

Each website is peculiar. Consequently, you have to research which SEO tactics would align with your goals and work better for your audience. 

We hope you found this helpful!