There are three different types of SEO, which stands for search engine optimization. They are:
- On-Page SEO
- Off-Page SEO
- Technical SEO
1. On-Page SEO
On-page SEO focuses on the actual content on your website. All on-page SEO revolves around keywords. The first phase is conducting keyword research. This research allows you to identify both high-competition and low-competition keywords that are relevant to your business. High-competition keywords are usually between 1 and 3 words. “SEO company” would be a high-competition keyword.
Low-competition keywords are long-tail keywords, which means they are more than 4 words. These keywords are often full questions and sometimes location-based. SEO company in Irvine is a good example, as it also contains the high-competition keyword.
An editorial calendar is created from this research. Each piece of content has a primary keyword to target, as well as a list of secondary keywords that relate to the primary keyword. Make sure the headings and subheadings contain these keywords.
The final stage of on-page SEO is where you add internal links to related content, as well as external links to authoritative sources when appropriate. Optimize the meta data. The meta description is the section that shows below the link on a search engine results page. Finally, this last stage of on-page SEO requires you to make sure the alt tags of all images and videos are optimized.
Once on-page SEO is done, the off-page SEO begins.
2. Off-Page SEO
Off-page SEO encompasses all of the SEO techniques to amplify content that occur “off” of your website. The primary focus on off-page SEO is to get other websites to link to your website, which is known in the SEO industry as building a backlink profile.
Say you are a digital marketing agency. If a high-authority SEO website like Moz links to one of your articles on SEO, it’s worth more than hundreds of links from your colleague’s new blog on the life of a digital marketer. There are a couple of ways to get links to your content. The first is to ask webmasters in your niche, who aren’t competitors if they would add one of your links to an existing piece of content.
The second is to contact the editors of blogs and online publications within your niche and inquire about guest posting opportunities. Guest posting gets an article published on someone else’s website with a link back to a page on your website. This page is usually a “money” page where you directly sell your products or services, but it could also link to one of your highest-performing pieces of content.
Social media activity also falls under off-page SEO. Not all social media posts include links. It is important to be active on the platforms your target audience frequents, but these posts can’t just be pushing your content. You have to build relationships with people in your target audience, and it takes consistent effort. You also want to build relationships with influencers in your niche who have a strong community. Getting these people to want to share your content is the true goal of off-page SEO.
3. Technical SEO
Technical SEO includes all of the behind-the-scenes SEO techniques for your website. Website design plays a key role in many of the technical SEO ranking factors. An over-designed website with tons of graphics and fancy flash features is terrible for trying to rank because it slows the site down and makes it hard to navigate. Site speed and ease of navigation, for both people and search bots, are two big technical SEO ranking factors.
Mobile responsiveness is another big ranking factor. How does your site look on mobile? Technical SEO makes sure your site looks good on all devices. We’ll talk in a bit about the different SEO tools used for each SEO type, but first, let’s look at some different types of SEO content to create during the on-stage optimization phase of your SEO strategy.
5 Different Types of SEO Content
There are several different types of SEO content digital marketing strategists use as a part of their content marketing strategies.
1. Static Page Copy
Static page copy includes pages like the about us page, contact page, or any sales page for your website. These pages focus on long-tail keywords used by potential customers who are towards the bottom of the sales funnel. These words can also be location-based, such as the SEO company in Irvine example we discussed above.
2. Blog Posts
Blog posts are a key component of a successful SEO strategy. Good blog posts are about evergreen topics, which means the topic isn’t going to get outdated. Blog posts are better than articles published traditionally. It’s because they can be updated to keep them fresh.
Good digital marketers use a consistent stream of blog posts to educate their target audience on topics related to their product or service. Each post should help answer a question or solve a problem for the reader.
3. Long-form Guides and Case Studies
Depending on your industry, long-form guides that explain every detail of a certain process can be a huge driver of traffic. These in-depth guides usually contain case studies to back up the suggested strategies. A case study requires extensive research, but when done right, it goes a long way towards establishing yourself as an authority in your niche. The best part is the Internet makes data collection possible for anyone.
4. Infographics
Infographics are one of the best ways to use the data collected in a case study. These graphics display data in visually-appealing ways, which makes them perfect for sharing on social media. Infographics are also good to include in blog posts as a visual aid to help people digest the covered concepts.
5. Short Videos
YouTube generates the second-most search traffic behind Google, and they aren’t even technically a search engine. Creating short videos and hosting them on YouTube can be an excellent source of traffic to your site.
Creating a video is the most difficult of the different types of SEO content to do well on your own. Many people forget how to be themselves in front of the camera. The key is to plan out each video around a certain topic, and then make sure your keywords are peppered throughout the title and description.
Now let’s cover some of the advanced SEO techniques used by the pros.
Advanced SEO Techniques Used by the Pros
SEO professionals use several advanced SEO techniques when building and executing a holistic SEO strategy. For technical SEO, pros use tools like Screaming Frog to help them quickly identify any site structure issues that may be hurting their client in the rankings.
This includes things like making sure there are no duplicate or messing meta tags or meta descriptions, as well as ensuring there are no broken links or redirects. A good SEO professional conducts a technical SEO audit at least every 30 days.
Another advanced SEO technique is the use of keyword research tools like Moz keyword planner to discover what their target audience really needs to know. SEO professionals use these tools to build a targeted keyword list, which is then used to build an editorial calendar. They focus on question-based long-tail keywords, which includes working in location-based keywords. A smart SEO professional makes sure to work in local on-page optimization into their on-page SEO strategy.
Link building is what really separates beginner SEO from advanced SEO. Advanced link building techniques involve using tools like Ahrefs and Semrush to identify link opportunities. The pros know how to analyze all the data gathered by these different SEO tools and determine which ones offer the most “link juice”. They then use expert email writing skills to cold contact webmasters and editors to convince them why including a link to their client would benefit them.
All of this talk about what a professional SEO does can be overwhelming. You probably feel like it’s something you couldn’t do on your own without sacrificing somewhere else in your business. Now that you’re familiar with the different types of SEO, you can properly vet an SEO company before you bring them on board. Schedule a consultation with Titanium Marketing to see if we’re the right SEO company for you.