Search engine optimization is an important part of online marketing that aims to make a website show up better in search engine results. In a world where many websites try to get noticed, good SEO techniques are important for businesses to be seen and bring in visitors naturally.
SEO includes different methods and practices that help improve the amount and quality of visitors to a website. As search engines keep evolving, it’s important for businesses and marketers to know the different types of SEO services to improve their online visibility.
Each type has a special job and focuses on different parts of how search engines rank pages. By using the right SEO techniques, businesses can improve their rankings and build strong relationships with their customers. In this post, we will cover the types of SEO services you can find today.
On-Page SEO
This is the process of improving each page on your website to help it show up higher in Google search results and attract more visitors for free. Unlike off-page or technical SEO, on-page optimization happens one page at a time, rather than affecting the whole site.
On-page optimization helps search engines and users understand what your content is about and how it relates to a particular search. Think of on-page as making sure everything on your website is good for SEO.
It’s the last step your articles need to go through before they are published, like making sure everything is correct. What does on-page SEO improve?
Content: Is the content what the searcher is looking for?
Keywords: Do the keywords on the page cover the topic thoroughly?
Title tags: Does the title of the page have important words and make people want to click?
Meta descriptions: Does the description have a clear call to action and include important keywords?
Robots tags: Can search engines find this page?
Images: Do the pictures load fast and have captions, titles, and descriptions?
Internal links: Does the article include links to other useful resources and content on your website?
External links: Does the article provide links to other important and trustworthy websites?
URL: Is the URL easy to read, short, and does it explain what the page is about?
Heading tags: Is the article arranged in a clear order with main headings and subheadings from top to bottom?
Off-Page SEO
Off-page SEO, also known as off-site optimization, means the actions you take outside your own website to gain trust, credibility, and authority. Using these methods together helps boost your search rankings.
Google’s search engine looks for two main things when deciding how to rank websites.
First, how related is the information on your website to what someone searched for on Google. In other words, does your page meet what the searcher is looking for?
That’s the purpose of on-page SEO. Second, if Google wanted to know how trustworthy you are in your field, who could support your credibility? That’s the role of off-page factors.
What is included in off-page SEO?
Marketers often group everything, like social media marketing, influencer marketing, and podcasting, together with off-page SEO. It doesn’t really matter what you think off-page SEO is, as long as it affects one of these three things:
Backlinks: Are there trustworthy and respected websites that link back to your website?
Brand signals: Do respected and trusted websites talk about you in their content, even if they don’t link to your site directly?
Vertical search rankings: What other search engines or websites such as Yelp, Capterra, G2, HealthGrades rank your content highly?
Link Audit
A link audit checks how good your links are, both in quality and number of other websites linking to you, and finds chances for improvement. Most link building services provide a link audit as part of their services, but it’s also common to get just a link building audit. During a link audit, you can expect these things:
- A clear list of your backlinks, including the websites that link to you, their authority scores, and the text used in those links
- Careful examination of links, both positive and negative
- Suggestions for fixing links
- Suggestions for link opportunities
- List of links to remove from Google, like spam links that might be harming you
- Backlink report
It’s pretty easy to audit backlinks using tools like Ahrefs or Semrush. Both of these tools have a feature for auditing backlinks.
Link Building
Link building is any method used to get more and better links to your website. There are three types of link building:
White hat link building: It means getting links to your website in a natural way by making great content and waiting for others to notice it and link to you.
Black hat link building: It means paying for links from websites that are set up just to sell links, in order to improve your website’s ranking on search engines. This goes against Google’s rules.
Gray hat link building: It is a mix of good and bad practices. It often involves things like writing guest blog posts, reaching out to others, fixing broken links, and marketing content, or any other ways to build links that aren’t considered cheating.
Google says that trying to get backlinks is against their rules, so don’t bother with white hat link building because it isn’t real. When it comes to black hat backlink services, like paying for links, it’s best to avoid them. It doesn’t last very long. For gray hat link building, a usual service includes these things:
- Guest blogging on vetted publishers
- Manual outreach
- Creating linkable assets and promoting them
- Competitor link building
- Broken link building
- Link reclamation
- Unlinked mentions
Linkable Asset Creation
When you make something really valuable, people will want to share it and link to it when you show it to the right audience. Creating useful resources is how you can help your blog to get more visitors each month from search engines.
The idea is easy to understand, but hard to do. An agency helps you create something valuable online. They promote it to the right people, share it on different platforms, and contact others who might link back to it.
Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is one of the first and best ways to get links to your website. It is when you write an article for a well-known website and try to get a link back to your own site. Most guest blogging services have a group of writers and publishers.
They plan, write, and publish the guest post for your company. Sometimes, a guest blogging service may ask you to write the article first, and then they will publish it later either on their site or another one.
Guest blogging was very popular in the early 2010s. But just like with everything else, marketers mess things up. It’s still a good method today, but Google has tightened rules on backlinks from guest posts.
For a guest post backlink to be effective, it should come from a trustworthy website, be included in the main part of the article (not just in the author’s bio), and preferably bring focused visitors to your website.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is the way of creating, sharing, and spreading good content for a specific group of people using different online platforms like websites, social media, and email.
Content marketing is like making something valuable that people want to share. But instead of just doing it once, it is an ongoing effort. This is why it’s the best way to build links right now.
Without regular good content, what will influencers, experts, publishers, and businesses share? Content marketing services can involve these things:
- Content marketing audit
- Content creation
- Persona development
- Content promotion
- Email marketing
- Series development
- Social media marketing
- Content distribution
- Reporting
Also Read: Discover the Five Essential SEO Components Every Strategist Must Implement
Technical SEO
Technical SEO means improving the way your website works so that search engines can easily find, understand, and show your site. It also makes sure that people visiting the website have a good experience.
Why is technical SEO important? Because if Google can’t access and understand your website easily, it doesn’t matter how good your content is; your site won’t show up in search results. As the name says, technical SEO needs real skills and knowledge. It includes the following things:
Crawling and indexation: Can search engines discover, reach, and rate your content?
Website speed: Does your website open in 1-2 seconds?
Website layout and organization: Can Google and visitors easily find what they need?
Mobile friendliness: Is using your website on a phone as good or better than using it on a computer?
Duplicate content: Is there any duplicate content on your site, whether it was done by mistake or on purpose, that is affecting your search rankings?
XML sitemaps: Do you give search engines another way to find your pages?
URL structure: Can search engines and users easily see which page they are on your website by looking at the URL?
HTTPS security: Is the information protected when people share it on your website?
Core Web Vitals: Do you do well on Google’s test that checks how interactive, stable, and fast your website is?
Structured data: Are you using structured data to help search engines understand your content better?
Local SEO
Local SEO is a part of SEO that involves specific tasks for businesses in a particular area.
The aim of local SEO is to help businesses show up higher in search results for local searches. All local businesses should work on on-page, off-page, and technical SEO to improve their ranking in local search results.
Additionally, local SEO needs to focus on two more areas: the Local Pack and Maps. The Local Pack, also known as the “Snack Pack,” shows three businesses when you look for a local company.
Map results are the search results shown in Google Maps. Getting a good ranking in Maps and Local Pack needs more than just focusing on website content, links from other sites, or technical setups. It needs:
Google My Business (GMB): A GMB page is a business profile that appears in local search results and on maps. You can’t rank in maps without this.
Citations: A citation is when your name, address, and phone number are listed on the internet, usually in online business directories like Yelp, Healthgrades, or Yellow Pages. To rank well in local searches, you need citations, and they must be the same everywhere.
Reviews: These are feedback from your customers that they have shared on websites like Google, Bing, Facebook, or the Better Business Bureau.
Local businesses find it much more difficult to improve their online visibility. They should look at the SEO strategies listed below if they want to show up in the Local Pack results.
Citation Building
Even though citations aren’t as popular or important as they used to be, having consistent information everywhere on the internet makes it easier for customers and search engines to find you. Just like backlinks, citations show Google that a site is trusted.
The more correct and steady your information looks online, the more Google believes in you. It helps make business profiles that include your business name, address, phone number, and website link. There are two types of citation services:
Automated citation: Yext works with many big business listings, so you can update your Name, Address, and Phone number in all of them at the same time using the Yext dashboard. Cost: About $500 a year.
Manual citation: Businesses such as WhiteSpark and BrightLocal make many listings manually in important business directories, and they charge a fee for each listing.
Collecting Reviews
Not long ago, companies that helped get reviews mostly gave businesses cards to ask customers to write reviews on sites like Yelp, Google, or Facebook. Luckily, the review industry has changed really fast in the past ten years.
Today, most services that help you get reviews are run by affordable software you can pay for each month. For instance, here are some of our favorite review tools:
BirdEye
Birdeye is a tool that helps businesses manage their reputation and how they interact with customers online. It’s designed to make their online presence better. It helps companies gather and manage reviews from different places, making it simpler to reply to customer comments right away.
Birdeye has tools for getting reviews, analyzing customer feelings, and comparing businesses. This helps companies see how they are doing compared to their competitors. The platform also offers tools for customer surveys and messaging, allowing direct talk with customers.
By making these steps easier, Birdeye helps businesses keep customers happy, gain trust, and attract more visitors with good online reviews. It is an important tool for any business that wants to improve how customers feel about their experience and make their brand more trustworthy.
SignPost
Signpost is a tool that helps small businesses connect with customers and automatically manage their online reputation. Signpost makes it easier for businesses to ask customers for reviews after they make a purchase.
The platform connects with different review websites, so businesses can see and reply to reviews all in one place. It provides tools for marketing that help create personalized emails and schedule social media posts. This helps businesses connect better with their clients and keep them coming back.
Its analysis tools show what customers think and how they behave, helping businesses make better choices. Signpost helps small businesses build a better reputation, keep customers coming back, and grow by using smart online methods to connect with people.
GatherUp
GatherUp is a tool that helps businesses improve how they are seen online and build loyalty with their customers. The tool helps businesses gather and manage customer reviews from different places, making it easier to handle feedback.
GatherUp helps businesses understand how customers feel and what they think by offering things like review requests, customer surveys, and sentiment analysis. The platform offers easy marketing tools that let you connect with customers through email and text messages.
This helps encourage them to come back and recommend your business to others. Also, it gives you reports and data to see how things are going and find areas that need improvement. It helps businesses create a good online reputation, make customers happier, and grow by using smart ways to connect with people.
Soci
Soci is a helpful tool for managing social media and improving a business’s reputation online. It makes it easier for businesses to keep track of their presence on different social media platforms. The tool helps organizations control many social media accounts from one place.
It makes it easy to schedule posts, share content, and interact with followers. Soci helps businesses keep track of their reputation by letting them see and reply to customer reviews and feedback as they happen. With tools for looking at data and reports, users can understand how well their social media is doing and what customers think.
Soci’s local marketing tools help businesses keep their brand voice the same while focusing on specific areas. It is a useful tool for businesses that want to boost their social media plans and build a better online reputation.
Google My Business Optimization
The final local search service, and very important, is creating, verifying, and improving your Google My Business (GMB) listing. You need a GMB page to show up in Local Pack results.
Google My Business page allows businesses to share their address, phone number, website, and hours of operation, so customers can find them easily. GMB optimization services include these things:
- Listing audit
- Profile creation and optimization
- GMB verification
- Photo uploads
- Category selection
- Local citations
- Posts to your profile
- Reviews
Foundational SEO
Foundational SEO services include strategies that you can mostly carry out in one main project and then check on from time to time. For example, keyword research, on-page optimization, and technical SEO need ongoing attention, but most of the work can be done all at once.
Keyword Research
SEO keyword research means looking for and studying the words and phrases that people use when searching for the products or services you provide. This helps you improve your visibility on search engines. It’s the first step in creating an SEO plan. It looks into:
- Keyword difficulty
- Keyword search intent
- Keyword search volume
- Competitor keyword rankings
- Content requirements
- Estimated value of a keyword ranking
- Manual SERP analysis
- Seed, long-tail, and semantic keywords
Keyword research helps you find many keyword ideas and shows you what you need to do to rank well for each one. The most important thing is that it helps you find keywords that can help you rank better.
An SEO company may offer keyword research as part of their other services like improving website pages or creating content. You can also choose to get just keyword research separately if you prefer.
Technical SEO Audit
A technical SEO audit is like a diagnostic tool that a car mechanic uses. It finds out what problems you have with your website’s technical setup so you can correct them.
Just like a car mechanic needs to find out why your car is leaking oil before fixing it, a technical SEO expert needs to understand what’s wrong with your website before they can fix it. It consists of several checks, such as:
- Website layout
- Page speed
- User experience
- Duplicate content
- Crawlability
- Security
- Mobile-friendliness
- Core Web Vitals
- Pop-up ads
- Structured data
- Google Search Console
- Multiple languages label
Since businesses usually don’t need to check technical SEO every day (unless they are a large online store with many pages), they often hire an SEO expert to handle it.
As part of the service, the consultant or agency will either do a one-time check of the website’s technical SEO or they will fix the problems they find during the check.
On-Page Setup
As we said, you should do on-page SEO every time you post a new article or webpage. In many situations, especially for SEO services, on-page optimization is usually a one-time project.
It involves using keyword research to improve an entire website all at once, page by page. On-page SEO services usually involve these things:
- Website audit
- Meta tags optimization
- Keyword research
- Internal linking
- Header tags optimization
- Linking between pages on the same website.
- Content development and optimization
- Keyword optimization
Competitor Analysis
Usually, competitor analysis happens when building links (looking at competitors’ backlinks). It’s common for an SEO agency to offer competitor analysis as a service just once. Here’s what a usual competitor analysis report has:
- Competitor research
- Competitor backlink analysis
- Competitor SEO performance analysis
- Competitor benchmarking
Website Blog Content
72% of people who do online marketing say that creating content is their best way to improve search engine rankings. On average, companies that have a blog get a 67% increase in leads each month than the ones that don’t.
It makes sense because if there isn’t good content, Google won’t have anything to show at all. When you write a blog for SEO, it typically involves:
- Content strategy
- On-page optimization
- Writing, editing, and posting
- Social media publication
- Old blog posts updation
Most of the time, off-page just means building links. It’s not surprising that the most common off-page SEO services are various types of link building.
Barnacle SEO
Have you ever tried to get a high-ranking keyword, only to find that the top three spots on Google are taken by a vertical search engine or a review website? You can try to do better than them. If you don’t think you can win against them, you can team up with them.
How? By improving your business information on their site. We call it barnacle SEO: it’s when you connect your website to a larger website that shows up well in search results for a keyword that your site can’t rank for alone.
When it comes to barnacle SEO (vertical search optimization) as a service, the strategies mainly focus on getting reviews for certain review websites. This is important because those websites often take the top positions in search results.
- Customer feedback strategy
- Review acquisition strategy
- Review gates
- Email marketing
- Link building
Also Read: Barnacle SEO: Symbiotic Strategies for Traffic Growth
YouTube SEO
YouTube SEO means improving your videos so they show up better in search results and recommendations. Just like regular SEO, it includes things like finding the right keywords, improving videos, connecting with the audience, and using data to see how things are doing. Let us look at some of the important strategies.
Keyword Research
The basics of YouTube SEO start with careful keyword research. Finding the right keywords helps you see what your audience is looking for. Tools like Google Trends, YouTube search suggestions, and keyword research tools like TubeBuddy or VidIQ can help you find out what popular topics people are searching for related to your content.
Video Title and Description
Your video title is very important for getting seen online. Make sure it contains your main keyword and is still interesting and detailed. A good title not only helps your video show up higher in search results but also makes people want to click on it. Try to find a mix between being clear and interesting.
The video description gives more details and explains what your video is about. Begin with interesting opening sentences that use your main keywords, since this text shows up in search results. Please write a description that has at least 250 words. You can add links to related topics, your social media, and a message asking viewers to subscribe or leave a comment.
Thumbnails and Engagement
A good-looking thumbnail can greatly increase the number of people who click on your link. Make unique pictures for your videos that look nice, match what your video is about, and have text on them to share the video’s message. Thumbnails should match your brand so that your channel looks uniform.
Engagement metrics like likes, comments, shares, and how long people watch videos are very important for how YouTube ranks videos. Ask your viewers to join the conversation by asking questions, telling them to leave comments, or inviting them to take part in polls. The more your audience pays attention, the more YouTube will share your videos.
Social SEO
Social SEO, or social media optimization, means using different methods to help people see your brand more on social media and also to improve how well your website shows up in search results.
As search engines are starting to use social media activity in their ranking systems, it’s important for businesses and marketers to understand how social media and SEO work together.
When people share, like, and comment on your content on social media sites, it shows search engines that your brand is trustworthy and important. This will greatly help in improving your search engine rankings.
Optimize Social Media Profiles
Make sure your profile information, like your bio and descriptions, is short and includes important keywords that match your brand and industry. Choose a clear profile picture and a nice cover photo that matches your brand.
Add links to your website and other related sites so that people can easily learn more about your brand. Using the same images, messages, and style everywhere will help people recognize and trust your brand, which will make you more visible online.
Make Shareable Content
To make your content easy to share, try to provide helpful information. You can do this with informative blog posts, interesting videos, or eye-catching infographics. Know the likes and dislikes of your audience and create content that matches their interests, making it easy to connect with them.
Use storytelling methods to connect with users on an emotional level, so they will want to share your content with others. Also, include important words in a natural way to make it easier to find. The more people share your content, the more people will see it.
Use Hashtags Smartly
Find popular hashtags related to your topic to help you reach more people. Use a mix of specific and popular hashtags to help more people find your posts. Don’t use too many hashtags. Instead, pick a few good ones that really match what you want to say.
For example, on Instagram, using a mix of popular and specific hashtags can help you get noticed by people who really like what you share. Using the right hashtags will help more people find your posts and get more likes and comments, which brings more visitors to your profile.
Organic SEO
Organic SEO is the practice of making a website better so that it appears higher in search engine results without paying for ads. Unlike paid ads, organic SEO uses techniques to improve a website’s importance and trust over time, which helps attract more visitors consistently.
Important parts of organic SEO are finding the right keywords, improving website pages, creating good content, and getting links from other sites. Good keyword research finds the words and phrases that potential customers are looking for.
This helps businesses create content that matches what those customers want. On-page optimization helps improve different parts of a webpage, like the title, descriptions, headings, and links within the page, to make it better for visitors and easier for search engines to crawl.
Good content is important for organic SEO. When you provide helpful, interesting, and engaging information, people are more likely to stay on your site longer. This also makes it more likely that other trustworthy websites will link to yours.
Link-building involves getting links from other good websites, which helps increase a site’s trust and reputation. Organic SEO is a strategy that takes time to work. It helps build trust with both people and search engines. This leads to steady website visits, better search rankings, and a strong online presence without having to keep spending money on ads.
User Experience SEO
User experience SEO (UX SEO) is about making a website easier to use and more pleasant to look at. This helps people have a better time on the site and can also help the site rank higher in search engines.
When people have a good experience, they are more likely to stay on the site longer, leave less often, and complete actions like making purchases. Important parts of UX SEO are fast website loading, good mobile design, easy-to-use menus, and interesting content.
A mobile-friendly design is important for the many people using smartphones and tablets to browse. Easy navigation helps visitors quickly find what they want, making them less frustrated and more likely to look at more pages.
Adding pictures and videos can make using the site better and help people remember it longer. By focusing on how users experience a website in their SEO plans, businesses can make it more enjoyable to visit.
This not only makes users happy but also tells search engines that the site is good, helping it rank better and be seen more in search results. In the end, focusing on user experience and search engine optimization helps to achieve lasting success and growth.
Also Read: Type of SEO – 7 Different Type of SEO and Their implementations
White Hat SEO
White hat SEO means following the rules and good practices for improving a website’s presence in search engines like Google. This method aims to make a website more visible and higher in search results by using honest techniques instead of tricks.
Important methods of ethical SEO involve making useful and interesting content for users, researching keywords carefully, and improving website parts like title tags, meta descriptions, and headers.
It focuses on getting backlinks by creating high quality content, building relationships, and promoting on social media. Making sure the website loads fast, works well on mobiles, and is easy to navigate helps visitors feel happy and stay longer.
White hat SEO takes more time and work than black hat methods like keyword stuffing or link farming, but it gives lasting results in the long run. Websites that follow good rules are less likely to get in trouble with search engines, which helps them stay at the same ranking.
Black Hat SEO
Black hat SEO means using unfair and dishonest tactics to improve a website’s ranking in search engines. This goes against the rules set by search engines and is done to get fast results and more visibility.
Some common tricks are keyword stuffing, cloaking, and link farming. These strategies might help you get noticed quickly, but they also have big risks. Search engines keep a close eye on bad practices and use advanced systems to find and punish websites that use these tricks.
Consequences can include lower rankings or being completely taken out of search engine results. Also, black hat SEO makes the user experience worse because content made just to get high rankings usually isn’t good or relevant.
As search engines are evolving, using dishonest tactics is becoming less effective and more risky. Companies that focus on using black hat SEO risk hurting their online image. This can lead to users losing faith in them and may cause long-term harm to their brand reputation.
Final Thoughts
Knowing the different kinds of SEO is important for any business that wants to do well online. Each type of SEO helps a website become more visible, trusted, and engaging for users, which leads to better rankings in search engines.
As search engines get better, using different SEO strategies helps businesses adjust to changes and improve their online visibility. By combining these different types of SEO services into a clear plan, companies can boost their chances of getting more website visitors, gaining trust in their brand, and reaching lasting success.
Focusing on SEO makes it easier for people to find a business online. It also helps businesses build trust and loyalty with their target customers in a competitive market. With a strong SEO base, businesses can handle the challenges of online marketing and succeed in a constantly changing world.
FAQs
How does content impact different kinds of SEO?
Content is very important for all kinds of SEO. For on-page SEO, it’s important to have good, relevant content that answers what users are looking for to rank well. For off-page SEO, good content can get links from other websites because other creators want to link to useful and interesting information. Also, technical SEO works better when content is easy for search engines to read, and local SEO needs content focused on specific areas to attract people in those locations.
Do all websites need technical SEO?
Yes, every website needs technical SEO, no matter how big it is or what field it’s in. It makes sure your website is set up so that search engines can easily crawl and find it, which is important for getting good rankings. Regular technical checks help find and fix problems, keeping your website working well and following search engine rules. This careful method reduces the chances of getting fines and improves overall results.
Can I do SEO by myself?
You can do SEO by yourself, but it can be tricky and take a lot of time, especially if you don’t know the best ways to do it. There are lots of helpful materials, like guides, online classes, and tools that can teach you the basics of SEO. But as search engines keep evolving and their methods improve, it can be hard to keep up with the newest trends and techniques. Hiring an SEO expert or company can be helpful if you want quick results or don’t have the time and skills to do a complete SEO plan on your own.
When should I change my SEO strategy?
SEO is not something you do just once; it needs regular maintenance and changes. It’s important to check and change your SEO strategy regularly, preferably every few months, based on how well it’s doing, keyword rankings, and updates in search engine rules. Keeping up with what’s happening in your industry, what your competitors are doing, and new SEO methods will help you improve your strategy and stay ahead.
How much time does it take to notice changes from SEO?
The time it takes to see results from SEO can change a lot based on a few things. These include how competitive your industry is, how good your content is, and what kind of SEO strategies you use. Usually, it takes about three to six months to notice big changes in rankings and website visitors. In very competitive areas, it might take even more time. Being patient and consistent is important because gaining trust and authority from search engines takes time.
