The four fundamental SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) categories are on-page SEO, off-page SEO, technical SEO, and local SEO. We’ll go through each category in detail and explain what they are and how they can help your business. Additionally, we’ll provide you with some advice on how to tailor your SEO strategy in each area while explaining what are the Basic 4 types of SEO.
The 4 SEO Techniques
It’s crucial to apply as many of the four forms of SEO techniques to your digital marketing strategy as each type is effectively a different method of optimising for SEO.
On-Page SEO is when you tell the search engines about your page’s subject matter by the text and tags used. It also describes to the search engines how your site is interconnected with other sites. To top the rankings, your site has to be the best fit for the search terms and the searchers’ intent.
Off-page SEO focuses on acquiring links that point to your website from other domains and social signals such as shares and likes. These show search engines that your website is well-liked and relevant.
Technical SEO is hugely important for making your website easy for search engines to crawl and index, and this requires issues such as site structure and performance to be problem free. As mobile use is so prominent, nearly 60% of all searches are performed on mobile devices; your site must also function perfectly on mobiles, desktops, and with various online browsers.
The impact of Local SEO is most noticeable when local searches are done. You need to ensure your website shows up in the local search results. Local SEO includes correctly stating your NAP (name, address, and phone number) clearly on your website and having an accurate GMB (Google my Business) listing.
Let’s delve deeper into each SEO strategy now that we have a basic understanding of what each entails. As stated previously, you should engage in as many SEO areas as possible, but local SEO is an exception. If your business is not local, this technique carries less relevance. Then you should concentrate more on the other three SEO strategies. A Google My Business listing is still advantageous because it will support your overall SEO efforts.
On-Page SEO: What is it?
The process of enhancing a website’s content and architecture to rank higher in search results is known as on-page SEO. On-page SEO focuses on improving a site’s relevancy and authority to achieve the highest potential ranking for pertinent queries.
This strategy means applying white hat SEO techniques to show that you are the foremost expert on a subject. White hat is used to describe SEO techniques that are within the guidelines and terms of service of the search engine. It is fundamental to stay within the guidelines if you don’t want your site to be penalised.
Several factors, including page names, title tags, meta descriptions, keyword density, alt text, and URL structure, all impact on-page SEO. To properly optimise a website for search engines, it is essential to comprehend how these factors operate.
It’s crucial to balance what search engine bots want to see with what your target audience expects from your web pages. Plan your content around what your target audience is genuinely interested in after conducting in-depth keyword research to find out what they are searching for.
Page Titles
Always try to write one page for each topic; never try to rank a page for several keywords. A page title is the headline that appears at the top of each page. Your page title can be keyword-rich if natural and descriptive but not overly long.
Indicators for Meta Titles
A title tag is a text that appears in search engine results pages (SERPs) once a particular query is entered. According to the page title, the meta title tag should be descriptive and keyword-rich. Although it is not a direct ranking criterion, this is the first impression your target audience will get of your business. And for them to click on your website rather than one of your competitors, therefore it must be attractive.
Descriptions of Metadata
Meta descriptions are a crucial component of on-page SEO. Again, this is not a direct ranking factor but is essential to your potential customer’s journey. Meta descriptions are brief text excerpts that appear beneath the title tag in SERPs. Meta descriptions should be precise, succinct, and keyword-rich to achieve high click-through rates from SERPs.
Density of Keywords
The frequency with which a particular term or phrase appears on a website is called keyword density. Keep keyword density at a moderate level to prevent getting penalised by search engines for keyword stuffing (deliberate overuse). Keywords should be no more than a few per cent of the total text. I personally don’t track keyword density since I believe you should create content focused on the end user and incorporate keywords where they are natural. This way, you don’t have to worry about being penalised by Google algorithms.
URL Structure
URL structure refers to how a website’s pages are organised and linked to one another. A well-structured URL hierarchy can assist search engines in understanding the relationship between different pages on a website, which can improve crawling and indexing. The most linked-to pages on your website should be your most vital pages – money, service or product pages.
Images and Alt Text
A web page’s images are crucial, and while search engines cannot read actual images, they can see the alt text you add to them. Making your alt text descriptive can help users and search engine crawlers comprehend what an image is, which is crucial from the perspective of accessibility.
Before uploading any images to your website, it’s a good idea to change their file names as well. Use this time to make them more accurately reflect what each image is. Again, I’m not advocating that you stuff your alt text with keywords that have nothing to do with the actual image.
This technique is crucial for SEO in e-commerce. In e-commerce SEO, you’ll discover that users are more inclined to search for photos in addition to traditional SERPs. This enhancement will help to bring your products in front of the right users at the right time. An e-commerce website has a great chance to rank for really niche terms.
Writing great content targeted towards your target audience is essential, and content is likely the most significant component of On-Page SEO. It is imperative to let Google know which pages on your website are the most crucial for SEO. The content should naturally link to other relevant pages on your website and include your relevant keyphrases without stuffing them in (see keyword density above).
You can learn a lot about the content on your website, how visitors interact with particular pages, and the search terms for which you are already ranking by using Google Analytics and Google Search Console. These tools can assist you in improving your content to provide the best information and website experience for your audience.
A robust content plan regularly delivers high-quality, relevant information to your audience. A digital marketing agency may assist you in developing a content strategy to raise your SEO rankings. Keyword research is crucial at this point because Google’s search results will highlight content that, in addition to the words and images on a page, also incorporates several SEO factors. These factors include meta tags, page speed, internal links, and many other SEO techniques already covered in this article.
It might be difficult and time-consuming to improve the on-page SEO of your website, but the effort is worth it. You may increase your website’s rating in SERPs and get more organic traffic by understanding how on-page SEO functions as one of the four SEO tactics and by adhering to best practices.
Although on-site SEO is crucial, it is only one element of a well-rounded SEO plan. It would be best to concentrate on off-page SEO variables like link development and social media involvement to rank highly in SERPs, in addition to technical SEO.
What is Off-Page SEO?
Off-page SEO, often known as search engine optimisation, is the process of improving a website’s ranking. Off-page SEO, also known as link building, social media marketing, and search engine submission, refers to strategies used to raise your website’s ranking.
The practice of acquiring backlinks from top-notch websites is known as link building. Backlinks, which are hyperlinks pointing from one website to another, can raise a website’s position in search engine results.
This technique is perhaps the most challenging sort of SEO to master among all the others. Link building itself can be complicated due to the reputation of spammy directories and block networks.
You could become a victim of negative SEO due to the difficulties of constructing the proper links. Negative SEO is when a company (often a rival) pays an expert to develop tonnes of spammy links to your website, post fake reviews, and manipulate your PR. They attempt to damage your SEO efforts and your company’s reputation by using harmful SEO practices.
Instead of building links, think of it as earning them. If you have quality material, other websites will inevitably link to you. Any business may initially find this challenging, so here are some strategies for getting started with link building:
- You could propose writing a guest blog on other websites.
- Post your posts on user-generated websites like Medium and Reddit.
- Include your website in regional directories.
- Add your website to sector-specific portals.
- Ask your clients or vendors to link to you in case studies or blog pieces.
- Be careful to set up your business listings on Google and Bing.
- Even if you don’t regularly use them, create profiles on your social networking platforms.
- To gain exposure on newspaper and magazine websites, use a PR firm; alternatively, you might try to do this yourself.
- Make sure to add a website link if you are speaking at an event or exhibiting at a show.
- Join networking organisations. Most of them will have a member directory, allowing you to add another link to your website.
These are legitimate SEO strategies that could boost your website’s performance in the search results. Choose a small number to begin with, and increase it from there.
The technique of advertising your website or brand on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn is known as social media marketing. It should be a part of your digital marketing strategy even though it isn’t a stand-alone SEO service (as the main search engines won’t scan the links within these platforms).
If you aren’t present on social media sites, you definitely need to consider doing this because it can generate organic traffic back to your website. This type of SEO is distinct from traditional SEO but is growing in importance.
Submitting your website to directories and search engines so they can index it is known as search engine submission. The more frequently you update your website by adding new pages or changing existing ones, the more likely search engines will regularly index it. Search engine bots will constantly be crawling significant sites like the BBC website.
Off-page SEO is an essential component of any digital marketing plan because it aids in link-building, relationship-building, and increasing your online presence. You’re passing up worthwhile chances to raise the position of your website if you don’t use off-page SEO.
Technical SEO: What is it?
Technical SEO is the process of optimising a website for Google searches to increase web traffic, improve the site’s visibility, and enhance its organic search results. It focuses on the technical aspects of managing websites, such as improving their architecture, code, and crawlability. Any website that wants to rank highly in search engine results pages must implement technical SEO. You will need to perform a full SEO and website audit to check any parts of your site that do not meet search engine guidelines.
A website’s ability to rank on Google’s first page versus one stuck on the second or third page might be determined by its technical SEO. Additionally, Google needs to comprehend what your website is about to include it in relevant search results.
Although this might be something you “do” to your website and then move on from, in reality, it is an ongoing process. Technology advances quickly, so it’s essential to stay up to date with the platform, functionality, and plugins you use on your website.
Unfortunately, updating one thing frequently impacts other areas, like speed or layout. Thus, while it may seem like you are constantly working on this, doing so is crucial and can determine whether you succeed online or not.
Here are some of the areas involved in Technical SEO
- Fixing broken links
- Improving Site Speed
- Fixing HTML and CSS errors
- Mobile friendliness and usability
- Internal linking
- Sitemap creation and submission
- Security
- Platform and plugin updates
- Making sure everything works as it should
Local SEO: What is it?
Local businesses provide services to a specific area, so adopting a somewhat different SEO marketing strategy is critical. Finding the keyphrases that will bring organic traffic to your website may be more challenging for a local business. Although relevant keywords may not receive as many searches, it can still be difficult to rank well on Google.
The exposure of your website is as crucial, but your SEO tactics probably won’t be precisely the same. You could, for instance, spend more time on your social media profiles, join regional Facebook groups, and interact with the people there. Make sure your page content is geo-targeted by discussing the area you serve and using search terms that contain your town, city, or county.
You can add your location information to your website’s title tags, meta descriptions, and header tags in addition to referencing locations in your content.
Local SEO strategies can include:
- Adding listings to local directories.
- Reviewing websites.
- Updating your Google Business Listing.
Ask your customers to leave reviews where they prefer; Google My Business, Yellow Pages, and Facebook are all excellent places to gather reviews. Things like reviews can be beneficial for local businesses.
No matter where someone is searching from, you’ll have the best chance of ranking highly in search results by concentrating on all aspects of SEO.