While many people have heard the term “SEO,” they oftentimes don’t realize that search engine optimization takes many different forms. From on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and link building tactics, to high-quality content creation, optimization, and technical optimization, the aspects and types of search engine optimization are wide and varied.
With its primary goal being to increase a website’s organic traffic in the SERPS, SEO can be focused and conducted in a number of different ways depending on the business’s short—and long-term marketing goals.
If you’re interested in starting to leverage SEO techniques in your digital marketing strategy, the resources provided below can help you take the next steps.
To run a successful business or blog, having a great-looking website isn’t enough. While you can spend countless hours perfecting the look and feel of your site, if no one can find it, it will provide very little value to you and your users.
Search engine optimization (SEO) gives you the ability to increase the likelihood that your site will appear on search engines’ top results pages for specific keywords and phrases. This can benefit you in a variety of ways:
Understanding how SEO efforts impact your website’s ranking is important for making it a viable marketing strategy.
Search engines like Google focus on providing their users with the best experience possible. To do this, it’s really important that the resources they provide after a user makes a search query are extremely relevant and helpful. However, in order to know which resources will meet these criteria, they need to scrape the websites themselves using various algorithms and then prioritize the best results.
SEO plays a significant role in how a search engine evaluates your website and helps align the variables needed to be ranked higher than other sites on these search engine results pages. Considering how large the Internet is and the number of potential results that search engines can give, SEO helps to optimize front-end and back-end structure to make it much easier for a search engine crawler to categorize the right results.
While SEO efforts can be focused on literally hundreds of different ranking factors, below are some of the basic concepts of how SEO works:
While many SEO variables are well documented and can be successfully optimized to improve online visibility, this process isn’t a one-time fix. SEO is a continuous process of refining a website and adapting strategies so that they’re in regular alignment with the most recent algorithm updates provided by search engines like Google.
SEO is also more complex than it may seem on the surface. There is a lot to know and understand, and no such thing as an overnight SEO expert.
Many of the documented SEO tactics or services provided by marketing agencies are designed to be broad in nature. These are usually focused on any type of website looking to increase its visibility in search engines and are targeting any user willing to access the site and information provided.
A consistent theme among all types of SEO is the importance of quality content. SEO content services should focus on creating content that provides value beyond just product promotion. For example, a project management software company might create blog posts or videos offering tips on productivity in the workplace or how to better manage time throughout the week. By providing valuable information that is relevant to their target audience, companies can attract a wider audience and nurture leads over time.
The concept of SEO isn’t new by any means. For several years, website owners have been able to use various SEO methods to improve their online visibility and help them achieve their digital marketing goals.
However, SEO isn’t a one-trick pony. There are several different SEO focuses designed to help organizations support their unique business needs. Some SEO types are so complex that entire agencies are dedicated to just one single type of SEO in order to provide expert service in a single arena.
Certain types of businesses are looking for a very specific type of visitor. In the case of B2B (business-to-business) companies, they’re looking for other businesses to connect with, with the primary goal of engaging key decision-makers who can procure their products or services.
More Complicated Keywords: Unlike traditional B2C (business-to-consumer) keywords and phrases, many B2B companies need to focus on more industry-specific terms. These could include niche technical terms as well as phrases that demonstrate purchasing intent.
For companies selling in a crowded space, this can mean devoting a lot of time and resources to detailed keyword research and competitive analysis to determine which terms are the most valuable to target in SEO campaigns.
Highly Targeted Approach: While B2B companies try to attract other businesses, their primary goal is to ensure that their content is reaching the right viewers. These viewers often include key decision-makers, typically C-suite executives, purchasing managers, and operational department heads.
To attract these types of targeted users, a variety of marketing approaches may need to be considered, simultaneously lining up SEO tactics with content distribution strategies targeted specifically at professional social networking sites like LinkedIn.
Thought Leadership Content: Many times, B2B buyers or purchasing managers are in charge of multimillion-dollar budgets that they are accountable for seeing positive returns on. To feel confident in the products or services they’re purchasing, these key decision-makers carefully vet the brands they come across.
Brands looking to attract the attention of buying teams need to provide high-value content that demonstrates credibility and industry expertise. Consider focusing content on compelling case studies, in-depth white papers, and helpful webinars.
Long-Term Relationship Building: While certain SEO tactics will show shorter-term results, B2B SEO is often a longer game that requires patience and consistency. Due to the longer selling cycles associated with B2B sales, there needs to be a regular focus on nurturing leads through the sales funnel while continuously providing helpful content to help leads progress into potential customers.
Since B2B buyers will be looking for long-term partners that they can trust, all of the SEO strategies put in place need to be in alignment with helping to achieve this goal.
Businesses selling their products online directly to end users are in a highly competitive space. Considering the number of e-commerce websites available today, it is important to design and execute specific strategies focused on optimizing sales funnels and turning site visitors into converted customers.
E-commerce SEO helps businesses maximize their exposure online while also ensuring that a website’s performance and security can support large amounts of traffic. The primary goal of this focus is to reduce the likelihood of new visitors leaving a website too quickly and instead nurture every viewer as a potential customer
Product-Focused Market Research: While keyword relevance is important when completing SEO campaigns, e-commerce websites need to examine their customers’ purchasing habits more closely to understand what phrases highlight buying intent. This process will often lead them to incorporate more descriptive keywords that highlight the benefits and features of the products they provide.
Optimized Visual Elements: It’s a known fact that most people shop more with their eyes than with anything else. This is why visual representation of online products is so important in e-commerce. However, when it comes to SEO principles, larger images or videos can also contribute to poor site performance if not optimized correctly.
Since almost all e-commerce websites are media-heavy, certain efforts will need to be prioritized around minimizing the loading times of images and ensuring descriptive alt text is associated with each digital asset. This ensures not only better site performance, which directly impacts search rankings, but also helps companies be more accessible to a wider audience, including those with visual impairments.
Website User Experience: E-commerce websites need to be easy to navigate to ensure a smooth checkout experience. However, a website structure that’s not properly optimized or confusing site navigation will often lead to cart abandonment and a bounce from the site altogether.
Organizing the structure of an e-commerce website – including creating relevant categories and subcategories for products – is another important SEO element to consider. Search engines want users to have a seamless online shopping experience, and enabling useful product filters and making the site mobile-friendly are great ways to facilitate this.
Leveraging Product and Customer Reviews: Another important element of e-commerce is creating more opportunities to leverage customer reviews and brand ratings online. This can be done by encouraging customers to leave reviews after they’ve made a purchase and displaying those reviews on product pages or company directory websites.
Having these reviews helps to improve a website’s SEO by creating more credibility in search engines, which will often prioritize your e-commerce site over others in similar categories with poor reviews.
While many businesses might want to immediately work on various SEO processes that contribute to their website’s front-facing elements, there are a number of behind-the-scenes variables that contribute to getting positive rankings in search results pages.
Technical SEO emphasizes identifying the elements of a website that many users may not notice directly but search engines will. While not all technical configurations of a website will be a significant factor in whether or not a website can rank well on search engines, many of these factors if unaddressed can make it more difficult for search engine crawlers to index the site completely – leaving a lasting impact on a brand’s online visibility.
Maximizing Site Performance: Slower loading times will often equal high bounce rates from a website. Most users today have a short attention span, and search engines favor sites that deliver information more quickly than others.
Using tools like Google’s Page Speed Insights to identify and fix issues that slow your site down is an important part of technical SEO. Optimizing image file sizes, streamlining code (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript), and utilizing a Content Delivery Network (CDN) are other variables that make a huge difference in load times.
Mobile-Friendly Design: Since most website users today use their mobile devices when navigating the Internet, search engines place a high priority on websites that have a mobile-friendly design.
These responsive designs allow the web pages and site content to adjust their layout based on the screen size being used. This creates a much better experience and helps to avoid confusion when navigating to various other areas of the site.
Ensuring Crawlability and Indexation: Search engines rely on a variety of algorithms known as “crawlers” to search for and review content on a website. In order for these crawlers to effectively review the entirety of a site, they need to be provided with a clear structural path to follow. This can be done by providing an XML sitemap file that lists important pages on the site.
Another important part of SEO is fixing errors, such as removing all broken links or error pages. This helps direct crawlers to the correct areas of the site and prevents them from assuming the website is outdated or unable to provide a good user experience.
Keeping the Site Secure: Security has become an important element for search engines when deciding where to send their users. Considering the wide variety of cyber threats today, especially on malicious websites designed to inject malware into unsuspecting victims’ computers, search engines look for certain features of a site to make sure it’s safe to use.
Search engines will favor secure websites that use HTTPS encryption (you’ll see a padlock icon in the address bar). This protocol helps to prevent sensitive user data and is a credible sign to search engines.
For many large-scale organizations, SEO campaigns are large and complex. These businesses often target tens of thousands of keywords and may have multiple websites and affiliate websites they need to properly rank. This requires a strategically focused effort in order to capitalize on new opportunities in the market without sacrificing consistency across all relevant channels.
Enterprise SEO is typically handled by larger agencies that specialize in digital marketing and are capable of organizing and executing these larger campaigns. These agencies will usually have larger teams, a variety of professionals, and advanced technologies at their disposal to assist.
Larger Scale: Enterprise websites are much larger and more complex than traditional ones – with numerous sections, subdomains, and a quickly expanding number of pages. Managing SEO for these types of sites requires advanced tools, automation, and a well-defined strategy to ensure consistent optimization across the entire organization.
Enterprise SEO specialists will leverage more advanced SEO tools and automation platforms to streamline the process of analyzing massive datasets. This allows them to identify important areas for improvement and prioritize optimization tasks.
Deep Data Analysis: Enterprise SEO relies heavily on data analysis to track progress and measure the impact of various initiatives. Advanced analytics tools provide insights into keyword performance, traffic sources, user behavior, and conversion rates.
By closely monitoring these analytics, SEO specialists can identify high-performing content, discover new keyword opportunities, and customize content strategies to better align with user intent.
Cross-Departmental Communication: When SEO campaigns are designed for larger enterprises, the planning stages will often include a diverse group of stakeholders, each with their own area of expertise but all contributing to the overall success of the SEO strategy.
Content creators are responsible for developing high-quality, informative content that resonates with the target audience and incorporates relevant keywords. Web developers ensure the website is technically sound, with fast loading times, a clear structure, and crawlable architecture. Marketers focus on promoting the website and its content through various channels, driving traffic and building brand awareness. There may also be legal and compliance teams that need to be involved in ensuring that SEO practices adhere to industry regulations and data privacy laws.
Establishing clear communication channels and collaboration workflows is crucial to bridge these knowledge gaps and ensure everyone is working in sync. Regular meetings, shared project management tools, and well-defined SEO guidelines are often incorporated to help streamline collaboration and keep everyone on the same page.
Brand Reputation Management: For large brands, maintaining a positive online reputation is crucial. Enterprise SEO includes a comprehensive strategy for monitoring brand mentions across the web, including social media, review platforms, news articles, and online forums. This allows for early identification of potential issues that could damage brand reputation.
Enterprise SEO specialists will develop a plan for addressing negative reviews or feedback in a professional and timely manner. Responding to these negative reviews demonstrates that the brand cares about customer satisfaction and is committed to resolving issues.
Unlike broad SEO campaigns designed to attract site traffic from all over the world, local SEO is a hyper-local marketing strategy designed to increase your business’s visibility within a specific geographic area.
Most consumers increasingly rely on search engines to find businesses in their immediate vicinity; local SEO helps to simplify those searches. Whether you’re a local restaurant, a service provider like a plumber or electrician, or a brick-and-mortar store with a physical storefront, local SEO can be a powerful tool for attracting customers who are searching for businesses “near me.”
Optimized Business Profiles: Online directions like Google Business are the perfect way for companies to identify themselves in a particular industry or niche and provide helpful information about their business.
Optimizing business profiles on various directories and social media sites helps create consistency online, which drives more relevant search results for users. This includes keeping directories up-to-date with accurate business names, addresses, phone numbers, and contact information.
Location-Specific Keyword Targeting: To optimize their local search, businesses should consider the search terms that local customers are most likely to use. For example, a bakery in San Francisco might target keywords such as “best sourdough bread near me” or “French pastries in San Francisco.”
Incorporating geographically specific keywords throughout website content, title tags, meta descriptions, and even header tags is also used to improve search engine understanding of a business’s local relevance. By doing this, a business increases its chances of appearing in the local map pack on Google and organic search results for users in its area.
Company Review Management: Securing positive reviews on popular platforms like Google or Yelp can help increase click-throughs to a website. Part of local SEO is leveraging these platforms as best as possible, while also encouraging current customers to leave comments about their experience with the company.
Claiming a profile on these review sites is important, but responding to both negative and positive reviews regularly is what brings more value to them. When negative reviews happen, businesses should acknowledge the customer’s frustration and apologize for any inconvenience caused. Briefly explaining what they’re doing to address the issue and how they’ll prevent it from happening again can help.
Local On-Page Optimization: When putting more focus on local SEO initiatives, it’s important to make sure that current and new web pages are in alignment with this goal. This may include embedding Google Maps locations on the website and using various sections of the navigation to point to relevant pages specific to a certain local region.
Creating location-specific landing pages or blog posts is another effective way to show that businesses are catering to the needs of their local community. These localized pages are a great way to showcase how a business can help people in the area and can be optimized with relevant keywords and phrases.
White Label SEO is a business model where an agency or SEO provider offers SEO services under another company’s brand. Essentially, the SEO provider does the work behind the scenes while the partner company sells and presents the services as its own.
This model offers benefits for both parties. Agencies and SEO providers can expand their reach and revenue without having to invest in additional sales and marketing efforts. Partner companies can add a valuable service to their offerings without having to build an in-house SEO team or expertise.
White Label SEO services are often priced competitively, allowing partner companies to set their own pricing and enjoy healthy profit margins. This can be a significant revenue stream for businesses that want to expand their service offerings without incurring the costs of building an in-house SEO team.
Business Model Flexibility: White Label SEO offers a win-win scenario for both agencies and businesses by providing a scalable and flexible solution. Providers can efficiently manage their resources and expertise by working with multiple partner companies, expanding their client base and revenue streams without the need to invest heavily in their own sales and marketing efforts.
Partners can leverage the SEO provider’s experience and capabilities to offer a wider range of services to their clients, improving their own value proposition and attracting new clients without having to build an in-house SEO team or invest in acquiring the necessary SEO expertise.
Service Customization Options: White Label SEO providers often offer customizable service packages to cater to the specific needs of each partner company and their clients. This customization can range from developing custom reporting dashboards to meet the specific metrics and KPIs that matter most to the partner company and their clients to building targeted keyword lists specific to the partner’s industry and client niche.
Neutral Branding and Reporting: Providers typically offer white-label reporting dashboards that can be customized with the partner company’s branding. This allows partners to present SEO results to their clients in a professional manner, improving their credibility and building trust with their clients.
By using white-label reporting, the partner company can take full ownership of the client’s SEO results and position themselves as the SEO experts who drove these improvements. This not only strengthens the partner company’s relationship with their client but also allows them to charge higher prices for their SEO services.
Video content has continued to grow in popularity and importance over the years. However, to ensure that this content is seen by as many people as possible, businesses often need to implement various SEO initiatives.
Video SEO ensures videos don’t get lost in the growing sea of online content by optimizing them for search engines and video platforms such as YouTube. This involves strategic keyword research to target the terms people use to search for videos on the topic, creating compelling titles and descriptions that entice viewers to click, and leveraging structured data to improve video discoverability.
Focus on Visual Engagement: Unlike traditional text-based SEO, video SEO leverages moving images and sound to create a more immersive and engaging experience for viewers. This can lead to higher click-through rates, longer watch times, and a deeper connection with your brand message.
Video SEO also helps to inform how organizations showcase products from multiple angles, demonstrate how to use a complex service, or tell a compelling story that resonates with their target audience on an emotional level.
Leveraging Video Platforms: Video SEO isn’t limited to YouTube alone. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and Facebook all have unique algorithms and user behaviors. Successful video SEO adapts strategies to fit each platform’s strengths and audience preferences.
Understanding platform-specific nuances is crucial for creating content that gets noticed and attracts viewers to the platforms they frequent the most. Optimizing video titles, descriptions, and hashtags accordingly can further improve discoverability.
Creating Transcripts and Captions: Transcripts and captions are not only essential for accessibility but also provide a number of benefits for video SEO. They provide search engines with additional text-based information to index, which can significantly improve the video’s chances of appearing in both video and regular search results.
Transcripts can be machine-translated into different languages, making video content accessible to a wider global audience. Closed captions are displayed on the screen as the video plays, and are especially beneficial for viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing or those who prefer to watch videos with the sound off.
Video Promotion: While optimizing videos for search is important, it’s not the only necessary component of SEO. Promoting videos effectively across social media channels, through email newsletters, and other distribution channels is essential to getting the content in front of a wider audience and boosting its visibility.
Mobile SEO focuses on optimizing websites specifically for mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. In an era where mobile internet usage has surpassed desktops, ensuring your website provides a seamless and enjoyable experience on smaller screens is crucial.
This means not just having a responsive design but also considering factors like site speed and how users interact with content on mobile. Mobile SEO involves making sure the website’s content, structure, and design are optimized for mobile devices so that users can easily find and consume content while on the go.
Responsive Designs: Mobile SEO prioritizes designing and optimizing responsive web designs that adapt their layouts and content to fit different screen sizes and resolutions. This ensures that users on smartphones and tablets can easily navigate a website and read text without zooming in or out excessively.
Intuitive User Interfaces: Mobile SEO considers the unique way users interact with content on mobile devices. This includes optimizing for touchscreens, using larger buttons and links, and placing content in a vertical scroll format that’s easier to navigate on smaller screens.
User behavior on mobile devices can also be different from desktop usage, and mobile SEO takes these differences into account. It’s about understanding how users interact with their mobile devices and designing a website that is intuitive and easy to use regardless of the type of device it’s being accessed on.
Voice Search Optimization: With the popularity of voice assistants like Siri and Google Assistant, mobile SEO also involves optimizing for voice search queries. This means understanding the conversational language people use in voice search and incorporating those phrases into web content.
Since voice search queries tend to be longer and more natural sounding, mobile SEO strategies often focus on targeting these conversational phrases and structuring content in a way that answers questions directly and concisely.
Page Speed and Performance: Mobile users are often on the go and have limited patience for slow-loading websites. Mobile SEO emphasizes optimizing page speed for mobile devices to minimize load times and provide a smooth, frustration-free experience. This might involve compressing images, leveraging browser caching, and minimizing unnecessary scripts or plugins that can slow down page loading.
SaaS (Software as a Service) SEO is a specialized approach tailored to the unique challenges and opportunities faced by Software as a Service companies. Unlike traditional SEO, which might focus on one-time product sales, SaaS SEO is all about attracting high-quality leads, nurturing them through the sales funnel, and ultimately converting them into paying customers who are happy and likely to stick around for the long term.
SaaS SEO is achieved through a combination of strategic content marketing, targeted keyword research, and user-centric website optimization. SaaS companies typically offer their products on a subscription basis, so the goal of SaaS SEO is not only to generate leads but also to educate potential customers about the value proposition of the software.
Educational Content Marketing: SaaS products can be complex, so educational content like blog posts, webinars, and how-to guides are essential. This content builds trust, positions your brand as an expert, and helps potential customers understand how your software can solve their problems.
Competitor Differentiation: The SaaS landscape is often crowded with competitors. Thorough competitive analysis helps identify opportunities to differentiate brands and target keywords where businesses can realistically outrank competitors.
SaaS SEO involves analyzing the keywords business competitors are ranking for, evaluating their website content and backlinks, and identifying any gaps or weaknesses that can be exploited. By understanding a competitor’s strengths and weaknesses, businesses can start to develop a unique value proposition and content strategy that sets them apart.
Retention and Upselling: SaaS SEO isn’t just about new customer acquisition – it’s also about keeping customers engaged and encouraging them to upgrade to higher-tier plans or purchase additional features. Creating content that addresses common questions and challenges faced by existing customers can improve customer satisfaction, reduce churn, and increase lifetime value.
SaaS companies can benefit from creating a knowledge base with detailed tutorials, FAQs, and troubleshooting guides. They could also offer webinars or online courses to help customers get the most out of the software. By optimizing these assets for better visibility on search engines, SaaS organizations can see a steady flux of website traffic over shorter periods of time.
Leverage Free Trials and Demos: Optimizing landing pages for free trials and demos is important to capture leads and start building relationships with potential customers. SEO efforts increase the visibility of free trial offers and attract potential customers who are actively searching for certain solutions.
By targeting long-tail keywords that address specific needs and challenges, businesses can attract highly qualified leads who are more likely to convert. Additionally, optimizing landing pages for conversions with clear calls to action and a user-friendly signup process can significantly increase the number of signups businesses receive from organic traffic.
AI SEO harnesses the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to automate tasks, analyze large amounts of data, and deliver strategic insights that can significantly enhance SEO efforts.
From keyword research and content optimization to technical analysis and performance tracking, AI is transforming the way SEO professionals approach their work. AI-powered tools can quickly churn through mountains of data from search engine results pages to uncover hidden patterns, emerging trends, and valuable insights that would be nearly impossible to identify manually.
This data-driven approach allows SEO professionals to stay ahead of the curve and proactively adapt their strategies to maximize visibility and increase website traffic.
Deep Data Analysis: AI-powered tools can quickly analyze massive amounts of data that would take humans much longer to identify. This can help to find high-potential keywords, content gaps, and competitor weaknesses much faster than traditional methods.
Due to the unprecedented scale that AI-driven SEO tools provide, organizations of all sizes can benefit from the various AI services and solutions now available. This allows them to better utilize their internal resources and avoid longer, time-consuming processes.
Automated Content Optimization: AI SEO tools can assist in generating optimized content by suggesting relevant keywords with potential high search volume and even offer suggestions for improving readability and engagement.
Many AI tools can generate helpful blog titles or topics that are helpful for creating a well-designed content strategy for maximizing brand exposure. Having an automated assistant in this area can save SEO professionals a significant amount of time and effort, allowing them to focus on more strategic tasks.
Personalized UX: AI can analyze user behavior and preferences to deliver personalized content recommendations and product suggestions based on search results. This can greatly improve user engagement and increase conversion rates.
AI-powered chatbots are another benefit that can provide instant customer support. They can answer users’ questions in real-time and guide them successfully through the sales funnel.
Continuous Learning and Improvement: AI algorithms regularly learn and evolve based on the data and feedback they receive. This helps them improve their accuracy over time and can be a great benefit when applied to SEO efforts. This means that AI SEO tools become much more effective and efficient the more they are used.
AI can also help automate routine SEO tasks like monitoring backlinks, tracking keyword rankings, and generating reports. This allows SEO professionals to focus on more strategic activities, including developing helpful content and building relationships with other websites and brands.
If you own a business and are considering the benefits of hiring a professional SEO team, the DIGITECH Austin SEO team can help. With over a decade of experience, our team is prepared to work with you to build a comprehensive SEO strategy encompassing all aspects of digital marketing.
