As a business owner in Singapore, you probably recognise that appearing at the top of a search engine results page (SERP) is crucial for driving traffic to your website and generating leads. And with over 8.5 billion searches per day on Google, you need to make sure your website is optimised for SEO. But what does that entail?
Search Engine Optimisation, or “SEO” for short, is a process employed to increase the visibility and searchability of a website. In other words, it makes your website easier to find on Google. One of the most common misconceptions about SEO, however, is that keywords are the only important factor. While it is true that keywords play a key role, they are just one part of the larger picture.
In fact, Google takes into account a variety of SEO ranking factors when determining which websites to rank highly in their results pages. These include things like the overall quality of the website, the number of backlinks, and the presence of social signals. As a result, businesses need to focus on different types of SEO in digital marketing in order to see results.
If you are looking to improve your website’s ranking in relevant search results, you will need a comprehensive and effective SEO strategy that hits all the right marks.
Types of SEO in digital marketing
Type of SEO |
At a glance |
On-Page SEO |
Refers to optimisation of web page elements like titles, meta tags, and content to rank higher in SERP. |
Off-Page SEO |
Refers to optimisation outside of the website such as link building and social media signals. |
Technical SEO |
Happens behind the scenes to improve the website’s architecture, coding, and structure, making it easier for Google to index and crawl the site. |
Content SEO |
Creates relevant SEO-friendly content that meets the needs of searchers. |
Local SEO |
Ensures that the website appears prominently in search results when potential customers are searching for products and services within the area. |
1. On-page SEO
Each page on your website has the potential to bring in new customers, and the higher it ranks in search engine results, the more likely it is to be seen by potential customers. On-page SEO thus ensures that your website itself is optimised with the goal of increasing overall visibility and earning higher web traffic levels.
Some of the most important on-page SEO factors comprise of:
- Page titles and meta descriptions: Aim for around 50-60 characters for page titles and around 155 characters for meta descriptions. Don’t forget to include relevant keywords.
- Header tags: Use header tags (H1, H2, H3) to properly structure your content and make it easy for readers (and search engines) to navigate.
- Internal linking: Linking to other pages on your website helps users find more relevant information and tells search engines that your site is authority on the topic.
- Image optimisation: Include descriptive alt text for all images on your website so that search engines can index them properly.
- Unique content: Check that there is no duplicate content on your website. If you have multiple pages with identical or very similar titles and meta descriptions, it is likely that search engines will consider the site to be low-quality and penalise it accordingly.
To see how your website can be improved, you can start by assessing the SEO health of your pages using tools such as SEO Quake Chrome Extension and Ahrefs Site Audit.
One of the biggest challenges of on-page SEO, however, is ensuring that your website is optimised for both users and search engines. While it is important to include a well curated selection of keywords and phrases throughout your site in order to rank well in search results, you also need to make sure that your content is readable and relevant to your target audience. Striking this balance can be tricky, but it is essential in order to improve your website’s visibility and traffic.
To get started, use: SEO Quake Chrome Extension, Detailed SEO Chrome Extension, Ahrefs Site Audit, Semrush Site Audit
2. Off-page SEO
While on-page SEO is important for optimising individual web pages, off-page SEO is just as important for helping to boost the visibility of your website as a whole. Off-page SEO refers to the techniques used to optimise a website for higher search engine rankings that are not related to the content of the website. This type of SEO typically includes link building and social media.
Link building
Link building is the process of obtaining backlinks from other sites to your own. These links act as votes, telling search engines that your site is authoritative and trustworthy. However, it’s not just about the quantity of links but also the quality – links from low-quality websites won’t do much for your rankings. As such, focus on building links from high-authority sites within your niche or industry.
To help with this, Ahrefs Site Explorer – for example – is a tool that gives you an in-depth look at any website’s backlink profile, including others when performing a SEO competitor analysis. By viewing the link profile of a website, you can get an idea of where the site is getting its links from and what kind of link building strategy they are using. This information can be used to improve your own off-page SEO. Additionally, Site Explorer can also be used to research your competitor’s off-page SEO and get ideas for new link building opportunities.
Keep in mind that in order for link building to be effective, it is essential to create content that is valuable and interesting. If your content isn’t engaging, visitors coming from that link will be disappointed and likely return to the other site. This may increase your bounce rate and decrease the time spent on your site, both of which are negative signals to Google. By having high-quality content on your website, other website owners will also be more inclined to link to your content if they feel that it is useful to their readers.
Social media
Social media signals are another important part of off-page SEO, although they’re more difficult to measure than links. Search engines look at social media engagement such as the number of likes, shares, and other interactions as an indication of the quality of your content. The more engagement, the better.
As a result, content that is popular on social media is more likely to rank highly in search engine results pages. This is why it’s important to promote your content on social media. When you do so, you’re not only increasing your chances of driving traffic to your website, but you’re also helping to improve your off-page SEO.
To get started, use: Ahrefs Site Explorer, Semrush Backlink Analytics, Majestic SEO
3. Technical SEO
To complement your digital marketing efforts, technical SEO is another type of SEO that can dramatically increase your reach. The goal of technical SEO is to make sure that Google’s bots can easily access, crawl, and index your website without any issues. This, in turn, will allow your content to be properly ranked in search results.
On the other hand, a site with poor technical SEO will likely struggle to rank well and may even be completely excluded from search results. Common issues that can impact technical SEO include broken links, website errors, slow page loading speeds, and more.
As such, some steps involved in technical SEO includes:
- Create an XML sitemap: Make sure your site is accessible to search engine crawlers by creating an XML sitemap and submitting it to Google Search Console.
- Use SSL: SSL, or Secure Sockets Layer, ensures that all data passed between the web server and browser remains private and secure. This can improve your website ranking as Google gives preference to websites that use SSL.
- Optimise your page speed: The ideal loading time is 0-4 seconds. You can accomplish this by compressing images and using a content delivery network (CDN).
- Use robots.txt: This ensures that your website is being crawled efficiently and that your most important pages are being given priority.
- Periodically conduct audits on your redirects: Make sure that redirect loops and broken links are not occuring on your website
To simplify this process, you can use popular tools like Screaming Frog to crawl your website effectively and find any potential issues that need to be fixed. This can help to identify broken links, duplicate content, and other problems that can impact your website’s ranking. In addition, Screaming Frog can also be used to generate XML sitemaps, which are essential for helping search engines index your website.
To get started, use: Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, SEO Power Suite
4. Content SEO
Additionally, there is content SEO that looks to improve your website’s ranking by creating and optimising content such as blog posts. Content SEO serves two masters: The search engine and the reader. Your content must be packed with keywords that signal to the search engine what the page is about. But it also has to be well written, on topic, and useful to the reader if they’re going to stay on the page long enough to convert or take the desired actions.
Here are a few tips for content SEO:
- Use keyword-rich titles and descriptions: In order for your content to be found by searchers, you need to include relevant keywords. Titles and descriptions are a great place to start.
- Use keywords throughout your content: Weave in keywords sparingly and only when they naturally fit into the context of your sentence or paragraph to avoid keyword stuffing.
- Publish high-quality, evergreen content: Google and other search engines reward websites that publish fresh, original content. If you’re rehashing old content, you may not rank as high as you could be.
- Optimise your images: Include keywords in the file name of each image and add alt text. Doing this will help the search engines index your images and improve your chances of ranking high in image search results.
- Promote your content: Once you’ve created great content, make sure you’re promoting it through social media, email marketing, and other channels to gain traffic.
Yet, if you are a relatively small business, you may lack the time and resources to produce content on a regular basis. Fortunately, there are tools such as Frase.io that can help with the writing process itself. You may use them to generate quality content quickly and easily.
To get started, use: Frase.io, Surfer SEO
5. Local SEO
Finally, there is local SEO that offers a more targeted approach to capture the attention of potential customers in your area. This digital marketing strategy is particularly important for businesses in Singapore that rely on foot traffic, such as retail stores, restaurants and service providers. This type of SEO is also vital for businesses that want to target mobile users as mobile searchers may be looking for products and services from where they are. In fact, according to Statcounter GlobalStats, about 75.73 percent of all web traffic in Singapore comes through mobile phones. This is as of October 2022.
By focusing on local SEO, you’ll make it easier for potential customers in your area to find you. And when they do, they’re more likely to become paying customers. Below are some things you can do to improve your local SEO performance:
- Create a Google Business Profile: Your Google Business Profile, previously known as Google My Business (GMB), is what shows up when someone searches for your business on Google Maps or Google Search.
- Get listed in relevant online directories: Create accurate listings with consistent information about your business across all platforms.
- Add location pages to your website: State your address, phone number, and hours of operation. You should also include a Google map and directions so visitors can easily find your business. Don’t forget to optimise these pages with relevant keywords too.
- Optimise your website for mobile: This means using a responsive design, minimising page loading time and making sure that your website’s text is easy to read on small screens.
- Monitor your online reviews: Reviews play a big role in local SEO. The more positive reviews you have, the higher you’ll rank in search results. Make it a point to encourage your customers to leave reviews on your Google Business Profile.
Once you have set up your Google Business profile, be sure to keep it up-to-date and active to make the most of it. Posting regular updates is one way to do this. By sharing information about your products, services, and events, you can keep your business top-of-mind for existing and potential customers.
Scheduling posts in advance using tools like Local Viking can help you maintain a consistent posting frequency, even when you’re busy. Local Viking can also provide your business with customised reports that show how well you are performing in specific areas, with a suite of other tools that you can use to further improve your online presence.
As your business grows, you can then consider international SEO to optimise your site for users in different countries and regions.
To get started, use: Uberall, Local Viking
Stand out from the crowd
To achieve a strong online presence, a well-rounded approach with the above five types of SEO is required. By investing in different types of SEO, you can ensure that you are covering all the bases and maximising your chances of success. This will require the combined effort of your web developers, copywriters and marketers to continuously be aware of the latest digital marketing trends and effectively implement them. Interested to learn more? Reach our to our SEO agency specialists for a free strategy session today.