SEO can feel complicated because there are hundreds of individual tasks that can fall under search engine optimization.
Keyword research. Content. Backlinks. Internal links. Page speed. Technical fixes. Digital PR. Titles. Structured data.
But after working in SEO for more than 20 years, I find it much easier to understand SEO by dividing most of that work into three main areas:
On-Page SEO
Off-Page SEO
Technical SEO
Each area solves a different type of problem.
On-page SEO focuses primarily on the content and optimization of pages on your website.
Off-page SEO focuses on authority, backlinks, mentions and other signals that exist beyond your website.
Technical SEO focuses on making sure search engines can properly access, crawl, process and index your website.
A strong SEO strategy usually requires all three working together.
If you’re completely new to SEO and want to understand the entire process first, start with my guide to how SEO works.
Here, I’m going to focus specifically on the three major types of SEO, what each one does and how I use them together when evaluating a website.
Quick Answer: What Are the 3 Main Types of SEO?
The three main types of SEO are:
1. On-Page SEO
Improving the content, relevance, organization and optimization of pages on your website.
2. Off-Page SEO
Building legitimate authority, recognition, links and mentions beyond your own website.
3. Technical SEO
Making sure search engines can properly crawl, process, understand and index your website.
These categories overlap.
For example, internal linking is generally considered on-page SEO, but it can also affect website architecture and crawlability.
Local SEO uses elements of all three.
And modern AI search doesn’t eliminate these SEO fundamentals either.
That’s why I don’t think of SEO as a collection of isolated tricks.
The three areas work together as one system.
1. On-Page SEO
On-page SEO refers to improvements made primarily to the pages and content on your own website.
The goal is to make a page clear, useful and relevant for the people you’re trying to reach while also making its subject and purpose understandable to search engines.
This is usually the part of SEO business owners recognize first.
But on-page SEO is much more than putting keywords into a page.
Content Quality
A page should genuinely help someone accomplish the goal that brought them there.
That doesn’t necessarily mean making every article 3,000 words long.
I’ve never believed that longer automatically means better.
If a question can be answered thoroughly in 800 words, adding another 2,000 words of filler doesn’t necessarily improve the page.
I would rather create content that satisfies the searcher’s intent without unnecessary repetition.
That’s also why I don’t recommend publishing content simply to maintain an arbitrary blogging schedule.
Every important page should have a reason to exist.
Keyword Research
Keywords still matter because they tell us how people search.
But I don’t use keyword research as instructions for how many times to repeat a phrase.
I use it to understand:
- What potential customers search for
- How they describe their problems
- Which services they’re looking for
- Whether a query appears informational or commercial
- Which type of page should target the query
- Which related questions may deserve coverage
- Whether the keyword is actually valuable to the business
A keyword with huge search volume isn’t automatically better than one with a smaller audience.
For a business, a lower-volume search made by someone ready to become a customer can be much more valuable.
That’s why I pay particular attention to money keywords when building an SEO strategy.
Search Intent
Search intent is what the person making the search actually wants.
Consider:
“What is SEO?”
versus:
“SEO company San Diego”
They’re both about SEO.
But they’re not the same search.
The first person probably wants information.
The second may be evaluating SEO companies.
Those searches generally deserve different pages.
This is why one of the first things I look at when optimizing a page is whether the page actually matches the search intent behind the keyword.
Trying to force the wrong type of page to rank for a query can make SEO much harder than it needs to be.
Titles and Headings
Titles and headings help organize a page.
A strong H1 should clearly communicate the primary subject.
H2 and H3 headings should organize the information into useful sections.
I don’t believe every heading needs an exact-match keyword.
The goal is clarity.
Someone scanning the page should be able to understand its structure quickly.
Internal Linking
Internal links connect pages on your website.
I use them extensively because they help create logical relationships between content.
For example:
Supporting article → primary service page
Educational article → related educational article
Service page → related service
Location-related content → appropriate location page
Internal links can help people discover additional information and help search engines understand how your pages relate to one another.
They also help prevent valuable pages from becoming isolated.
I don’t recommend forcing the exact same keyword-rich anchor text into every article, though.
Use descriptive links that make sense to the reader.
You can learn more in my guide to internal links for SEO.
Images and Media
Images, video, screenshots, charts and other media can make a page more useful when they genuinely help explain the subject.
Images should also be implemented appropriately, including useful alternative text when it serves an accessibility purpose.
The goal isn’t to add media because an SEO checklist told you to.
It’s to create a better page.
What Does On-Page SEO Include?
On-page SEO can include content, search intent, keyword targeting, title tags, meta descriptions, headings, internal links, images, service-page optimization, content updates and calls to action.
I think of it as answering two basic questions:
Does this page clearly communicate what it’s about?
And:
Does it actually satisfy what the searcher came here to find?
If the answer to either is no, there’s probably on-page work to do.
2. Off-Page SEO
Off-page SEO deals primarily with signals, references and activity that exist beyond your own website.
I like explaining it this way:
On-page SEO is largely what you say and demonstrate on your website.
Off-page SEO includes how your business and website are referenced elsewhere on the web.
That can include backlinks, digital PR, legitimate business mentions, professional associations, citations and other forms of external recognition.
Backlinks
A backlink is a link from another website to yours.
Links can help search engines discover pages and can contribute to a website or page’s ability to compete in search results.
But I don’t view link building as a numbers contest.
I’d much rather see a business earn a relevant editorial link from a legitimate industry publication than collect dozens of random links created solely for SEO.
When evaluating backlinks, I care about things such as:
Relevance.
Legitimacy.
Editorial context.
The website providing the link.
Whether the link makes sense for the business.
Whether a real audience could potentially encounter it.
The purpose isn’t simply to make a backlink counter go up.
It’s to build a legitimate presence beyond your own website.
If you’re working on this area, read my guide on how to get other websites to link to yours.
Brand Mentions
Businesses can also earn legitimate mentions around the web.
These might come from:
- News publications
- Industry websites
- Professional organizations
- Business partnerships
- Local organizations
- Podcasts
- Interviews
- Public relations
- Community involvement
I don’t chase mentions simply to manufacture SEO signals.
I’d rather focus on places where it makes sense for the business to be visible.
Digital PR
Digital PR can support off-page SEO because it can create legitimate visibility outside your website and sometimes generate relevant backlinks.
Good opportunities might involve:
Original research.
Expert commentary.
Industry insights.
Newsworthy company developments.
Useful resources.
Community involvement.
Strong PR should make sense from a marketing and reputation perspective—not just because you want another link.
Local Citations
For local businesses, relevant business listings can also contribute to the company’s broader online presence.
Important information such as your business name, address, phone number and website should be accurate.
But I wouldn’t submit a business to hundreds of questionable directories simply to create backlinks.
Again:
Relevance and legitimacy matter more than volume.
Does Social Media Count as Off-Page SEO?
Social media can help distribute content, build awareness, generate referral traffic and expose your brand to people who may later visit your website, search for you or reference your content.
But I would not tell a business owner that getting more Instagram likes automatically causes higher Google rankings.
That’s an important distinction.
Social media can support your broader marketing and brand visibility without being treated as a simple direct Google ranking lever.
What Does Off-Page SEO Include?
Off-page SEO can include relevant backlinks, digital PR, brand mentions, industry references, local citations, professional associations, editorial coverage, partnerships and community involvement.
The common thread is that these things happen beyond your own website.
3. Technical SEO
Technical SEO focuses on the underlying website setup that helps search engines access, crawl, process and index your pages.
You can create outstanding content and still have SEO problems if Google can’t properly access or interpret the website.
That’s why technical SEO is foundational.
Crawling and Indexing
Search engines generally need to discover and access a page before it can appear in search results.
Technical SEO involves checking whether important pages can be crawled and whether they’re eligible for indexing.
Problems can include:
- Accidental
noindexdirectives - Robots restrictions
- Incorrect canonicals
- Redirect loops
- Broken links
- Orphaned pages
- Duplicate URLs
- Other crawl or indexing problems
Being included in an XML sitemap doesn’t guarantee that a page will be indexed.
And being indexed doesn’t guarantee that a page will rank.
Each stage is different.
Website Architecture
Website architecture refers to how pages are organized and connected.
I want important content to be reasonably easy for people and search engines to reach.
For many service businesses, the structure might look something like:
Homepage → Service Pages → Supporting Content
A multi-location business may also need an organized location structure.
The exact architecture depends on the website.
What I don’t want is hundreds of disconnected pages with no clear hierarchy or relationship to one another.
This is also why I often create a keyword map before expanding a website.
It helps answer a critical question:
Which page should own which search intent?
XML Sitemaps
An XML sitemap can help search engines discover URLs you want them to know about.
But a sitemap isn’t a magic indexing button.
Submitting a page through a sitemap doesn’t mean Google has to index it, and indexing doesn’t mean Google has to rank it.
Think of the sitemap as one way of communicating which URLs exist—not as a ranking strategy by itself.
Canonical Tags
Canonical tags help communicate a preferred URL when similar or duplicate versions of content exist.
Incorrect canonical implementation can create SEO problems.
For example, if an important page points its canonical toward another URL, search engines may choose to treat the other URL as the preferred version.
This is one reason technical audits matter.
Problems aren’t always visible when you simply look at the front end of a website.
Mobile Usability
Your website needs to work well for mobile visitors.
That means more than shrinking the desktop design onto a smaller screen.
Text should be readable.
Navigation should work.
Buttons should be usable.
Forms should function properly.
Important information shouldn’t disappear.
And visitors shouldn’t have to fight the website to accomplish a basic task.
Website Performance
Performance matters because slow or unstable pages can frustrate users.
But I don’t treat speed as an entire SEO strategy.
A lightning-fast website with weak content, poor search intent and no meaningful authority isn’t automatically going to outrank a much stronger competitor.
Performance is one part of the overall experience.
Structured Data
Structured data can help search engines understand certain types of information on a page and can make pages eligible for supported search-result features.
It should accurately represent information that actually exists on the page.
I don’t view schema as a magic ranking trick.
It’s structured information—not a shortcut to position #1.
What Does Technical SEO Include?
Technical SEO can include crawling, indexing, canonicals, redirects, XML sitemaps, robots directives, HTTPS, website architecture, mobile usability, page performance, structured data and broken-link cleanup.
Technical SEO essentially asks:
Is the website creating unnecessary obstacles for search engines or users?
How the 3 Types of SEO Work Together
This is the most important part.
You shouldn’t think of on-page, off-page and technical SEO as three completely separate strategies.
They depend on one another.
Imagine you create an outstanding service page.
The content is useful.
The search intent is right.
The page is optimized well.
But a technical problem prevents Google from indexing it.
Your excellent on-page SEO isn’t going to help much if the page isn’t eligible to appear.
Now imagine the opposite.
The website is technically excellent.
Google can crawl everything.
The architecture is clean.
The pages load quickly.
But the service-page content is vague and doesn’t satisfy the searcher’s intent.
Technical perfection isn’t going to fix weak on-page SEO.
Or perhaps the website is technically healthy and the content is excellent, but you’re competing against established businesses with substantially stronger recognition, links and authority.
Off-page SEO may be the biggest gap.
This is why SEO problems need to be diagnosed rather than treated with a universal checklist.
The question isn’t simply:
“Am I doing SEO?”
A better question is:
“Which part of my SEO is currently limiting the website?”
Where Does Local SEO Fit?
Local SEO is often described as another “type” of SEO.
I think it’s more useful to view Local SEO as a specialized strategy that draws from all three areas.
For example:
On-page Local SEO can include location information, locally relevant service content, useful location pages and internal linking.
Off-page Local SEO can include relevant local links, citations, reviews, mentions and community visibility.
Technical Local SEO can include location-page architecture, indexability, canonicals and appropriate structured data.
And then there’s another major component:
Google Business Profile and Google Maps.
For eligible local businesses, Google Business Profile can play an important role in local search visibility.
Google describes local results primarily in terms of relevance, distance and prominence.
So Local SEO isn’t simply “put the city name on your website.”
It’s a broader strategy for making the business relevant, prominent and understandable within the geographic market it actually serves.
If this is your primary goal, read my Local SEO guide for San Diego businesses.
Where Does AI Search Fit?
AI search doesn’t replace on-page, off-page or technical SEO.
Businesses still benefit from websites that are technically accessible, clearly explain their services, provide useful information, demonstrate genuine expertise and earn legitimate recognition beyond their own domains.
That’s why I don’t treat AI visibility as a completely separate fourth pillar of SEO.
Instead, my AI SEO services build on strong SEO fundamentals.
If you’re specifically interested in AI visibility, I’ve also written a guide explaining how to get your business recommended by ChatGPT and AI search.
Which Type of SEO Is Most Important?
There isn’t one answer for every website.
It depends on what’s currently limiting performance.
If Google can’t properly crawl or index important pages, technical SEO may deserve immediate attention.
If the website is technically healthy but important service pages are weak, on-page SEO may offer the biggest opportunity.
If the website has excellent pages and solid technical foundations but competitors have substantially stronger external authority and recognition, off-page SEO may need more attention.
The goal isn’t to choose one type of SEO forever.
The goal is to identify which area currently deserves priority.
How I Evaluate the 3 Types of SEO During an Audit
When I audit a website, I don’t automatically assume the answer is:
“Publish more content.”
Or:
“Build more backlinks.”
I first try to determine which part of the system is creating the biggest limitation.
For on-page SEO, I may evaluate:
- Search intent
- Service pages
- Content quality
- Keyword targeting
- Internal linking
- Content overlap and cannibalization
- Calls to action and conversions
For technical SEO, I may look at:
- Indexing
- Crawlability
- Canonicals
- Redirects
- Website architecture
- XML sitemaps
- Mobile usability
- Page performance
- Broken links
For off-page SEO, I may evaluate:
- Existing backlinks
- Link quality and relevance
- Brand mentions
- Competitor authority
- Reviews
- Local citations
- PR opportunities
Only after looking at the bigger picture can I determine what deserves attention first.
For example, there’s little value in publishing another 20 blog posts if your important service pages aren’t being indexed correctly.
And I wouldn’t make technical SEO the entire strategy if the website is technically healthy but its service pages don’t satisfy search intent.
SEO strategy starts with diagnosis.
The 3 Main Types of SEO: Final Thoughts
SEO can feel complicated because there are hundreds of things you could potentially work on.
Breaking it into three main areas makes the bigger picture easier to understand:
On-Page SEO helps make your pages clear, useful and relevant.
Off-Page SEO helps build legitimate authority and recognition beyond your website.
Technical SEO creates the foundation that helps search engines properly access and process your website.
Strong SEO usually requires all three.
But that doesn’t mean you should spend equal amounts of time on each one every month.
The better approach is to identify what’s currently limiting the website and prioritize accordingly.
That’s how I approach SEO for my own website and for my clients.
If you’re not sure which area is holding your website back, I can take a look.
I work directly with businesses on technical SEO, content, internal linking, authority building and Local SEO. Learn more about working with a San Diego SEO expert or request a free SEO analysis.
GET YOUR FREE SEO ANALYSIS
Call or text: (619) 719-1315
Thanks for reading,
Jen Ruhman
SEO Expert & Founder of Jen Ruhman SEO
Frequently Asked Questions About the 3 Types of SEO
What are the three main types of SEO?
The three main types of SEO are on-page SEO, off-page SEO and technical SEO. On-page SEO focuses primarily on your website’s pages and content, off-page SEO focuses on authority and recognition beyond your website, and technical SEO focuses on making sure search engines can properly access, process and index your website.
What is on-page SEO?
On-page SEO involves improving individual website pages. It can include content, search intent, keyword targeting, titles, headings, internal links, images, service-page optimization and other elements that help make a page useful and relevant.
What is off-page SEO?
Off-page SEO involves building legitimate authority and recognition beyond your own website. Examples include relevant backlinks, digital PR, brand mentions, business citations, professional associations and editorial coverage.
What is technical SEO?
Technical SEO focuses on the underlying website setup. It can include crawling, indexing, canonical tags, redirects, XML sitemaps, website architecture, mobile usability, page performance, structured data and other technical elements affecting how search engines access and process a website.
Is Local SEO one of the main types of SEO?
Local SEO is often described as another type of SEO, but it overlaps with on-page, off-page and technical SEO. It also includes local-specific elements such as Google Business Profile, Maps visibility, reviews, citations and geographic relevance.
Is AI SEO a separate type of SEO?
AI search optimization can involve additional considerations depending on the platform, but many of its foundations overlap with traditional SEO. Clear content, technical accessibility, site structure, expertise, authority and a strong broader web presence remain useful foundations.
Which type of SEO is most important?
It depends on the website. A site with indexing problems may need technical SEO first. A technically healthy site with weak content may need on-page improvements. A strong site competing against more established businesses may need additional off-page authority.
Do I need all three types of SEO?
Most competitive websites benefit from all three. Strong content can be limited by technical problems, while a technically healthy website can struggle because of weak content or insufficient authority. The right priority depends on what’s currently holding the site back.