The Definitive Guide to the 40 Types of SEO
What Really Matters for Your Business
If you’ve ever googled SEO advice, you’ve probably been hit with a tidal wave of overcomplicated terminology, trends, and shallow listicles.
The truth? Most of it isn’t helpful, especially if you’re a real business trying to grow without a full-time marketing team.
This guide lays it out clearly.
Straightforward explanations of what SEO actually includes today, and what matters depending on your business model.
We’re going to cover the 40 types of SEO across five categories:
Pillars
Search Type
Business Type
SEO Tactics
Platform Specific
Let’s unpack each one.
1. The 3 Core Pillars of SEO
These are the foundational buckets every SEO tactic falls into:
On-Page SEO: Content, headings, internal links, keyword use. Anything you directly control on your website.
Off-Page SEO: Backlinks, digital PR, reputation signals. The stuff Google sees about you, not from you.
Technical SEO: Site speed, mobile-friendliness, crawlability, schema markup. Crucial if you want search engines to even see your site.
What matters for SMBs: Start with On-Page. Fix your titles, URLs, headers, and content. Then make sure your site loads fast and is mobile-friendly. Worry about backlinks once your own house is in order.
2. SEO by Search Type
Not all searches are created equal. These types reflect how and where people are searching.
Mobile SEO
Voice SEO
Video SEO
Image SEO
Content SEO
News SEO
AI Chatbot SEO
louislynn POV: Mobile and content SEO are non-negotiable. If your site doesn’t load well on a phone or your content reads like it was written by a robot, you’re invisible. Voice and video are nice-to-haves unless your audience skews heavily in those directions.
3. SEO by Business Type
This is where things start to narrow based on who you serve and how you operate.
International SEO
Multilingual SEO
Enterprise SEO
Ecommerce SEO
Affiliate SEO
For most of our clients: Local SEO is the first and biggest lever. You need a dialed-in Google Business Profile, local citations, and pages that show Google (and people) what you do and where. Ecommerce? Different animal. Affiliate? Requires a whole different content play.
4. SEO Tactics (Ethical and Strategic Approaches)
This is where the real-world decisions start showing up.
White Hat SEO – Playing by Google’s rules.
Gray Hat SEO – Pushing limits but not outright cheating.
Black Hat SEO – Shortcuts that can work fast but crash hard.
Parasite SEO – Piggybacking on high-authority platforms.
Brand SEO – Owning your name, story, and reputation.
Accessibility SEO – Optimizing for users with disabilities.
Programmatic SEO – Auto-generating pages at scale.
Real Talk: Most small businesses don’t need to overthink this. Stick with white hat tactics, lean into brand SEO, and use structured content to scale smart.
5. Platform-Specific SEO
These are the channels and ecosystems where SEO rules change slightly.
Google Discover SEO
Google SGE SEO
Amazon SEO
Etsy SEO
eBay SEO
Shopify SEO
App Store SEO
Podcast SEO
Reddit SEO
Quora SEO
YouTube SEO
TikTok SEO
LinkedIn SEO
Pinterest SEO
Google Maps SEO
TripAdvisor SEO
What matters: Most businesses need to focus on Google Maps (Local SEO), LinkedIn (for B2B), and YouTube (if content-rich). If you sell physical goods, layer in Amazon, Etsy, or Shopify SEO.
Final Word: Focus Over Flash
Don’t get caught chasing every shiny new tactic. The basics still matter:
A fast, mobile-friendly site
Real content that helps people
Clear signals about what you do and where
Consistent backlinks from relevant sources
Want help sorting what’s noise and what’s necessary?
That’s what we do.
You don’t need 40 types of SEO. You need the right ones.
