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A myth that is still fairly prevalent in the SEO community is that off-Site or off-page SEO is all about link building. This simply isn’t the case, and if your focus is purely on link building, then you’re going to be missing out on a whole host of other important ranking factors.
Off-Site SEO is not just about link building. It’s also about social media, branding, and other activities conducted outside of your website that can influence your ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Link building is one of the most important aspects of Off-Site SEO, but it’s not the only factor that search engines(not even in other search engines) take into account when determining where to rank your website in their SERPs.
Here’s everything you need to know about Off-Site SEO, including what it is, why it’s important, how you can use off-page SEO tactics to improve your website’s ranking on search engine results pages, and much more.
What Is Off-Site SEO?
Off-Site SEO (also known as Off-Page SEO) is the process of optimizing your website for ranking in search engine results pages by conducting activities outside your website. This can include link building, social media activity, and brand mentions.
In fact, Google says that off-page factors make up 80% of Google’s search algorithm. Off-Site SEO is an essential part of any SEO strategy, and if you’re not doing it, you’re missing out on a lot of potential ranking power.
Why Is Off-Page SEO Important?
It’s never been a lot of fun dealing with search engine algorithms. It can be a pain in the neck, especially when those algorithms change and your website’s ranking suffers as a result.
But the benefits of Off-Site SEO are well worth the effort. Here are just a few of the benefits that you’ll enjoy when you focus on off-page SEO:
Online Branding & Visibility
One of the essential benefits of Off-Page SEO is that it can help to improve your brand’s visibility and online presence.
When you’re ranking high in the SERPs, people will notice. And when people take notice, they’re more likely to visit your website and learn more about your brand.
This can lead to increased traffic, more customers, and more sales. And that’s the ultimate goal of any business, right?
Increase in Referral and Social Traffic
Referral traffic is the traffic that comes to your website from other websites. This can happen when someone links to your website from their own site or when someone mentions your brand on social media.
Off-site SEO can help to increase your referral traffic by improving your ranking in the SERPs. You’re more likely to get links from other websites when you rank higher. And when you get links from other websites, you’re more likely to get referral traffic.
For example, let’s say you have a dog training website. And let’s say you rank #1 for the keyword “dog training.”
When someone searches for “dog training” in Google, your website will be the first result they see. And if they’re looking for a dog trainer, there’s a good chance they’ll click on a result and visit your website.
But it doesn’t stop there.
Once they’re on your website, they may see that you offer other services like dog walking and grooming. You’re then likely to get referrals for those services as well.
A simple domino effect starts with a high ranking in the SERPs. But it can have a significant impact on your business.
Increase in Domain Authority
Domain Authority (DA) is a metric used to predict how well a website will rank in the SERPs. It’s calculated by looking at various factors, including the number and quality of links that point to a website.
That doesn’t mean every higher DA website will rank higher in the SERPs. But it’s a good indicator of ranking potential.
And Off-page SEO can help to increase your DA. This is because one factor that is used to calculate DA is the number of links that point to your website.
On-Page SEO vs. Off-Page SEO
Now that you know what Off-Page SEO is and its benefits, you may be wondering how it differs from On-Page SEO.
On-Page SEO is the process of optimizing your website for ranking in search engine results pages by conducting activities on your website. This can include optimizing your website’s title and meta tags, creating fresh content, and improving your website’s speed(it comes under technical SEO too).
Off-Page SEO is totally different. It’s the process of optimizing your website for ranking in search engine results pages by conducting activities off your website. Link building is one of the most common off-page SEO activities.
Both On-Page and Off-Page SEO are important for ranking in the SERPs. But they’re different in a few key ways.
It’s another big topic to discuss, but in short, On-Page SEO is all about optimizing your website, while Off-Page SEO is about building relationships and promoting your website.
Off-Page SEO Techniques
Hooray, we made it to the good part! Let’s look at some of the most common Off-Page SEO techniques.
Link Building
Link building is getting links from other websites to your own. It’s one of the most important off-page SEO tactic.
There are a variety of ways to build links. But some of the most common methods include guest blogging, broken link building, and the skyscraper technique(my favorite).
There are a lot of off-page seo factors that go into building links. But the goal is always the same: to get links from high-quality websites.
One quick note: Link building has changed a lot over the years. In the past, it was easy to rank in the SERPs by getting a bunch of low-quality links from irrelevant websites. But that’s not the case anymore.
Now, Google is much better at identifying low-quality links. So if you’re going to build links, you need to make sure that they’re high quality.
Brand Building
That’s not the case whether you are a brand or not, but brand building is an important off-page SEO technique.
Brand building aims to increase your website’s exposure and get more people to recognize your brand. Greater brand recognition leads to more website visitors, leading to more customers and sales.
Here are a few brand-building activities that you can do:
- Create social media profiles and post regular updates.
- Write guest posts on other websites.
- Participate in online forums and discussion groups.
- Give presentations at industry events.
- Get interviewed by industry publications.
- Create helpful resources and guides.
- Host a webinar or podcast.
PR and News
PR and news can also significantly impact your website’s SEO.
Being featured in a popular publication or news outlet can help to increase your website’s exposure and attract more people to visit your site. This, in turn, can lead to more links and social shares.
Here are a few ways to get featured in the news:
- Submit your website to online directories.
- Write press releases and pitch them to popular publications.
- Submit your website to awards programs.
- Participate in industry events and tradeshows.
- Get quoted in popular magazines.
Note that before you can start doing any of these things, you need to have a well-optimized website. If you don’t, your efforts are likely to be wasted.
Local SEO (GMB and Citations)
Who loves ranking in the local pack?
If you’re a local business, ranking in the local pack is essential. After all, 97% of consumers use the internet to find local businesses.
Local SEO is optimizing your website for ranking in the local pack. The goal is to get your website to appear when people search for keywords related to your business.
There are a few things that you need to do to optimize your website for local SEO.
- Get your website is listed in Google My Business (GMB).
- You also need to ensure that your website is listed in online directories. These are called citations.
- Optimize your website for local keywords like your city or state. Make sure your website is mobile-friendly.
Influencer Marketing
People often forget about influencer marketing when they think about SEO. But the truth is that it can be a powerful off-page SEO technique.
Influencer marketing is the process of building relationships with influencers in your industry. These people have a large following and can help promote your website to their audience.
Take care of these things that you need to do to be successful with influencer marketing:
- Find influencers in your industry.
- Reach out to them and build a relationship.
- Ask them to promote your website or content.
Tips for Improving Your Off-Site SEO Efforts
Here are a few general tips that you can use to improve your off-page SEO efforts:
Keep an Eye on Your Competition
Even big brands have to keep an eye on their competition. After all, you can’t stay ahead if you don’t know what your competitors are doing. In terms of off-page SEO, you need to keep an eye on 5 things:
- The websites that your competitors are getting links from.
- The type of content that they’re creating.
- The social media platforms they’re using.
- The directories they’re listed in.
- The awards they’ve won.
You can use tools like Alexa and BuzzSumo to find this information.
No More Low-Quality Bulk Link Building
Link building is still an important part of off-page SEO strategy. But gone are the days when you could just create low-quality links in bulk and see results.
Today, Google is much more sophisticated. They can tell the difference between a high-quality link and a low-quality link. That’s why you need to focus on building high-quality links from relevant websites.
Monitor Your Progress
If you want to be successful with off-page SEO, you need to monitor your progress. This will help you to see what’s working and what’s not. There are a few things that you need to track:
- Your website’s organic traffic.
- The number of links pointing to your website.
- Your website’s authority.
- Your website’s rankings.
You can use tools like Google Analytics and Ahrefs to track this information.
Never Stop Learning
Google is constantly changing its algorithm. And that means that your off page optimization efforts need to change as well. The best way to stay ahead of the game is never to stop learning.
Read SEO blogs, listen to podcasts, and attend conferences. This will help you to stay up-to-date on the latest off-page SEO trends.
Create Informative and Compelling Content
One of the best things you can do for your off-page SEO is to create informative and compelling content. This will help to attract off page seo links and social shares. But it’s not enough to just create any old content. Your content needs to be high-quality and informative.
Final Thoughts
Optimizing your website for off-site SEO is just as important as it is on-site. Doing so can improve your chances of ranking higher in SERPs, getting more traffic, and converting more leads.
Off-site SEO isn’t difficult, but it does take time and effort. However, it’s well worth it in the long run.
Have you optimized your website for off-site SEO? What techniques have you found to be most effective? Let us know in the comments below!
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