You’ve no doubt heard the terms on the page and off-page SEO. Do you know what on-page SEO is but what is off-page SEO? Well, SEO stands for search engine optimization. There are two types of SEO and those are on-page SEO and off-page SEO and both are designed to help increase your website’s page rankings.
Let’s go into a little more detail about on-page and off-page SEO.
What Is Off-Page SEO?
What really is off-page SEO and do you really need it? More about that in a moment. But first, let’s discuss what off-page SEO is.
The term off-page SEO is used to indicate marketing that is done outside of your website to help improve your website’s ranking on the search engine results page (SERPs). SERPs are any given page that a search engine returns when a user enters a search query. The higher your website ranks in the SERPs, the more traffic your website will receive.
Here are some examples of off-page SEO:
- Linked and unlinked brand mentions
- Social media marketing
- Commenting and answering questions on industry blogs
- Forum participation and commenting
- Social bookmarking
- Web 2.0 linking (linking to micro-blogging sites, website profiles on other sites, author links, etc.)
- Influencer marketing (using endorsements and product mentions from industry individuals who are considered influencers)
- Guest blogging on relevant websites
These are just a few examples of off-page SEO. So, put another…off-page SEO tells Google what others think about your website. That’s why having high-quality websites linking to your website is so effective to increase search visibility and rankings.
Quality links towards your website tell Google and the other search engines that your content is relevant and valuable, or no one would be linking to it. It’s a form of social proof. People wouldn’t bother linking to your website if it wasn’t providing value to their website’s users.
Off-Page SEO Versus Brick-and-Mortar Store Marketing
Off-page SEO is based on human behavior, meaning people only share content they like. This is similar to how it works for brick-and-mortar businesses. If people like any given business’s products and services, it will typically receive many word-of-mouth referrals. Off-page SEO works the same way except it’s online and uses links.
Reasons Why You Need Off-Page SEO
Why is off-page SEO needed? Off-page optimization signals that your content is valuable to users, as we discussed above. But what is the result of good off-page SEO?
Off-page optimization increases your brand’s exposure. That means it will help build your brand and your brand’s reputation, broaden your marketing reach, and increase your referrals. It will also increase the traffic you get from social media, increase your website’s domain authority, increase the rankings of your website pages, and result in better overall search engine rankings, which results in more traffic.
Keeping Organized
One of the best ways to make sure your off-page SEO is being done properly is to use an off-page SEO checklist. Most off-page SEO services use an on-page and off-page SEO checklist to make sure they are covering all the bases for every client.
So if you are still wondering why you need off-page SEO—wonder no more. Off-page SEO offers a HUGE benefit with minimal cost while producing passive results month after month and year after year. You build an off-page SEO campaign once and it will work for you for many years to come.
Links and Off-Page SEO – Do They Matter?
Links and off-page SEO. Do they matter? Yes, and here’s why.
Building backlinks is the foundation of off-page SEO. Google and the other search engines use backlink signals to determine any given website’s quality, authority, and page ranking. There are three types of links used in off-page SEO.
1. Natural Linking
Natural linking is a link that is achieved without the participation of the original content owner. This type of link occurs when a third-party links to a post or other piece of content. For example, if you are a restaurant owner and you include a link to a piece of content on a third-party website about healthy eating. This is considered a natural link.
2. Manual Linking
Manual linking is when a website owner actively seeks out links to their website. For example, when a website owner asks an influencer or customers to link to or share their content. This is considered a manual link-building activity that involves action from both parties.
3. Self-Created Linking
Self-created links occur when a website owner adds their business website to a blog, forum, online directory, press release, or comment signature. Please keep in mind that if you put out too many self-created links, this looks unnatural to the search engines and comes across as spammy. Therefore, use this link-building tactic sparingly.
Best Practices in Conducting Off-Page SEO
Here are some of the best practices for conducting off-page SEO.
Link Building
Link building is like getting votes for your website. The more links you get, the higher your website and pages will rank on the search engines. You can use natural, manual, or self-created linking for this.
Social Media
Social media is also great for off-page SEO. Social media will help build your brand recognition and domain authority, increase your search engine rankings, broaden your brand’s reach, and make it easier to engage with your customers and followers. Make sure to link back to your website within your posts. It’s necessary to drive traffic from sources outside of Google.
Local SEO Strategies
Local SEO helps optimize your website for local search results. This method is generally used for brick-and-mortar businesses. Businesses that serve people in their local geographic locations or that have a storefront. These are usually grocery stores, beauty salons, chiropractic offices, roofing companies, etc. To deploy this off-page SEO strategy, you must use marketing tactics that show the search engines you serve your local area.
This can be done by adding your company to the Google My Business directory, as well as local and national directories. You can also use review sites such as Tripadvisor and Yelp, etc., by consistently engaging with your customers and followers across all digital platforms.
Additionally, it’s very important to have a powerful citation-building campaign. These are essentially directories for local businesses. There are thousands of directories available to you.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is the foundation for all other types of internet marketing. The internet is made up of content, so to reach your target audience, you have to grab their attention using content that addresses their wants, needs, and pain points.
You can do this by producing high-quality content, then putting that content on blog posts, social media posts, guest blog posts, infographics, PDFs, downloadable offers, surveys, and any other platforms where your audience hangs out.
The value of this is that the backlinks you receive show the search engines your website and pages are a trusted authority and, in return, they will rank you higher, resulting in more traffic to your website.
Outsmart the Competition with Off-Page SEO
Now that you’ve learned the importance of off-page SEO and how it will help improve your website’s rankings, how do you go about outsmarting your competition?
The best way to outsmart the competition is to hire a team of professionals who know exactly how to help you get ahead and stay ahead of your competition.
A digital marketing company can help boost your local SEO and website rankings through research, data analysis, planning, creativity, and following through with rolling out and maintaining an effective marketing campaign.
What’s Next?
If you want to learn more about off-page SEO or any other type of digital marketing for your business, please Contact MDR (Marketing Done Right) at 1-619-354-0355. We are a team of digital marketing specialists in Cleveland, OH providing off-page SEO services and more. Our SEO experts help businesses in Cleveland and around the country take their brand to the next level and beyond!
Now that you’ve finished reading this article, you no longer have to wonder “What is off-page SEO?” You also know where to find SEO experts ready and willing to help you tackle it. At MDR we will custom tailor a campaign that will deliver results for your business. So reach out—we’d love to show you just how effective our off-page SEO services can be.
