If you want customers to find your website, it is important to prioritize search engine optimization (SEO) . This extensive process involves several techniques, some of which occur off your site. Once you understand the concept of off-page SEO and know some best practices, you will be in a better position to optimize your site and increase its visibility.
In this post, we will explain what off-page SEO is and why it is important. Then we will provide you with a list of tips and best practices on how to conduct off-page SEO and discuss how it is different from on-page SEO.
Let’s get started!
Table of Contents hides
What is off-page SEO?
How is off-page SEO different from on-page SEO?
Why is off-page SEO important?
How to do off-page SEO (7 tips).
- Earn quality backlinks from high authority sites
- Create and share unique and engaging content
- Create a Google My Business account
- Encourage customer reviews
- Build a strong social media presence
- Try Influencer Marketing
- Monitor your brand signals and mentions
Conclusion
What is off-page SEO?
Off-page SEO, also known as off-site SEO, consists of the actions you take from your website to increase your search engine rankings. When most people think about off-page SEO, they focus on backlinks. Although link building is an important part of off-page SEO, it is not the only aspect.
Much of off-page SEO involves improving the way your site is perceived in terms of quality, authority, popularity, etc. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Social media
- Content marketing
- Brand mentions
- Influencer marketing
The activities you perform outside of your website can affect how Google and other search engines perceive your content. If performed correctly, they can help your site appear more trustworthy and authoritative , which Google will reward.
How is off-page SEO different from on-page SEO?
Although both processes can increase search engine visibility, there are some key differences between off-page SEO and on-page SEO. As you might expect, on-page SEO refers to the actions you take on your website to optimize it.
This includes:
- Internal linking
- Image optimization
- Keyword usage
- Title and metadata optimization
Another way in which off-page SEO is different from on-page SEO is that you have complete control over the latter. On-page SEO involves making changes directly to your website, which you can do at any time. Otherwise, off-page SEO involves actions such as contacting a third-party blog and asking them to share a link to your site.
Why is off-page SEO important?
Off-page SEO is important because it can affect your site’s ranking in search engine results (SERPs). Google’s algorithm takes backlinks and other off-site signals into account when deciding how to show websites to searchers. These signals include:
- Relevance and value of content (to what extent it matches user intentions)
- Anchor text
- Social signals
- Brand mentions
- Domain authority
Making off-page SEO part of your optimization strategy can drive traffic to your site and increase engagement and conversion rates. It can also help you build brand awareness and reach new audience segments.
How to do off-page SEO (7 tips)
Now that you cknow what off-page SEO is and why it’s important, it’s time to look at how to get started. Below are seven tips and best practices you can follow to implement off-page SEO on your site.
- Earn quality backlinks from high-authority sites.
Link building is the heart of off-page SEO. If there are many credible websites linking to your site, this indicates to Google that you are providing relevant, quality content that people like.
In fact, research has shown that pages with many backlinks rank better than those without. On average, the top spot in Google results has almost four times as many backlinks as those below it.
In other words, backlinks are essentially a vote of confidence. If you want to check your site’s link authority score, you can use a tool such as Backlink Analytics from Semrush :
Of course, earning links from high-authority sites is easier said than done. The likelihood of earning them increases when you regularly create and publish valuable, quality content . If you do this, publishers and brands can organically mention and link to your content.
In any case, you can also take a more proactive approach to link building by contacting third-party sites and requesting link attribution or mention. For example, you could partner with influencers to get them to promote and link to your content. This is one form of influencer marketing, which we will discuss in more detail shortly.
When it comes to link building, we recommend focusing on quality rather than quantity. It is also important to make sure you are using white hat SEO tactics. It is best to avoid spam and black hat SEO practices, such as excessive linking to your own content in forums and comment sections.
- Create and share unique and engaging content
Content marketing is another key aspect of off-page SEO. As mentioned, publishing unique, interesting, and engaging content can help you naturally build link authority.
In addition to your on-page SEO content, such as your blog posts, you can also leverage other forms of content marketing. For example, you can write guest posts for external websites and include a text link to your site. This is also a great way to get your content and brand in front of a new audience.
Other types of resources you can create and share include:
- Infographics
- Case studies
- White papers
- eBooks
If you create informative, high-quality content, people will naturally want to link to it and share it. Long-form content, in particular, can be beneficial. One study found that long-form content gets 75% more backlinks than shorter pieces.
Also, we recommend incorporating data and statistics into your content. Research-supported content can help generate backlinks, as publishers might cite it as a source.
- Create a Google My Business account.
Google My Business is a free business profile account that you can create with Google:
These profiles appear in Google search results for local queries, for example, “idi seafood restaurant near me.” Creating and optimizing your Google My Business profile can help you improve your ranking in organic search results.
To get started, you can visit the Google My Business website and select Manage Now . After adding essential information, you can include a link to your website, photos and more.
Customers can also leave ratings and reviews on your profile. This can be another way to increase your off-page SEO over time.
- Encourage customer reviews
There are several benefits to generating reviews from customers . In addition to providing potential new customers with social proof and increasing trust, reviews can improve your off-page SEO:
This is why we recommend that you encourage your customers to leave reviews on sites like Trustpilot and Google My Business. You can incentivize them by giving them a reward, such as a coupon or discount.
Keep in mind that reviews must be genuine. Users can spot a fake review a mile away and can even report to Google that you are trying to fool the system if there are too many fake ones.
- Build a strong social media presence
When it comes to generating backlinks and brand mentions, both of which are excellent for off-page SEO, social media platforms can be incredibly helpful. Nowadays, many people use social media sites as smaller versions of search engines.
On these platforms, users can search for products or services they are interested in, find answers to questions, and so on. Of course, they are also popular platforms for sharing and linking to interesting content. Interacting with customers on social media sites can also serve as a channel for customer service and support.
We recommend that you share your content on social media frequently. This can help drive traffic to your website, as well as build brand awareness and authority.
- Try Influencer Marketing
Earlier, we mentioned that influencer marketing can help you generate backlinks. However, this is not the only reason to take a closer look at this technique.
Collaborating with influencers who have a large following can be an effective way to expand brand awareness and promote your content on a larger scale to reach new audiences. It can help establish credibility and strengthen your social media presence.
To get the most out of influencer marketing, we suggest reaching out to famous people in your niche or current customers who are already familiar with your brand. The more authentic their appreciation for your products or services, the easier it will be for them to create genuine, quality content that resonates with users.
To find potential influencers in your niche, you can use a platform like BuzzSumo :
Its Content Analyzer tool can help you find influencers who are most likely to share your content. You can search for keywords and topics related to your brand or campaign and then view the top shares of related posts.
- Monitor your brand signals and mentions.
Google uses brand signals to check whether or not you are a legitimate business. It also considers brand mentions (references to your company, products or services), both related and unrelated.
Therefore, we recommend that you check your brand signals to see how many people are currently searching for your business. You can find this information using the Google Search Console performance report . Simply go to Search Results, then select the Appearance tab in the search:
You can also set up brand monitoring using a platform such as Mention :
This tool allows you to track how many people are talking about your site on third-party platforms, such as news sites and social media channels. Using it consistently can help you identify trends over time and see what is generating the most interest and engagement.
Conclusion
Optimizing your WordPress site can help you drive traffic and increase revenue. However, to improve your chances of ranking, it is critical to focus on both on-page and off-page SEO.
As we have seen in this post, there are uvarious methods you can use to implement off-page SEO ps on your website, including guest blogging, content marketing, creating your social media presence, and working with influencers.