Talking about SEO, on a broad term it can be divided into two brackets: on-page SEO & off-page SEO. While on-page is all about what you do within the website, off-page is what you do outside of the site to promote the brand.
How Off-Page Differs to On-Page SEO?
If I am working on updating website page content, or meta tags, or implementing schema on the website, it is on-page SEO. And if I am reaching to someone to request to link to my site, or if I am promoting a post on my brand’s social channel, it is off-page SEO.
Many consider off-page SEO as only link-building. However, it goes way beyond that. There isn’t a limit to what you can in off-page activities. While link-building is a part of that, but it isn’t the only approach that web marketers adopt for off-SEO campaign. It can be implemented by embracing different top SEO tools, strategies, channels and platforms.
Now, if you think that off-page is something that you can do randomly and using whatever method you have time for or prefer, then you might be deviating from the right strategy. On-page SEO enhances your site’s technical structure and profile, off-page SEO is what takes you to reach out to others, bring in traffic and enhance branding your business. This is as important as on-page SEO.
Why Off-Page SEO is Important? Why You Should Focus on Key Aspects of Off-Page SEO?
1. Link-Building is Critical – It Brings Traffic
Google relies on its tool or algorithm called PageRank that studies the quantity and quality of backlinks related to your site.
It Drives Referring Domains – Referring domains means unique links that links back to you. The better the referring domains (in quality and quantity), the better your ranking and organic search traffic.
2. It Improves Link Authority
The quality of the website you are linking to defines what link authority you are gaining (a string ranking factor). A single link from a high-authority or quality webpage or website is much better than tens or hundreds of links from low-authority sites.
However, link authority isn’t as less important as relevance. You don’t just need to drive links from a high-page website but that page should be relevant to your site page you are linking back to.
3. Local SEO Can’t Be Done Without Effective Off-Page SEO
If you are a local business, then having your business information (accurate and complete) updated on Google maps, local citations, etc. is important to give you an edge. Without this, you can’t expect to reach higher in rankings. NAP (Name, Address, Phone) citations is an important part of local SEO that you have to implement. Your strong on-page SEO won’t be able to deliver results without implementing NAP.
For any site looking to target Google search rankings for their local business, claiming their fully-optimized Google My Business (GMB) profile is a core step they have to take.
4. Brand Mentions Makes the Business Gain Prominence
Doing blogger outreach, creating guest posts, being a guest on podcasts, or brand mentions on other channels is a great strategy to get your brand’s name out. This can be linked or unlinked. While Google and other search engines may give value to unlinked mentions, linked ones are always better and they are able to take the reader directly back to the source. Brand mentioning may not seem too strong at first, but over time it has the capacity to create a strong brand image.
5. Reviews Play a Big Role for a Site’s Trustworthiness
A company not only have to have higher ranking and traffic, but also credibility when it comes to delivering value and customer service experience. For a local business reviews play a big role in this aspect, which Google views as the 3rd most important ranking factor in their ‘snack pack’. How positive are your reviews, on which third-party sites those reviews are present, everything plays a big role.
6. Social Signals Do Come Into Play
Social signal is how much engaged your brand is on social media with potential customers and how much proactive your brand’s presence is on these social channels. While Google has officially maintained that social signals aren’t a direct factor. But these do influence organic rankings, brand popularity and referral traffic as well.
Genuine social shares, likes, subscriptions, and how effective you are engaging with past, present and future target audience; all can have an indirect effect on your brand appeal. And no doubt that in-app shopping and referral traffic from your product promotions on social media do add to increased traffic and sales.
Conclusion:
Off-page SEO may seem to be a harder task, because most of these factors aren’t your control and it is a wider field to approach. However, with right strategy, using top SEO tools and a tactical approach will definitely help you gain maximum from your off-page SEO.
