Off-Page SEO
It is one of the key part of a successful SEO strategy. If you want to increase rank of your website in Google, your brand awareness and organic search traffic in 2024, this article is for you. We will talk about Off Page SEO deeply, about its meaning and importance and the tactics you should use to grow your website.
What is Off-Page SEO?
It refers to set of actions that take place outside of website. These actions are done with the aim of introducing the website as much as possible to search engines, especially Google. The direct effect of Off-Page SEO principles is to increase website ranking. Off-Page SEO is a very good indicator of how other websites and users perceives a particular website. A website that focuses on producing quality content and publishing content with SEO will most likely have references (backlinks) from other websites. These backlinks increase your website rank, cause it to be introduced more in social media and lead more users to it.
In general, search engines use links for the following two reasons:
- Discover new pages or updates of a website.
- How to determine the ranking of a website in the list of search results.
By monitoring websites and exploring its pages, search engines read and classify page content based on their algorithm’s criteria and indexes. Search engines use their own artificial intelligence algorithm to evaluate the quality of content on a page and determine the rank of keywords and pages by controlling the number and origin of links that refer to the desired page. The higher number of websites linked to a website, the higher website ranking in search results list.
What are Off-Page SEO benefits?
Different methods are used in Off-Page SEO managing and implementing. By increasing website credibility and its ranking, Google’s intelligent search engine comes to believe that the website publishes useful content by creating quality content and is reliable. This credit will cause the website to be displayed repeatedly among the results presented in the Google search results list. The creation of SEO content causes more users visit the website and sales of goods and services increase.
This process is like a never-ending sequence of events that makes it cost-effective to create SEO content for the website. The increase in visitors causes the website to be introduced in various places and in different ways, and by verifying its authenticity; the website’s rank is increased. The creation of SEO content and the frequent viewing of the website will strengthen the website’s ranking and gain more and more users’ trust.
Google wants to display websites in its search results list whose skill and capability in creating quality content and publishing SEO content has been proven by the number of visitors and other websites verification. For example, if you want to be known as an expert on a topic, it is not enough to create quality content and make this claim on your own, and other websites related to your expertise field should confirm, according to your claim. Such confirmation is indicated and evaluated through links to your website.
What is link building in Off-Page SEO?
Link building is the most popular and effective technique for Off-Page SEO. In this method, by creating links to a specific website, an attempt is made to persuade visitors to visit the website. Each visitor’s entry through these links is a positive vote given to the website. These votes help to improve website ranking so that it can get away from its competitors and get a higher rank.
For example, if someone likes this article and references it from your website or blog, that’s like telling search engines that this page has good information.
What is a good link in Off-Page SEO?
If Google is asked what is a good link characteristic, it will answer: “Links pointing to your website should be natural links”. Natural links are exactly what their name suggests. A website owner or a blogger likes an SEO content and voluntarily and naturally adds a link to their website or blog. It does not matter how many links are pointing to your website, it is more important where those links are coming from. So a good link is referred to a website from an authentic source.
The best way to get good links is to create quality content and publish SEO content that other people like and refer to. Backlinks means creating links from other websites to the desired website. Backlink is a tool that allows users to move between different pages and access the information they are looking for. Note: If you try to use tricks to create fake links, you will be penalized instead of ranking (especially in Google case).
13 Off-Page SEO techniques in 2024
- Backlink Creation
- Branding
- Content Marketing
- PR
- Local SEO
- Social Medias
- Associations
- Influencer Marketing
- Events
- Guest post
- Podcast
- Review
- Content Syndication
Link building in Off-Page SEO
Link building is the main part of Off-Page SEO strategy due to its value in Google algorithms. It is important to learn how to use it. One of the key goals of Off-Page SEO is building credibility for your business. Links from reliable websites can help your website’s position and credibility. Therefore, your first goal of link building should be to get links from reliable websites. However, there are some points that should not be forgotten:
Domain Authority
When a website gives you a follow link, it has transferred its credit to your website. There is a concept called authority score, which is abbreviated as AS. A credit score is actually a domain score estimation that determines the overall quality of a website and tells you how effective it is to get backlinks from that website. This score is given based on the following data:
- Quality and quantity of domain backlinks
- Quantity of referred domains and IPs
- Follow and nofollow links
- Organic search traffic
- Number of users
To find out the authority score of a domain, you can use Backlink Analytics tool. You can see the website score in AS column of a page. The higher score, the more authoritative domain.
Unique Domains
Another key measure in success of link building is the number of links from main domain websites that are given to your website.
Thematic Validity
Always remember to get backlinks from websites that are thematically relevant to your website. For example, if you own a travel website, most of the links you get should be from other travel websites, bloggers, travelogues, tourism sites. Of course, it is not a problem if you have backlinks from other websites, but do not put your main goal on them. It is better that the links are conceptually relevant. There are other ways to get backlinks or credit, such as:
- Digital PR
- Mentioning the brand name without linking
- Source link
- News surfing
Branding
Google cares about branding. Therefore, one of the key parts of your SEO strategy and Off-Page SEO goals should be branding. This process ultimately leads to build online credibility for both users and search engines. But how to do this and what are the criteria for success in this field?
Brand Searching
One of the strongest signs that you are doing a good branding is that your brand is being searched for more than before. This search can include brand name, product name or domain address. To see how your brand’s search volume has changed over time, go to the Keyword Overview tool and type in your brand name. It will be presented a Trend box that shows how much search volume for your brand name has changed over the past few months. You can also follow keywords related to your brand through Google Trends.
Content Marketing role in Off-Page SEO
When it comes to content marketing, everyone only thinks about On-Page SEO tactics which means creating and publishing content on the website. But in reality content marketing needs both On-Page and Off-Page SEO. For example, if you write a comment somewhere as a guest, it is considered content marketing.
Using content marketing as a tactic for Off-Page SEO involves creating engaging and attractive content that makes it easier to focus on Off-Page factors.
Common content marketing tactics that are effective for Off-Page SEO include:
- Blog posts
- Infographics
- Questionnaires, studies and research
- Electronic books or e-books
As a tactic, content marketing is linked to link building, social Medias, and PR that builds your brand. Simply put, if you have great content, tell everyone about it.
Local SEO
Local SEO itself is an important topic in SEO. But parts of it are also used in Off-Page SEO. One in Google My Business and one contact information (citations).
Google My Business
It plays a vital role in online presence of any business. So it is important to optimize your page for this and put it on the map to get more points in Off-Page SEO. Recent surveys have shown that 46% of Google searches are for local business information. 4 out of 5 search engine users are looking for local information. All these numbers show that if your business is not among the GMB search results, you have lost some of the competition.
Podcasts
Currently, podcast is one of the most popular media in the world. And its popularity is increasing as well. According to statistics, 44% of Americans have listened to a podcast at least once, and about 73 million people listen to podcasts monthly. Let us take a look at other advantages of this media:
- Most businesses have not started podcasting yet, which means there is an untapped market waiting for you. Use this competitive advantage.
- Podcast is a great way to find new contacts, share your experience and be seen in search engines other than Google.
Businesses that understand their SEO strategy covers more than just the Google search engine are much more successful in branding. Find the right platform for your target audience and have a effective presence on it.
Reviews
Your brand reputation in the digital space is more important than ever. Studies have shown that 93% of people read reviews before buying a product and then make a decision. Therefore, managing your online brand’s public image is not something you can ignore. If a business offers a product or service that other websites and platforms write reviews for, it will automatically have a positive effect on its Off-Page SEO. Of course, if this review is positive, that is even better. Brands that have good business ratings from review services such as Google’s rating services are better placed in terms of SEO.
Why do you need Off-Page SEO?
Without Off-Page SEO, you will struggle to compete on search results page. Think of Off-Page SEO as a way to build your website’s credibility. Without it, you cannot have a place in the competition. Usually, content on websites with higher authority ranks better on search results page than other websites. In general, links are signals to Google that your website has been recommended by other websites. Link is one of the three important factors of Google ranking and not considering it in SEO strategy will result in an irreparable cost. However, do not completely focus all on link building. There are other Off-Page SEO techniques to consider. They may not be as effective as links, but they build your brand credibility.
Conclusion
Creating traffic for website requires actions beyond content and On-Page optimizations of the website. In the website design even if H1 headers are used, powerful keywords are used and scattered in several internal links, in order to increase the website ranking, the other thing should also focus on is; building an effective Off-Page SEO strategy. If Off-Page SEO is done correctly, the website will automatically start earning backlinks, improve search engine ranking, and increase the website’s ranking. Instead of working harder, let us work right.