Off-page SEO
Off-page SEO (or sometimes referred to as off-site SEO) is one of the most important parts of any SEO strategy.
If you are looking to increase your website authority and visibility then off-page is a tactic you will want to make sure you’re adopting.
In this guide we will cover the following:
- What is Off-page SEO
- Importance of Off-page SEO
- Benefits of Off-page SEO
- Off-page SEO Checklist
Let’s jump right in and start with a basic understanding to get you up to speed.
What is Off-page SEO?
In short, Off-page SEO is essentially a tactical approach to SEO outside your website.
It is often thought that link building is the heart of off-page SEO, but this is not fully true. There are a range of other off-page tactics that you should also know about and consider adopting if you are not already. Such tactics include brand building, content creation, citation building and social media marketing, just to name a few.
To quickly summarise off-page SEO, it involves tactics of building strong signals about your business outside your actual website. Leveraging these off-page signals to promote and provide search engines with a strong authority of your business.
To make it really simple think of it like this:
Your website = On-page SEO
Other websites or platforms = Off-page SEO
In general, SEO will fall into 3 types; Off-page SEO, On-page SEO and Technical SEO. We won’t go into detail about On-Page & Technical SEO in this article, but if you would like to read more about them you can find more in our SEO fundamentals article.
Importance of Off-page SEO
Off-page SEO is vital to your website’s organic ranking and visibility to search engines, it helps tell others on the web that your website is of value. Each time your website is mentioned on another platform or website, Google sees this as someone vouching for you.
To put this into context, if you had two identical websites with the same exact content, but the only differentiating factor was that one of these websites had more links to it from another website. The website with links pointing to it will rank higher on search engines like Google because Google measures off-page SEO on the quality and amount of referring links.
A website with no off-page signals is essentially losing out on organic traffic and ranking high in the SERP.
Benefits of Off-page SEO
Off-page SEO is essential to get your website ranking and there are a number of benefits that come with it. At the core, it’s the only way to give search engines authority signals about your website and its content.
Once off-page SEO starts kicking in you will start to see three main benefits to this strategy.
Three main benefits of Off-page SEO:
1.) Improve SERP position
The more authority your website can gain through external references (links, brand building, citations) the higher it will be positioned in the SERP (Search Engine Results Page). The higher your position in the SERPs and the more visibility you will gain, turning into an increase in organic traffic to your website.
To put it really simply:
Increased SERP position = Increased organic traffic
2.) Increase your Page Ranking
Page ranking is a numerical figure search engines like Google give to individual web pages, based on the number and quality of links they gain. Google provides a number from 0-10 that will deem the ranking that it is given. The higher the score the more authoritative the page and its content is seen to be. The page ranking score is also a contributing factor to your position in the SERPs.
3.) Increase your website Exposure
The overall benefits of activating an off-page strategy is an increase in your overall website exposure. Increased exposure turns into more backlinks and brand awareness, thus having a direct correlation to your position in the SERPs and your page ranking.
Off-Page SEO Checklist
We have put together a checklist of 10 off-page SEO tactics you should be leveraging to ensure you have an edge against your competition.
- Backlink building
- Brand building
- Content marketing
- PR
- Local SEO
- Social Media Marketing
- Influencer Marketing
- Guest posts
- Podcasts
- Reviews
Let’s explain a little more about each of these tactics hereunder so you get an idea of the value they can deliver.
Backlinks (Link Building)
Backlinks and link building should be at the core of your off-page SEO strategy given the fact that Google’s algorithm values it so highly as a ranking factor.
It’s important to approach link building with a strategy in mind. You don’t want to be acquiring just any backlink. You want to be gaining authoritative backlinks, from reputable websites. Gaining backlinks from authoritative sites will act as a vote of confidence for Google.
It’s simply about quality over quantity, although it won’t be easy to acquire these authoritative backlinks it will be worth it in the long run.
Want to learn more about backlinks, take a look at Link Building for SEO: The Basics Explained.
Brand Building
Building a brand is no easy task but it pays off in the long run and we know it is one ranking signal Google looks for when it comes to off-page SEO. Brand building refers to how widely your brand name or domain is mentioned over the internet. The more it’s mentioned the stronger this signal becomes. It’s a tactic that should be at the core of your off-page SEO.
Content Marketing
When you think of content marketing, you probably think it’s an on-page tactic, but it’s also an off-page tactic too. Publishing content on your own website is just one placement, but in actual fact, this content can be published in other locations all over the web (off-page).
For example, here are some standard off-page content marketing formats and placements:
- Guest posts
- Infographics used by another author on the web
- Surveys or research papers use by another author on the web
- White-papers & e-books used by other authors on the web
Although you might have originally published your content on your website, it can easily be picked up and published by others on their website or referred to in other digital assets online.
Digital PR
Digital PR helps your off-page SEO in a number of different ways and is becoming a popular tactic for today's SEOs. Digital PR is a fantastic way to build brand awareness and backlinks at the same time. It also puts your brand right in front of your target audiences, driving relevant traffic to your website and position you as a thought leader in your industry.
Local SEO
While local SEO is a large part of your overall SEO strategy in itself, there are two important parts that fall into Off-page SEO. This is Google My Business and citations.
Google My Business is its own website and opportunity to display your listing. There are massive benefits for optimising your GMB listing as all activity here is essentially off-page SEO. But we won’t go into detail here, this is its own separate topic for discussion.
Citations on the other hand are relatively simple, it is the placement of your NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) over industry related directories. This acts as a validation for google and a referring domain for your website.
Social Media Marketing
Social Media is a massive part of building a brand and getting in front of your target audience, the average person spends 145 minutes a day on social media.
Social media marketing provides an opportunity for your brand to get in front of your target audience organically. It’s also a place of contact if someone has a customer care question, providing a fast and easy way for people to get in touch with your brand.
If you think of social media platforms like a search engine, a place for people to discover your brand based on a search query. It can provide a powerful way to organically reach your target audience and provide a valuable touchpoint.
It’s important to keep your social media updated and maintain professional communication, treating social media marketing as a touchpoint in your sales funnel. It’s a channel for your target audience to get to know your brand on a regular basis.
It’s important to note that social shares are not a ranking factor for Google, a common misunderstanding.
Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is a fantastic way to build brand awareness and gain traction for your brand online. It’s not necessarily about building backlinks, but see it as a way to amplify your brand to a wider audience.
Today Instagram, Youtube and Tiktok are the three kings of influencer marketing. It’s all about finding the right influencer to work within your niche and using their audience to leverage your brand. People trust recommendations from others and are more likely to take action from someone they trust and value.
Use influencer marketing in your Off-page SEO strategy to leverage your brand and build a strong relationship with your target audience through the trust of others.
It’s not all about gaining backlinks.
Guest posts
Guest posts are a fantastic way to gain backlinks, it involves writing a guest post on an industry-relevant website. When done right it’s a quick and easy way to gain backlinks while getting in front of your target audience.
As a guest, writing content for someone else’s website, you are essentially acting as an expert in your field and providing value with your content to an audience that is relevant to your brand.
Guest posting is one of the most powerful backlink strategies, if not the most powerful.
Podcasts
Podcasts are extremely popular and are growing in popularity. If you are not yet using podcasting in your digital mix then you should think about starting your own for your business or getting features as a guest on a relevant industry podcast to bring attention to your brand. Similar to influencer marketing you will want to choose the right podcaster with the right audience to get in front.
Reviews
Online reviews are so important in today's customer buying journey, in fact, 93% of people say online reviews impact their buying decision. Online reviews are an underestimated aspect of a businesses online presence and off-page SEO strategy.
A business should not ignore its online reputation and make it a main priority to keep it in a positive light because it will have a positive impact. The core essence of off-page SEO is about building brand ranking signals and trust, showing search engines like google that you deserve to be ranked highly. Gaining a positive image from reviews is a great way to build trust and will be rewarded with more web visitors and conversions.
How can Clear Click help?
We often find that clients are overwhelmed with the task of SEO, especially off-page SEO and there are so many amazing approaches to take. It’s important to remember SEO is a long term process and is not won overnight.
If you are interested in having our SEO specialist build out a strategy to help support your off-page SEO goals, contact us with your request or book a free consultation call. We ensure a bespoke strategy that is custom fit to your business and budget.
