Table of Contents
What is Off-Page SEO?
Off-page SEO (search engine optimization) is a term used to describe the action taken to improve a website’s ranking in search engines. Off-page SEO often involves the creation of links to improve your website’s authority and ranking.
We may use various tactics to draw attention to a brand, create content, use social media, and more—all of which may be utilized as elements in any off-page SEO strategy.
Nevertheless, you cannot expect off-page SEO to boost your site’s ranking without combining it with technical SEO and on-page SEO tactics. So, It is highly recommended to get the help of an SEO Agency to guide you on the right path.
Why Do You Need Off-page SEO & Why Does it Matter?
Google constantly updates its algorithm, and some members of the Search Engine Optimization community think that off-page SEO still plays a significant role in a web page’s ability to rank.
Although Google has not yet revealed which factors it uses to determine a site’s ranking in search results, a study by Moz found that off-page SEO carried about 50% of the ranking factor weight.
With Google considering many off-page SEO factors in its ranking algorithms, it can be challenging to rank only on the merit of good content. Above all, your readers must find the content trustworthy.
From the time Google introduced PageRank in 1999 to now, methods and algorithms have been improved to make a Google search more relevant. To succeed on a website, you need high-quality content backed up by backlinks from trustworthy sites.
Do Backlinks Matter in 2023?
Before we continue, let’s dispel some myths about off-page SEO. Some people claim that search engine optimization is dead because backlinks no longer work.
The truth is that SEO is still a viable way to market a website, and backlinks are still an essential part of the equation.
Although Google has modified its search algorithms, backlinks remain important for SEO as a core part of the original PageRank algorithm. There have been several independent studies that have proven the impact of backlinks on organic search performance.
A website’s ranking for competitive keywords is often challenging to achieve without off-page SEO.
The main points to remember are:
- High-authority websites and those with many incoming links tend to outrank those with less authority.
- An off-page strategy that doesn’t utilize link-building is unlikely to drive results.
Types of Backlinks in SEO
There are two primary types of backlinks in SEO:
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Do-Follow
A do-follow backlink helps with search engine optimization by passing link authority. Link authority is known as link juice, which benefits the site receiving it.
Link juice improves a site’s authority, credibility, and search engine rankings for related keywords. By default, links are do-follow.
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No-Follow
A no-follow link does not pass link authority to another site. It is not advantageous in terms of search engine optimization. To make a link nofollow, add rel=” nofollow” to the HTML code when linking to a website.
Tell Google about the relationship between your site and pages you link to, and use a “real” attribute value in your page’s code.
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rel-sponsored
Introduced rel=sponsored attribute to provide authoritatively annotated markup for paid link placements and advertisements.
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rel=ugc
When composing forum posts and comments, use the rel=ugc attribute to ensure your post will be seen in Google searches.
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rel=nofollow
Use the rel= “nofollow” attribute to indicate that you don’t want Google to associate your site with other pages you’re linking.
Types Of Links That Matter in SEO
Backlink building is an essential part of any off-page SEO campaign. Search engines use backlinks to determine the content quality on the linked-to page. A site with quality backlinks will generally rank higher than a similar site with fewer backlinks.
Links can be categorized into three main types:
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Natural Links
Editorial links are those that are built naturally. For example, you write a blog post about photography, which includes a link to your favourite photography equipment shop. It is a natural link.
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Manually-Built Links
Manually built links are created through link-building activities, including asking for a link on an influencer’s site or getting a backlink in exchange for guest post submissions.
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Self-Created Links
Adding Backlinks and blog commenting are two practices that create self-links to your website.
Many self-created links may lead you to employ black hat SEO tactics. Therefore, you should always exercise caution when pursuing this option.
While the methods you use to obtain links are your business, the links that offer the most SEO value are those that pass more equity.
Factors contributing to passing equity, such as:
- The popularity of the linking site.
- Linking site’s reliability
- The relevance of the linking site’s topic to that of the site to which it links
- The freshness of a link’s content
- The number of other web pages on the linking page
- It is essential to check the authority of the linking domain and the page linking to yours.
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Internal Links
Internal links are hyperlinks within a website that jump to a page on the same site. They help users stay on your site longer.
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External Links
External links take you to another page within the same site or from one website to another. The purpose of adding external links is to give more information about a topic or provide a reference for the page’s main content.
External links are essential to rank on search engines and are built by reputable websites.
External links pass SEO value from one site to another. Getting links from high-authority sites can help search engines designate a page’s worthiness, and thus it helps low-authority sites move up in the search results.
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Non-Link-Related Off-site SEO
While backlinks are important for off-page SEO, there are other methods you can use to boost your site’s ranking.
Social media marketing, guest blogging, and unlinked brand mentions can help create references for your site from trusted sources on the Internet. Local off-page SEO is comparable to non-link-related off-site SEO.
Off-Page SEO techniques that do work are:
1. Competitor Link building
Link building is the backbone of an off-page SEO strategy. The primary goal of link building should be to earn high-quality links from trustworthy websites.
If you strive for the best possible ranking, you have to analyze the link gap between your website and that of your competitors. However, it should note that getting links from high authority sites will likely require much effort.
Three factors you must consider for quality link building include:
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Authority
To build trust and reputation, use links from authoritative sites and avoid using sites that won’t trust.
Using the domain authority checker tool, you can assess the authority of any website.
Backlink Quality Grading {Authority Score} grades the overall website quality and tells how impactful a backlink from a web page can be. To get a grading, enter the URL for the site in the Backlink Analytics tool. In the first column header, you can check the authority score “Page Authority.”
Higher scores indicate more substantial authority. Therefore, it would be best to aim to earn links from sites with a high score.
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Unique Domains
Another factor in successful link-building is the number of root domains linking to your site. A high number of linking root domains correlates with higher rankings.
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Topical Relevance
It would be best always to aim to earn links from high-quality websites that are topically relevant to your business.
2. Brand Building
Brand-building efforts should complement your overall SEO campaign. Here’s how to integrate brand-building into your SEO strategy and how to measure its success.
3. Brand Searches
An increase in brand searches will most effectively promote your brand. These searches might include your brand name, products, services, or domain name.
You can use the Keyword Overview tool to see how branded searches have changed over time. Enter your brand name in the field under “Enter a keyword, website, or domain.” Then, check the “Trends” box, which shows you how the search volume has changed over the past month.
Google Trends is a valuable tool for monitoring brand interest. Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) are another reason it is essential to focus on brand-building activities. SERPs are search results that come up when someone searches your name.
Brand-building activities help build credibility, benefiting off-page search engine optimization. When you do brand building well, it will become easier to earn natural backlinks and mentions across the Web.
4. Content Marketing
When we think of content marketing, we usually consider creating and publishing text-based assets. But content marketing also includes off-page and on-page search engine optimization.
Content marketing is a powerful but time-consuming approach that relies upon valuable and engaging content to attract links and shares from other websites. It also includes guest posts on websites and articles linked to reputable websites.
5. PR
In the past, PR and SEO were considered two separate marketing branches. Nowadays, however, both branches have become more collaborative due to changing trends in the digital marketing industry.
One of the newest link-building strategies that SEOs use is called digital public relations (PR). PR helps with off-page SEO by more than just creating backlinks; it also helps build relationships with other bloggers and web admins. One of the best ways to use digital PR is to share your linkable assets with other people and earn backlinks through those assets.
A great public relations campaign can also benefit you by putting your business at the forefront of your target audience, driving referral traffic to your site, and boosting brand awareness.
6. Local SEO (Google My Business and Citations)
Local SEO, a branch of traditional SEO, helps off-page SEO in two ways: Google My Business and citations.
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Google My Business
Google My Business (GMB) plays a vital role in helping small and large businesses build a solid local presence online. Recent research shows that 46% of all online searches are local, so your competitors have an advantage if your website doesn’t show up in GMB results.
You cannot ignore GMB’s importance in ranking for the local map pack.
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Citations
A citation is an online mention of your business, including your NAP (Name, Address, and Phone number). These citations will appear in local map pack results and search engine results pages.
It is essential to maintain consistency in your business’s name, address, and telephone number. By doing this, you create a trustworthy business image.
7. Social Media
Social media plays a vital role in the way businesses communicate with their customers. It is an effective search engine that allows businesses to interact with potential customers to help them reach a wider audience.
Social sharing is not a direct ranking factor, but it can help your website gain exposure and reach potential clients looking for answers to specific queries related to your business.
Social media is an effective channel for communicating with customers. They’ll contact you via these platforms if they have queries or complaints.
It would be best to actively share your brand’s story on social media platforms so that your audience can easily find you during their buyer journey.
8. Forums
Forums may not seem like off-page SEO options at first glance, but they can be handy for the purpose. Since most SEO approaches do not work with forums, the attention shifted from UGC platforms completely.
Forums can be very effective in developing a presence on the Web. One way to consider using them is to join in conversations that relate to your expertise and participate in discussions related to your field.
Forums are a great place to answer customer queries and build trust. Platforms with limited features, like Quora and Reddit, allow you to do so at length.
By providing helpful content consistently, you can build a strong community of followers on forums since many of your competitors may not have the time to dedicate to consistently participating in them.
9. Influencer Marketing
Advertisers have been turning to influencers for several years now. In the early days, influencers promoted brands using sponsored posts on Facebook and Instagram. Now, they utilize other platforms such as YouTube and TikTok as well.
Influence marketing can be a great way to reach an audience and build brand awareness by amplifying your content. There are many ways to implement influence marketing, but blogger outreach is one of the most popular methods.
It might take time to compile a list of top bloggers within your niche. Still, you can gradually get in touch with them and establish mutually beneficial relationships by using a consistent approach.
As your product or service grows in popularity, you can ask bloggers and social media influencers to endorse or review it. It will generate interest in your product and encourage customers to visit your website or product.
10. Events
Events, such as webinars and virtual summits, are playing an increasingly important role in many companies’ off-page SEO strategies.
They will enable your company to create a buzz about itself, facilitating word-of-mouth advertising and public relations.
11. Guest Posting
Guest blogging can not only bring you quality backlinks. It can also help you to build relationships with other bloggers and industry leaders.
Guest posting has been a common link-building tactic for years, allowing web admins to build quality links for their sites.
Your main objectives for guest posting should be to attract new customers and build brand awareness.
12. Podcasts
Podcasts are in demand as a modern platform for publicity. If you aren’t using them, you risk being left out.
Podcasts are helpful to reach new audiences that may not have heard of your business through sources besides search engine optimization.
Because many businesses haven’t adapted to podcast marketing, it could be an effective strategy for marketing your products to new customers.
13. Reviews
A review can change someone’s opinion of a business. Reviews are still underrated tactics for off-page SEO strategies that can work for business.
Reviews are a critical tool for online reputation management. Google uses reviews to inform its ranking algorithms, which can help or hinder your website’s ability to appear in search results.
Positive reviews on your page or a third-party platform will help your audience trust you and increase conversions.
14. Content syndication
Content syndication occurs across sites that form a network. These sites receive content from outside sources, and the content is published on their sites constantly. One example of a site with content syndicated from different sources is Yahoo!.
Google does not index syndicated content as it is a duplication of original content. This doesn’t mean that you should avoid the practice altogether. Syndicating your content can boost brand signals.
Conclusion:
Which off-page SEO tactic you think is most effective may depend on the nature of your website. However, backlink building is an essential part of every successful SEO strategy. For more information, Contact Ahbiv to help you out in the right way.
