Ever thought about what is off-page SEO and why it is so important for your online business?
Can’t understand how off-page SEO works and need a simple explanation in a few words?
Read our What is off-page SEO Content Bite Blogpost and learn in less than 800 words all you need to know about what is off-page SEO, why it is important and how it works!
(Bonus: Keep reading and find out 9 actionable off-page SEO tips that will help to get more organic traffic in 2022)
Off-page SEO in digital marketing
The term “off-page SEO” (also known as “off-site SEO”) refers to the actions conducted outside of your website to improve your organic rankings. In essence, it consists of all the SEO strategies that aim to leverage other traffic sources to drive potential customers to your website, raise website authority and enhance domain rating.
Your website = on-page SEO. Another site or platform = off-page SEO
How off-page SEO works
Let’s start with the heart of off-page SEO, backlinks* building. Off-page SEO relies heavily on backlinks because search engines use them to determine the relevance and quality of the content linked.
The higher the website authority of the backlink you get, the better your content performs.
In simpler words, a website with many high-quality backlinks will typically rank higher than a site with fewer backlinks.
What type of backlinks exist
Based on how they are gained, there are three main types of backlinks:
- Natural links, created without the page owner’s involvement.
- Manual links, built deliberately throughout link-building activities
- Self-created links, obtained by adding a backlink in an online directory
But, even though generating backlinks from external websites is the most impactful strategy, off-page SEO also includes activities unrelated to link building. Such actions include:
- Social media marketing
- Guest blogging
- Linked or unlinked brand mentions
- Influencer marketing
Here, it’s worth noting that the end goal of each of the above activities is to build backlinks to your website, whether that comes from a mention of your brand or website or something else entirely. So, the term “non-link-related” off-page SEO is a bit misleading.
Working with an experienced SEO Agency to perform a thorough backlink report helps in identifying all the backlinks to your website, in evaluating their quality and leveraging backlink building opportunities.
Why off-page SEO is important
Although search algorithms and ranking factors are continually evolving, trustworthiness and authority will forever significantly impact your website’s organic rankings. Why? Because search engines want to serve the best possible results found online, and web authority is an indicator that the content of this website is trustworthy, respectable and relevant.
Off-page SEO achieves exactly that. It enhances your website’s authority and credibility by building authoritative and healthy links back to your content. The more quality links you create, the higher your domain authority, signalling Google and other search engines that people trust your website, thus skyrocketing your rankings and organic traffic.
Best off-page SEO tips for 2022
These 12 actionable off-page SEO tips will help to get more organic traffic in 2022:
- Start with guest bloging
- Perform a backlink audit
- Invest in SEO Copywriting
- Host content on relevant websites
- Answer questions on Quora
- Test making YouTube videos
- Create useful infographics
- Share social media content
- Enhance your online PR
- Invest in Local SEO
- Upload your content on forums
- Get started with Influencer Marketing
FAQs about what is off-page SEO
When one website links to another, it creates a backlink. Backlinks are also referred to as “incoming links” or “inbound links”. Working with an experienced SEO Agency assists you in building quality backlinks that boost your website’s authority and rankings.
On-page SEO refers to the elements you can manage on your websites, such as metadata, headings, or rich media. Off-page SEO refers to page ranking factors outside your website, such as backlinks from other websites, social media, or influencer marketing.
As George Zlatin of Digital Third Coast summed it up perfectly, what you rank for is largely determined by on-page factors. In contrast, off-page factors determine how high you rank in the search results. To sum up, both are important factors, but if you are to choose only one, on-page SEO is where you need to start from.
