You’ve fine-tuned your SEO metas. You’re posting new content every week. Your site has a great linking structure. With all this, you’re still not getting the SEO rankings you want. Why?
As much time as marketers tend to spend on their own site, some of the most effective SEO happens elsewhere. What is off page SEO and what can it do for you? Here’s what you need to know:
What is Off Page SEO?
The practices we described above, such as writing metas with great keywords, posting content, and adding internal links, are on page SEO tactics. In other words, they’re SEO practices you carry out on your own site.
Off page SEO, on the other hand, includes SEO tactics that take place not on your site but elsewhere. As much effort as you put into your own site, some of the metrics that affect your SEO the most are those that come from afar.
There are several common types of off page SEO you need to know about:
Backlinks
A backlink for your site is a link to your site from somewhere else on the web. For instance, perhaps you’re running an online fashion boutique. A fashion blogger publishes a post with their favorite finds of the season, and they include a link to your site in their post. That’s a backlink.
Backlinks are among the most impactful ways to boost your SEO, including on site and off page practices. Search engines see that other users think your content is helpful enough to refer their readers to it, so it must be top-notch.
Social Media
Considering how much time your target audience spends on social media, you already know it’s a great resource. Did you know it can help your SEO, too?
If you have a great social media presence, you’ll attract more and more traffic to your site. The more people are checking out a site, the more relevant it appears to be to a search engine.
This is true whether people click on links to your site via social media posts or whether they do their own search for you. When people start looking for you and clicking on your listing in search engine results because they’ve heard about you on social media, your SEO starts to soar.
Google Business Listings
Head to Google and search for a local business, like “hardware store near me.” Which ones come to your attention the most? They’re probably the ones for which Google shows a local business listing with a star rating.
Keeping up with your Google business listing is a vital part of off page SEO. Google may have created a listing for you already. If so, you need to claim it and verify it. This assures Google that you’re a valid business, so they’ll be more likely to show your listing.
If Google doesn’t already have a listing for you, you should create one. After you’ve created and claimed your listing, keep the hours, contact information, photos, and other data up to date.
Review Sites
Online review sites like Yelp are also a type of off page SEO. They offer a great backlink and drive traffic to your site, which benefits your organic SEO as well. Of course, that’s only true if your ratings are good enough to attract users’ interest. That’s one more reason to encourage happy customers to review their experience with you.
Publicity Marketing
Let’s say you’re running a charity initiative and a local news station runs a story about it. A viewer says, “That’s interesting, I want to learn more.” They search for your company and click on your site from the results. That action has shown your relevance to the search engine, boosting your SEO.
In this way, anything that gives you positive publicity is a type of off page SEO. Look at every marketing campaign and every PR endeavor as an SEO opportunity.
Tips for Boosting Your Off Page SEO
Now that you know what off page SEO is, how do you make the most of it? Get started with these tips:
Get Into Guest Blogging
You need a variety off page SEO strategy, but of the examples above, backlinks are the most crucial. One of the best ways to get more backlinks is to set up guest blogging partnerships.
Let’s use the home improvement store from above. Perhaps you can reach out to someone who has a blog about DIY projects. You could offer to write a guest blog for their site about the basics of working with lumber. They get new expert content for their blog and you get an opportunity to link to your site.
There are many companies out there who will handle your guest posting needs at affordable prices while following safe practices. One of our preferred partners is GuestPostTracker.com.
Quality Counts
As you’re looking for backlink opportunities, keep in mind that quality counts. A backlink on a high quality, popular site with its own strong SEO will be better for your SEO than a site with few users.
The keywords in your link’s anchor text matter as well. Today, it’s best to use long tail keywords like phrases instead of single words. It’s easier to get a higher ranking for them, and the traffic you get could have a higher conversion rate.
Try Influencer Marketing
One way to get that publicity we mentioned above is with influencer marketing. In this strategy, an “influencer” with a large following mentions your product or business. When that happens, bring on the SEO-boosting traffic.
Find a Marketing Company Who Gets It
Perhaps all this sounds too time-consuming for your schedule. You may consider hiring a marketing company to handle it for you. If you do, though, be careful to hire one who knows how to get great off page SEO results. Not all marketers know how to make this happen, so be thorough in your search. Find out more about some of your best options.
Mastering Off Page SEO
Now that you’ve mastered questions like, “What is off page SEO?” and “How do I build backlinks?” it’s not hard to get started. Build your strategy step by step and strike the right balance between on page and off page SEO.
To take the first step, check your SEO rankings today.
