Off-page SEO refers to actions you take outside your website to encourage more traffic and influence ranking in SERPs. In this article, I’m going to look at what is off-page SEO? and the different Off-page SEO techniques. I’m also going to answer What are the benefits of Off-page SEO to businesses and website owners. The whole purpose of SEO is to increase the volume of organic traffic from search engine results.
There are two ways in which traffic from search engines can be increased, these are off-page and on-page SEO. Off-page SEO can be done in many ways, such as link building, social media marketing, blog commenting, and guest blogging. I will discuss each of these methods in detail and how they can help you get more traffic from SERPs. Off-page optimization is a long-term continuous process. However, alone it is not enough to increase traffic. It is essential that you also apply On-page SEO to get better results. The table below shows the different activities that can be done with each SEO optimization technique.
| Off-Page SEO | On-Page SEO |
| Reviews | Image optimization |
| Link Building | Header Tag Optimization |
| Podcast | Internal linking |
| Social Media | Site Content |
| Content Marketing | Meta descriptions and Site tags |
The Importance of Off-page SEO
As explained earlier with off-page SEO the focus is on actions and activities that take place behind the scenes and not on the actual website. The most high-ranking websites in SERPs get on the first page of Google and many other search engines due to one or more factors. The biggest factor is that websites that rank highest have high authority on a subject matter. Search engines consider these websites to be more relevant, credible, and trustworthy.
With off-page SEO you are able to send signals to search engines that your website is credible as it is being referenced in so many places. Link building is one way to increase the authority of your website. Rich links from highly reputable referring domains will be more valuable than links from just any website. However, there are other ways you can optimize away from your website besides link building.
Clearly now we can all agree that Off-page SEO is a fundamental part of a digital marketing strategy. In fact, Edureka cites a study that states that ‘Off-page SEO makes up 75% of a good digital strategy”. In the next section, I’m going to further explain the different techniques that you can use in implementing this SEO strategy.
Off-Page SEO Techniques
The following is a list of Off-page SEO techniques which you can use to grow and increase traffic.
- Brand Development
- Guest Blogging or Guest Content
- Influencer marketing
- Local Listings
- Posting on Forums
- Podcast
- Reviews
- Directory submission
- Social Media and more
The list above shows some of the most used techniques by organizations and Digital marketing experts. However, it is important to understand that it is not exhaustive. There are more techniques that have been left and those will be discussed in the next articles on how to specifically implement them. I will simply touch upon a few of these techniques which are easy to implement and might seem quite obvious.
Influencer marketing is one of those techniques that are mentioned above. This technique involves working out an arrangement with influencers with huge followers on Social Media to either mention your website, blog, product, or Service. This can result in a usual increase in traffic and a lot of brand visibility. A second tactic that I have mentioned is Local listing. Submitting your website on Google my business is one way of doing it. This can also be intertwined with another technique which is Reviews. Having your businesses listed means you are an existing entity that builds trust with search engines. With Google, My Business customers and visitors are able to leave their reviews and rate your services. The higher the ratings the higher your business will show up in search results.
The Power Of Social Media
The use of Social Media is one of the most obvious techniques out there, although many bloggers might not fully utilize it. The bigger you are on social media the greater your chances of success in SERPs due to many factors, just think about it. Firstly, the more followers you have the more traffic you can get to your website every time you share content. Second, the bigger your social media presence, the bigger your brand. And thirdly it is very easy to get backlinks from content aggregators who follow your social media activities it can be to guest posts. There are a lot more benefits that can be derived from building a huge social media presence. Now that I have covered some of the techniques, it’s time to look at the benefits of Off-page SEO starting off by listing them and then proceeding to explain each benefit.
Benefits of Off-page SEO
- Boost SERP ranking.
- Increase Organic Traffic
- Enhanced Click-Through Rate
- Greater Domain Authority
- Boost Local Rankings
- More referrals
- Audience engagement
- Increases SERP ranking
- Brand Authority
- Increase in Revenue and Traffic
- Improved User Experience
Increases SERP Ranking
Having more backlinks to the website helps your website rank higher in search results. Especially if the referring domains are highly trusted websites such as cnn.com and the BBC for example. The higher you rank the more visible and traffic you will get.
Audience Engagement
Growing social media channels will definitely result in more engagement on your website from customers. The more followers and subscribers you have on several channels the greater the size of your audience. Social Media companies also use ranking and search engines to satisfy the needs of their users.
Brand Authority from Off-page SEO
In addition to audience engagement. Activities like podcasts and interviews will no doubt increase brand authority. Appearing as a guest on webinars, and different youtube videos or on the news will increase your standing in the field of your interest.
Domain Authority
DA is considered as the measure of authoritativeness in a particular industry or subject matter. With off-page techniques, your authority is boosted. For example, imagine if you are in a class and every time when someone has a math problem they go to ask a guy called James. Sooner or later more students will start to refer other students to James because he is able to solve these math problems. In a way, James is now an authority in Maths because he possesses the expertise to solve the problems. The same principle applies to your website. The more valuable and unique information that can be referred to your website the more traffic you will get. Simply because your website is now considered an authority on that subject matter.
More Referrals
The more you are considered an authority in a subject matter the more you are going to get more referrals which will increase traffic. In addition to that, your strength on social media platforms can also significantly improve the number of traffic that will be coming from your posts to your website.
Enhanced Click-Through Rate
As you will the benefits of off-page SEO are intertwined or related, with each feeding into the other. More referrals and high rankings in SERPs will result in a higher click-through rate. Click-through rate is a game of proportion to a certain degree. If your website is getting a lot of impressions it is very likely that you get more clicks. In contrast, if your site is getting very few impressions you will not get many clicks.
Increase in Revenue and Traffic
Blogs and many other types of websites that use ads, get paid under several conditions. The first condition is that they get paid per thousand views. The second condition is that they get paid per click/referral of ads that show up on their websites. As a result of increased SERP rankings, click-through rate, and more referrals. There will be a definite increase in revenue from the traffic that will start going towards the website.
Boost in Local Rankings
Submitting your website and business to directories will result in an increase, in the number of traffic that you will get. The high your ratings from the reviews that you get on platforms like google my business. The better your chances of getting more business and visitors to your website. This will also boost offsite traffic or the number of walk-in clients.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Off-page SEO is a critical component of any digital marketing strategy. Off-page SEO techniques discussed in this article include reviews, influencer marketing, directory submissions, and the use of social media. There are several advantages to individuals and businesses that use off-page SEO for their websites. These are increased rankings in SERPs, a boost in traffic and referral, and an increase in revenue to only mention a few. Moreover, other nonquantifiable benefits are brand authority, domain authority, and consumer goodwill.
However, it is important to understand that Off-page SEO is not the end in all things related to Search Engine Optimization. On-page SEO and Technical SEO are still critical components that must be implemented together with this strategy among other SEO techniques.
