SEO is a small acronym but a big concept. For most of us, the first thing that comes to mind when we hear SEO is blog posts embedded with keywords on a website (this one, for example). In the business, this is known as “on-page” SEO.
Off-page SEO is the yin to on-page SEO’s yang. Together, they balance and support one another in a comprehensive SEO strategy. Without Brafton’s off-page experts, this very blog wouldn’t be coming in hot on your screen. So what do these digital marketers do and how could it support your strategy?
Behind the Screens: Off-Page SEO Explained
Off-page SEO factors in activities that can boost your website’s rankings in Google, without working directly on your site. This could include promoting your business in forums like Google Business Profile, social media marketing and procuring positive online reviews.
Google’s search engine results consider visibility, authority, trustworthiness and relevance across the digital marketing spectrum — and a lot of this doesn’t need to involve your website. Speaking of your website, what do you need to know about the work going on inside?
On-Page SEO
For context, on-page optimization refers to any components added directly to your site, such as meta descriptions, SEO-optimized content and internal links. An SEO expert invests a lot of research into this phase, scouring information from the likes of Google Analytics to find competitive and achievable keywords for your page.
A professional may discern whether a certain page on your website should be commercial or informational. All of these efforts help push your website to prime positions in relevant SERPs.
Technical SEO
Then there’s technical SEO, which is a backend strategy that envelopes on- and off-page activity. It verifies that your website has a clean digital blueprint for Google’s crawlers to understand, categorize and index.
For breakfast, technical SEO specialists eat JavaScript with a side of coffee. For fun, they ensure your site is mobile-optimized, enhance website speed and build logical search engine-friendly structures. They speak fluent Python among themselves, and they’re the ones who’ll fix 404s, 302s and other website issues you really don’t want to deal with.
Google Search Console (GSC) is an important aspect of sound SEO management since it gives a pretty broad view of your on- and off-page SEO, as well as any techy issues. The tool paints a picture of where you sit in the competitive landscape and what needs to happen to build a more rounded SEO strategy. It’ll also help gauge your website’s performance and identify indexing or crawler errors.
Still with me? Good. We’re about to get nerdy.
Which Off-Page Services Should I Focus On?
Now, asking which off-page SEO service you should focus on is a good question. And, as with all good questions, the answer is it depends. Figuring out where you’re at and where you want to be is the first step. A good place to start is by running an SEO audit to determine the current status of your website’s performance. It’ll highlight where you’re doing well and which off-page SEO techniques can support your direction.
The size of your business is also something to consider. Are you a small or large company? Do you plan to stay that way or grow? And if you want to expand, will you go local or global?
Once you’ve figured out your digital coordinates and your compass is pointing due North — whatever that means for your business — the following off-page SEO services can take your digital marketing strategy to the next level.
Backlink Building
A backlink, also known as an inbound or incoming link, is a link from another website that directs to a page on your website. A healthy backlink profile contains natural, contextually relevant and credible links coming ideally from a range of authoritative websites. These links act as a “vote of confidence,” signaling to Google that your content is a valuable source of information.
In the past, search engines focused on the quantity of backlinks, rather than quality. This meant link farming and mass-purchased links could help businesses win what was considered, at the time, a relatively straightforward numbers game. However, these low-quality links didn’t offer practical aid to a user’s search intent. Rather, they allowed businesses to coast along the crests of the SERPs without providing significant value to their audiences.
Nowadays, low-quality backlinks are considered spammy and act as a negative-ranking factor. Aim for links that are:
- Relevant: The linking website should be contextually and semantically connected to the subject matter on your site. That is to say, service, industry or at least topically related.
- Authoritative: Shoot for reputable websites that hold high levels of authority, credibility and trustworthiness.
- High-Quality: Backlinks should be ethical and natural, meaning the website linking to your page — as well as the content with your link — should offer genuine value.
Sourcing backlinks takes time and patience. If you’re a small business looking to build authority, you can start with platforms like Medium and Quora, adding helpful responses and articles corresponding to user searches. For larger businesses looking to take over the world, a professional SEO company can scale your initiatives much further and faster.
Guest Blogging
Orbiting around the topic of backlinks is guest blogging. Applying your content marketing genius to other websites can give your brand decent exposure, improve your domain authority and create networking opportunities. Oh, and it’ll give you extra backlinks.
It’s considered off-page SEO because it’s on someone’s page — but not yours. This will also expose you to new audiences and help establish you as an authority in your niche. Keep in mind that keyword optimization still matters, and your content’s quality and relevance should remain a priority — especially around backlink context and placement. Start with some keyword gap research and reach out to prospects for a guest blogging op.
Brand Signals
If 8-carat rocks, Maseratis and an endless supply of Comte are considered “status symbols” offline, off-page SEO can get your brand the online equivalent; that is, some serious digital bling. Brand signals indicate the purpose, value and trustworthiness of your business, helping search engines understand what makes you unique. These include:
- Branded search: If people search directly for your brand name rather than your product, service, industry or niche, it shows users are looking for you specifically. Similarly, co-citations — where your brand is mentioned online but not linked to — or branded anchor text, like what we did with Medium above, fall under the banner of branded search. This could be a good enterprise SEO strategy if your business already has traction.
- Social media engagement: Got a gazillion followers and positive brand sentiment? Regularly engage with your audience on Instagram? Google knows — and it helps with your rankings. Socials are a great place for small businesses to begin spurring off-page ranking factors.
- Online reviews: Google reviews, as well as feedback on myriad other platforms, help search engines and potential customers see how wonderful your business is. Obviously, try to curate positive reviews by providing a superior brand experience. Aim to engage with and resolve poor feedback.
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Online Directories and Listings
If you’re not on local business directories already, getting listed is a simple move for large and small businesses to prioritize. It drives traffic to your site and provides audiences with important information about your business.
Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is a no-brainer because it’ll put you on the map — literally. It’s a straightforward and free tool that involves signing in, finding your business, adding your details and verifying your address. Then, people searching locally for your products and services can find you more easily. It’s not only great for local SEO but it’s almost common courtesy to be on Google Maps these days.
Podcast Appearances
Much like guest blogging, appearing on podcasts can put your brand in front of new audiences and expose you to collaborative content creation and relationship-building opportunities.
Backlinks posted in the show notes can boost your domain authority for years after the original content is posted. Plus, you can repurpose episodes as linkable assets in your social media and email campaigns, or create new blog posts from the content.
PR Outreach
Who doesn’t love good press? By distributing your content to media outlets, you can broaden your reach and increase organic traffic flow to your site. Platforms like Prowly, a Semrush affiliate, connect you with pitch journalists to share your story and curate publicity for your brand — large or small.
Good PR outreach is a powerful tool for online reputation management since it diversifies content distribution and ramps your brand’s positive mentions across social media and blogs. These all feed back into Google’s understanding of what you do and why your website should rank.
Boost Your Rankings From the Outside In
Off-page SEO services can not only help your rankings but also introduce an entirely new level of branding and visibility to your digital marketing toolkit. Of course, be careful not to bite off too much if your business is burgeoning and growth-focused. Slow and steady wins the race.
Whether you’re yet to dip your toes into off-page SEO or you’re honing in on local or global marketing, take your strategy beyond the screens and watch your brand gain momentum.
