Off-Page SEO: 3 Best practices
If you want to drive more organic traffic to your website, there is no other way than having a killer off-page SEO. However, there is little information on the internet about what exactly you can do to drive organic traffic to your website from the off-site SEO point of view. Most user searches are either trying to find information or trying to find information and buy. You need both as you either will convert them into customers, or you will gain some long-term subscribers.
However, before you even start looking at the off-site SEO techniques, you need to revise your knowledge about what exactly SEO is, even if it sounds redundant.
What is SEO?
SEO, which stands for Search Engine Optimization, is all of the search marketing efforts that aim to make both the website and the online presence stand out in users’ eyes and search engines’. Good SEO will make your brand stand out from the others, and satisfy the user’s need for fresh and relevant information. SEO is divided into two main categories – on-site SEO and off-site SEO.
On-site SEO refers to everything you do within your website – such as optimized titles, friendly navigation, internal links, high-quality fresh content, etc. On the other hand, off-site SEO means everything that you do outside of your websites that still contributes to your ranking, such as social media marketing, guest blogging, mentions, etc. The results of them can be followed using many tools, such as Pro Rank Tracker. As on-page SEO influences the off-page SEO, it is crucial to start with the former and then jump into the latter.
Since you have refreshed your memory about SEO, now we can jump into the best techniques of the off-page SEO. So without further ado, let’s get into it.
Link Building is King
Just like for the on-page SEO content is the king, in case of off-page SEO, it’s the link building that is the king. It is also the most popular marketing technique used by professionals from all over the world.
Links are a sign of people’s appreciation for your brand/website. However, link building contributed to the creation of the so-called black hat SEO. Some people are desperate to get the links that they, for instance, use forum signatures or enroll their website in content directories.
At the moment, there are three main types of links that populate the web:
- natural links – people know your content and share your website as a sign of appropriation and trust; the best kind of links to practice
- manually build links – gained by asking customers/readers/influencers to share your content or link your product
- self-created links – posting your website’s link in comments, press releases, etc. (most falls into the black hat SEO)
Link building should not be about quantity, but quality, about which many businesses unfortunately forget. Go for high-quality links. Getting links from huge link aggregators like Wikipedia can do wonders for your brand. The same goes for non-profit (.org), official (.gov) or education (.edu) sites.
Harness That Social Media Power
When ranking a page, the website’s social signals might matter to Google. If you want to rank high, you need to win your audience – especially since mentions can count as links. There’s no denying that social media like Facebook or Instagram are a must-have these days. If you’re not on them, it’s like you don’t exist. And online marketers know it.
The likes and shares you get can make your business grow rapidly. Sharing fresh, engaging and relevant content with the social media community can win you new fans, subscribers or leads.
When using social media, there are three things that you need to consider doing:
- be responsive – no matter why people talk about your brand, you should engage with the potential customers, especially since customer support can be performed both online and offline
- befriend the Big Brothers – there are many people who have been in the game for longer or just have a bigger audience – asking them for help can make your business more widespread; build connections with the social media gurus and let them shape you
- monitor your online reputation – use a trustworthy tool that will show you every mention of your website, and use it your advantage
Add an RSS Feed Subscription Box
It is better to have fewer subscribers that visit your website regularly than having thousands of one-time visitors. Most of the popular sites have a subscription box on their website. People drawn to the word ‘subscribe’ are leaving their emails to receive updates without having to stay on the web all the time.
This will not only enrich your subscriber list, but it also gives you something through which you can communicate with regular readers, who usually are happy to receive information about new things being posted on their favourite websites.
Conclusion
To rank high in Google or any other search engine, you need to have great content, make your website eye-catching and friendly for the users, and promote it properly – if you have all these things, the links and traffic should come naturally. And even though they are part of the on-site SEO, they influence the off-site SEO – the practices listed above will help you only if good on-site SEO follows them.