Off-page SEO refers to steps taken outside of your website to improve search engine rankings and increase organic visibility. As opposed to on-page optimizations made directly on your site, off-page SEO focuses on building authority and relevance through external signals and backlinks.
When done effectively, off-page SEO provides tremendous value in bolstering your website’s domain authority, keyword relevance, and trust in the eyes of Google and other search engines. This results in higher organic rankings and traffic.
Here is an overview of key off-page SEO components and best practices:
Link Building
Link building involves earning backlinks from other high-quality sites that relate to yours. Google views backlinks as votes of confidence that your content is useful and important. More backlinks from authority sites signal greater trust and authority.
Relevant, natural backlinks should be built over time:
- Identify websites, blogs, directories and aggregators with content complementary to yours that allow backlinks. Guest posting and contributor arrangements can secure quality links.
- Create and distribute truly useful, engaging assets like tools, research reports, guides and resources that sites will naturally want to link to.
- Focus on site-wide links from editorially given spots like recommended resource sections. Article body links are okay too.
- Build a diverse link profile from .edu and .gov sites, local directories, industry publications and trusted major sites. Avoid over-optimization.
- Link anchor text variety is also important – branded, naked URLs, partial match, etc. Avoid keyword stuffed anchors.
- Use Google Search Console to identify broken backlinks and toxic low-quality links that should be cleaned up.
Amplifying Assets
Creating resources, tools and multimedia assets that address searcher needs or solve problems provides value. These assets also tend to attract natural links when shared, which benefits SEO.
Potential assets include:
- Blog posts and articles – Long-form guides and reports work particularly well.
- Infographics – Visual assets covering research stats and data.
- Videos – Educational tutorials, product explainers, insider footage.
- Podcasts – Discussing industry topics, with expert interviews.
- Webinars – Share tips, behind the scenes details.
- Interactives – Quizzes, calculators, assessment tools.
Distributing these creatively on other sites not only helps build links but also expands your brand reach and authority.
Social Signals
While social media presence does not directly factor into Google rankings, it offers benefits like brand visibility, engagement, and backlinks. Having an active social media presence with quality content can enhance other SEO efforts.
- Share your new website content on social media channels, driving visitors.
- Engagement on posts and shares indicates popularity to search engines.
- Links back to your site from social profiles are follows/mentions are valuable.
- Cross-promote website and social content to maximize reach.
- Utilize social listening to respond to mentions, questions and conversations from followers.
Social amplification done right complements SEO initiatives.
Local Listings & Citations
Having complete, consistent NAP (name, address, phone number) information on local directories, review sites and citation sources helps with local SEO and map rankings.
- Manually submit key local listings like Google My Business, Apple Maps, Bing Places.
- Submit to industry-specific citations sources when applicable.
- List on general directories like Yelp, Yellowpages, Citysearch.
- Ensure your NAP is correct and consistent across sources.
- Prompt customers to leave reviews on sites like Google, Facebook, Yelp.
Optimizing local listings reinforces your SEO geographic relevance and trust for location-based searches.
Securing High Authority Backlinks
The most valuable backlinks come from sites with high domain authority and trust. Guest posting and infographic syndication on authoritative sites offers a direct opportunity to secure editorial links:
- Identify reputable publications that accept contributor posts or infographic syndication.
- Pitch well-researched ideas tailored to each site’s audience and guidelines.
- Writing posts for niche sites and blogs within your industry also adds value.
- Include natural links back your site in contributed pieces.
- Strive for site-wide author bio or resource box links for maximum ranking potential.
Earning byline links on authority domains demonstrates subject matter expertise and enhances SEO. But ensure content offers real value for readers before pitching.
Optimizing Anchor Text
Anchor text refers to the hyperlinked text used in backlinks pointing back to your site. Best practices include:
- Brand anchor text links use your brand name or trademark.
- Generic anchors like “click here” or URLS.
- Partial match anchors contain your target keyword along with other words.
- Naked URL links show the website URL itself with no anchor text.
- Avoid overuse of exact match anchor text (just your target keyword) as that raises spam flags.
- Vary anchor text across different pages for natural linking patterns.
A balance of branded, naked URLS, partial and generic anchors is ideal for diversity.
Leveraging Searcher Data
Google Analytics can provide useful searcher insights to help inform your backlink building and content promotion efforts:
- Identify the top referral sites sending you organic traffic to see quality link opportunities.
- Analyze keywords and topics driving visitors to shape content and outreach.
- Look at visitor locations – create location-specific landing pages and backlink strategies.
- Check acquisition channels to identify where existing readers come from.
- Review user flow through your site to improve navigation and on-site optimization.
Analytics offer a data-driven way to focus SEO initiatives for real searcher needs.
Executing an Effective Off-Page SEO Strategy
The objectives of an effective off-page SEO plan are to:
- Establish your brand as an authority within your niche.
- Build diverse and natural links from relevant sites over time.
- Earn high-quality backlinks from authority, high-traffic domains.
- Create and distribute assets that attract backlinks and engagement.
- Monitor and refine efforts using searcher data and metrics.
With a sound long-term off-page SEO strategy leveraging these best practices, your website can build trust and authority to climb the search rankings and convert more organic traffic.