What is Off-Page SEO?

It’s vital to optimize your website pages in order to achieve higher ranking in search engine result pages, but SEO is also a way to improve your website structure and applying some simple search engine optimization principles will allow you to have a credible, user-friendly website.

Assuming SEO is the language crawlers, and search engines speak, let’s see what message does each of the two components (on and off page SEO) transmit further.

First of all, on page SEO strictly refers to settings that you can implement on your website (on the spot, inside strategy) so that it effectively speaks search engines’ language.

Some of the most important on-page SEO techniques are:

• Title and description optimization

• Efficient URL structures

• Breadcrumbs and user sitemaps implementation

• Internal links optimization

• Text and image formatting and optimization

• Fast loading

• Mobile friendly and friendly 404 pages

• Top fresh content and external links.

Unlike on-page optimization, off-page SEO encompasses all optimization that can be made strictly outside the boundaries of your website.

The most important components of off-page search engine optimization are:

• Link building

• Social media marketing (including social media sharing and bookmarking).

While link building seems to be the princess of the ball, the latter off-page SEO component is often underestimated, resulting in an off-page optimization strategy lacking balance.

Off-page SEO shows search engines how many other entities refer to your page(s), how much authority your website/page has and how much visitors trust your website (it should be a high level of trust, that makes them share with others the information they found on your website).

The leading SEO strategy problem is not about choosing between on and off-page SEO (that would mean choosing between walls or roof for your house), but choosing the right strategies both for on and off-page search engine optimization.

Balancing between on and off-page SEO is essential, in order to have an easy to understand page both for your human and digital visitors (search engine crawlers).

Why is off-page SEO important?

Returning users best results and continuous ranking algorithm’s improvement have represented in the last decades top priorities for search engines.

There are essential factors that contribute to a page’s ranking in search engine results page, and the way they have been integrated into the ranking algorithm has evolved.

Mainly, the search engine ranking algorithm has at its core on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and several content quality-related factors.

While on-page SEO shows us (and search engines) how well is the website organized and structured,

Off-page SEO answers an important question: how reliable and popular is your page/website?

The off-page SEO component gives search engines a very accurate indication of how users and other websites perceive your pages.

It’s logical to assume that a website that has fresh, high quality, on-page optimized content will have more external references (both from social media environment and from other websites).

Useful, attractive, top quality content always has higher social media traction and is often cited by other websites.

A successful off-page SEO strategy has numerous benefits.

Here are the top three advantages that right off-page search engine optimization strategies bring to website owners:

• Ranking increase on search engine results page

• General page rank increase, and more significant exposure.

When applying effective off-site SEO techniques, you should expect to see your website more often among top results for those searches related to your website topic and increased traffic.

More exposure means more visibility and these two are interdependent: when your website is more visible on social media, for example, it says it represents an authority; at the same time, higher traffic from social media will increase website page rank.

This article aims to bring into the spotlight several off-page search engine optimization strategies while emphasizing the whole off-page SEO strategy’s importance.

Raising a page’s ranking is not an easy task, especially nowadays, in the impressive and continuously expanding Internet network, but also in the world of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and learning capable machines.

25 Off-Page SEO Strategies To Raise The Ranking Of Your Sites With Search Engines:

Time is an essential coordinate when it comes to SEO because what took your website to the top of the results page a year ago is not applicable anymore and moreover, top factors for search engine results ranking are not the same either.

It’s imperative to have access to up-to-date information regarding effective off-page SEO strategies, so this is why he has gathered here those techniques that have been proven to bring excellent results.

[1] Link building:

• Link building is an off-page SEO strategy core element. Since forever, a link pointing towards a specific website offered it a certain authority it meant that it provides relevant information, so it should be mentioned.
  

• As a general rule, a website with many high-value backlinks will often have a higher position in the search engine results page than another website with fewer backlinks.
  

• According to the way they are earned, backlinks can be categorized into natural links (without external intervention), manually built links (when a website owner asks for another entity to link to his website) and self-created backlinks (positioned at the border with black hat SEO).

No matter how the backlink was obtained, several factors give a backlink weight:

• linking website’s popularity (this factor is essential; getting links from topic authorities is something many website owners aim to, and it is not an easy goal to achieve),

• topic relevance, anchor text used on the linking page,

• linking site’s degree of trustworthiness,

• linking domain and page’s authority

• the number of links given from the linking page.

[2] Content is the king

• Create top-quality, relevant content. This might be placed at the border of on-page and off-page SEO, but top quality, relevant and attractive content will make visitors and other websites mention it and link to it. Create such attractive and high-quality content so that people cannot refrain from linking to it!

[3] Guest post blogging:

• Guest post blogging is another practical, already verified off-page SEO technique. Obtaining a backlink from a blog guest post from an authority in your niche is not an easy job: you will have to do research, identify the top blogs in your niche, submit your guest post pitch and hope to be accepted.

[4] Offer interviews and quotes:

• Collaborations that take the form of interviews and quotes will boost your off-page SEO strategy results.
  

• These will position you as an expert in the niche and will increase your visibility. This works the other way around too: invite people to offer you interviews, place on your website links to their website, and most of the time, based on the principle of reciprocity they will also link back.

[5] Use visuals wisely!

• Since we are living in a fast, digital age, online content suppliers continuously fight for visitors’ attention. An effective way to grab users’ attention is represented by visuals: infographics, videos, images, etc.
  

• These will bring you many links from the social media environment and such high exposure will make your website more visible to authoritative websites in the niche.

[6] Be present on social media channels!

• In the nowadays online environment, with such a rich palette of social media networks, it is certain that a strong social media presence is a vital part of an off-page SEO strategy.
  

• Social media marketing strategy as an off-page SEO component is more like a spider web, that allows you to obtain reach and productive interactions.

• Share your website content on as many as possible social networks. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Pinterest, Instagram are out there waiting for your content to be shared. Don’t forget to adapt the content for each channel of communication with visitors/users.
  

• Social media presence represents an indirect factor that will influence your ranking in the results page of search engines, but it is very effective, as there are many people registered on social networks, and you will be able to reach those interested in your website’s topic in a natural manner.

[7] Q&A websites will help you a lot!

• Be active on Q&A websites like Quora, Yahoo Answers, Reddit or even create your Q&A events (you can host them either on your social media channels or on your site).
  

• This will enhance your authority position out there on the nice you activate in, and attract people’s attention towards your website.

[8] Be active in niche specialized forums!

• Posting on forums is another successful off-page SEO strategy, and at the same time will allow you to reach many potential users, visitors, customers.

[9] Create and upload videos on YouTube:

• – Create YouTube videos. Delivering information to your visitors in various forms will only bring you benefits.
  

• Adding your website address in your videos’ description will direct the public towards your website and, as a bonus, you will get a backlink each time you upload a new video.

[10] Weekly roundup posts:

• Get involved in weekly roundup posts, as this will bring you backlinks and will increase your visibility. It’s better if these weekly roundup posts are shared on social media channels because this will double the intensity of its effects.

[11] Document sharing:

• Document sharing is an advantageous off-page SEO strategy you can adopt, and it will also bring you excellent results.
  

• Posting on websites like SlideShare and Scribd documents with valuable information about various topics in the niche you activate in, will contribute to your online visibility.

[12] Article sharing:

• Writing specialty articles and publishing them on high authority niche websites will work very well to position you as an expert and will offer you exposure, bringing you a lot of quality traffic (people who will be interested to read more will follow the links to your websites or will look for you with the aid of search engines).

[13] Social bookmarking:

• Social bookmarking is a technique that should be applied carefully. It worked very well in the past, but nowadays it’s very easy for your social bookmarking activity to be included by search engines in the black hat SEO category. If you decide to implement social bookmarking tactic pay attention to bookmarking website’s authority.

[14] Networking matters!

• Networking is an off-page and off-line strategy that indirectly contributes to your website ranking in the search engine results page positioning.
  

• Knowing the right person at the right place is a vital principle that applies to the online industry too. How would it be for you if you build relationships instead of links and influence your visitors through…influencers?

[15] Organize live events and giveaway:

• Another efficient offline SEO strategy would be organizing events and giveaways. Create an offline hub for your visitors, users or clients, get in touch with them and this will improve your raking too.
  

• Offer them products or services for testing, and this will undoubtedly improve your search engine ranking.

[16] Check for the broken links:

• With the explosive growth of the Internet network in the last decade, the number of broken links is exponentially growing.
  

• A successful strategy would be to do research and help other website owners complete these gaps, and at the same time, this activity will be extremely beneficial for you too.

[17] Offer testimonials for various services or products:

• When you test a product or a service, and you write a testimonial on seller’s website, you could include a link to your website.
  

• Furthermore, you can write the entire review on your website, as a post, and high chances are you will get a link back from the one who sells the product or offers the service.

[18] Naturally link to other websites:

• Naturally write about your passions, about things that you find interesting and insert links in these texts.
  

• If you let those you’ve written about know you have linked to them, in some cases, you might get links back.

[19] Create unique, original content:

• When you provide your readers valuable information, your work will be cited and mentioned as a reference inside the niche.
  

• You can write useful, detailed guides, you can even make surveys and analyze the results in a post, you can approach case studies relevant for your niche; all these will bring you backlinks and authority in your niche.

[20] Obtain high authority links from educational institutions:

• Do research and find out educational institutions websites where you can share your expertise. This would be a great opportunity to increase your exposure and visibility and will also strengthen your expert position.

[21] Improve your writing skills:

• When you correctly use your writing skills to attract visitors’ attention, you can easily see how reaching for your readers’ emotions will influence your ranking in search engine results page.
  

• People will be impressed/shocked, positively or negatively, by your content and they will share it further or mention in.

[22] Offline media can boost your off-page SEO strategy results:

• Classic media channels have been shown to influence SEO strategy, as your presence in newspapers and on TV shows will increase your visibility.
  

• You can also contribute to journalists’ work by offering your expertise, which could also bring you authority and even a link back.

[23] Connect and collaborate with influencers:

• Out there, in the online environment, you might find successful influencers who are active in your niche. Reach out and invite them to participate in some piece of content you create or just share your content.

[24] Establish expertise by participating in specialized events:

• Conferences, workshops, congresses or festivals, all these are great opportunities to position yourself as an expert in your niche.
  

• Presence at such kind of activities will only bring you benefits because it will show your visitors you are up to date and involved in industry activity.

[25] Make both short-term and long-term strategic plans:

• It’s imperative to be spontaneous, but at the same time to have long-term plans regarding your SEO strategy. Build a customized off-page strategy plan and follow it, continuously improve it and adapt it as you measure the results.

There were 25 of the most effective off-page SEO strategies, but there are other opportunities too (if you unleash your creativity, you might create some interesting tactics).

There is no universal recipe for an SEO strategy; you should test all these techniques and see which are the right ones for you and your website. Observe how hard/easy it is for you to implement them and what results you obtain and adapt your future strategies on what you have found out in the measurement-evaluation step.