SEO Basics: Off-Page SEO

Off-Page SEO is the process of optimising ‘off-page’ elements for both search engines and users, to make content relevant to a search query entered into a traditional or generative search engine. 

The reason it's called 'off-page' SEO is because it refers to all of the elements that are not on the website/web page itself. 

If you're starting from scratch, before you keep reading, it’s good practice to start with on-page elements, so if you haven’t read my On-Page SEO article yet, that’s a good place to start; as it's controllable by the web page editor. 

'Off-Page' SEO refers to processes and actions that are be performed off page, which in practice is a little more difficult. 

If you're reading this article thinking, I don't even know what SEO is? Please check out my earlier article on What is SEO? 

Search engine algorithms are incredibly clever and complex, the exact workings of which will never be known to anyone other than those that built them. There's no magic SEO formula that works in every single scenario, and if there was, it wouldn't last for long, as the algorithms change frequently, hence the reason organisations hire SEO consultants and digital marketing agencies. 

So you’ve fully ‘on-page’ optimised your website and want to move on to off-page? Off-page SEO is all about demonstrating trust. The more trust your site demonstrates online, the better results you’ll get from SEM (Search Engine Marketing). And in all honesty, rightly so, because Search Engines offer a service, and just like anything else, the better that service, the more likely the user is to return and keep using that service. If you were to start getting results for untrustworthy companies and lose money as a result of an untrustworthy purchase, you’d think twice about using that search engine as a means of a way to find products/service again, right?

Off-Page SEO Criteria

There are a couple of ways we can demonstrate trust to search engines. I’m going to focus on tactics that have worked for me, essentially in the form of referring domains (backlinks) and customer reviews. I will also touch on other off-page elements that have been said to have an effect are brand mentions and social media engagement, however I have no proof of these actually working.

1. Backlinks

You may have heard the term ‘backlink’ or ‘Link Juice’ as SEMRush likes to call it; this is one element of off-page SEO and a significant trust factor. Backlinking is essentially the process of adding a ‘follow’ link to a trusted website with appropriate anchor text, that links back to a certain page on your website.

Conducting the process of building backlinks is notoriously difficult, using tactics like digital PR or guest blogging can work but are often not time efficient.

The most successful strategy I have seen implemented is to lean on your supplier base, partners, sponsors and any other stakeholders with an invested interest within the business. 

By asking these stakeholders to add a link on their website to your website, whether that be through an image or anchor text as part of an article or blog. These may not be the 'best' links you are looking for but it is a time efficient way to start and helps to form a foundation.

To build links from trusted and relevant sites in your industry with high authority scores takes time and needs to be built into your annual comms plan, this way it’s consistently being worked on and you will see results over time. No quick wins here in my experience unfortunately, you just need to make it a habit.

Additional tactics you may wish to try are mending existing broken inbound links, unlinked brand mentions and requests for expertise.

 2. Content Marketing

Content marketing takes many shapes and forms and you’re probably doing some of this already. From an SEO perspective it’s about elevating your brand presence, working with trusted industry partners and communicating with your target audience. By working with trusted partners to elevate brand presence (this could be in the form of brand mentions, collaborative content around your products & services) you are showing search engines you have experience, expertise, authority and trustworthiness in your market niche, also known by the acronym EEAT.

There are a few channels within content marketing including Digital PR, Social Media, Influencer Marketing and Guest Posting.

Three out of these four rely on 3rd parties sharing your content, which can be challenging at times. Social-Media is inside your control, but sharing links on social does not have the same effect as a ‘follow’ link on a trusted and authoritative 3rd party site. Social Links at the time of writing are ‘non-follow’, however posting the right communications on social networks are beneficial to brand and campaign-based marketing.

Essentially, content marketing can benefit SEO by elevating brand and achieving ‘follow’ based links from Digital PR, and Guest Posting on trusted 3rd party sites. 

3. Local SEO

Local SEO is important from both a trust perspective and local search perspective, it provides more value for organisations to lean into local SEO if they have a local client base, for example a carpenter or painter and decorator, looking for local work.

In the case of the Google search engine, Local SEO is heavily influenced by your Google Business Profile. To maximise your Google Business Profile ROI, ensure that you add as much information as possible to the fields available, update images and GBP posts regularly and obtain regular Google Reviews. 

NAP listings are also important to search engines, they confirm that your business information is accurate. NAP SEO stands for name, address and phone number and refers to ensuring your business is listed, and correctly listed, in online directories. 

If you haven’t already, it’s good practice to conduct a GBP & NAP audit from time to time, to ensure all your business listing information is correct.

4. Customer reviews

As touched on earlier, customer reviews, whether that be on your Google Business Profile or other review-based sites, are core trust signals for search engines.

In my personal experience I’ve seen new sites go from ‘not-ranking’ to ‘ranking’ in the Google search results after they have received customer reviews on their Google Business Profile. It’s also important to keep these reviews coming as search engines like to see regular updates and frequent happy customers – after all, that’s what users would want to see right?

Links attached to reviews on 3rd party sites are great but will more than likely be ‘non-follow’, unless it’s a paid listing. The good news is for unpaid listings, search engines also recognise brand mentions and if you’re brand is mentioned in a positive review this is one of many things that is likely to have an impact on rankings. 

There has been mention of 'non-linked brand mentions' having a more positive effect than 'linked brand mentions' when it comes to GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation). Watch this space.

Summary

The above criteria influence Off-Page SEO, giving search engines the best possible chance/or not, of understanding if your brand is EEAT compliant, delivering value to users.

Showing experience, expertise, authority and trustworthiness in your market niche is the aim of the game; if your website does this, the search engines will want to serve your content, because that means their users will also be happy with the search engines service.

Feeling informed?

Well, I hope this article has given you a brief introduction into Off-Page SEO. Understanding the basics is a good first step, look out for following articles on SEO Strategy, Local SEO and GEO where I will take a closer look at each element and how you can apply these techniques.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us for more information.

Thank you for reading.