Your business website is an integral part of the ever-evolving modern web marketing system where you can’t afford to solely depend on the on-page activities to rank your website on the search results. Both on-page and off-page activities are equally vital to make sure that your websites rank higher in the search result. The former deals with what you can do on your website to improve ranking while the latter deals with the activities performed outside the website. 

Off-page search engine optimization involves a set of activities that are performed outside the website and has the potential to affect the search engine rankings. Off-page search engine optimization aims at improving the way both users and search engines see your site in terms of credibility, authority, popularity, and relevance. It is concerned with inbound links from other websites to your site.

Why is off-page SEO important in modern web marketing? 

Google refers to more than two hundred factors while ranking the website on the search engine result page (SERP). Google cannot solely depend on on-page content to display results, this is where your off-page SEO comes into play. Off-page SEO tells Google what others think about you and your website thus helps Google in determining the content relevancy for users and making your website rank higher in the search result.

 The off-page SEO benefits the online businesses as it:

1. Boost the ranking- Off-page activities help to boost the business website ranking in search engine results thus providing a better click-through rate. 

2. Increase the page range- Page rank is a numeric score between 0-10 that is awarded by Google to websites based on quality, the offer links, page experience, etc. Off-page SEO helps to increase the page rank.

3. Provide exposure- Off-page SEO techniques divert the traffic to the site so that you have an influx of visitors. 

4. Promote  Trust – Off-page activities build trust between brand and visitors that serve profit to business for the long term. Natural links from authoritative websites act s an “independent vote of confidence” which helps search engines to trust your website more. 

Points to consider while working on the off-page SEO

1. Domain Authority– Domain authority assesses the website quality and performance. A  backlink from a higher domain authority to a lower domain authority website helps the lower DA website to get a better page rank and attain a high position in SERPs.

2. Relevance– It is more important to get a backlink from the relevant website that is relative to the content and services your website offers than getting a link from the high authority non-relevant website. 

3. Site Traffic– You should be aware of the traffic that submission sites can drive towards you after forum posting, blog posting, video submission, etc.

4. Link-type- There are two types of links involved in link building and promotional activities

• Do-follow link- Do-follow link is the default link that is crawled by Google Spiders to pass the value to the web page where they are linked. Google observes the number of do-follow links you get to your website and the number of separate domains you get it from. More the number of do-follow links from relevant domains, more the value passed to the website. 
• No-follow link- A no-follow link type means that Google spiders will not follow these links and won’t pass any value to the page where it is linked. These links don’t make any difference to the website ranking and are created with a motive to stop spam. 

Types of links for Off-page SEO

1. Natural link– The links that are earned by the website naturally without any team effort are the natural links. These links come to the website when someone decides to mention your website just because they liked the content. 
2. Built links– The links that are generated by reaching out to webmasters, publishers, or journalists or by promoting the content through an ad campaign. These created links offer valuable data to the users along with directing them to the website. 
3. Created link – The links generated intentionally from the blog submission, video, pdf, ppt submission profile creation, etc are created links. This SEO practice is called black hat SEO practice. 

If you have a lot of valuable links, pointing to your pages, the search engines will assume that you have great content that provides value to users and will rank you in search results. Techniques of generating do-follow links are:

1. Profile Creation–  Profile creation is the process of registering an account with a business name on different high authority websites having good traffic. It is one of the best link-building techniques that help to get high-quality backlinks from the high authority site and promote the business on the web. 

Benefits of profile creation- 

• Profile creation help to make active social visibility that increase the ranking and position in SERP
• It helps to boost the traffic on the website as it attracts potential customers from different high-traffic sites.
• It helps to increase the conversion rate. 
• Profile creation sites provide high-quality do-follow links from authoritative domains which boost SEO.

While creating a profile refer to the following points

•  Pick the best profile creation site that targets your audience.
•  Link profile to social media sites
• Add accurate and clear profile information 
• Use official business name and email while signing up 
• Put links on the keywords in the profile
• Actively participate in profile site’s forums and activities. 

2. Business Listing– Business listing is a free tool. It helps the local business to gain visibility and boost online traffic. Popular platforms that offer business listing in google my business, bing places, next door, yahoo local networks,  yelp, etc. 

While listing your business consider to following points:

• List your business on the site that makes sense to your business.
• Use SEO tools like Ubber suggest to optimize the information for SEO and then distribute it to multiple listing sites at once.
• Contact information on the business listing should be up to date
• Include relevant data: photos, SEO optimized content, and links to social profiles on the business profile 
•  Reply to customer reviews.

3. Social Bookmarking – Social bookmarking is the process of tagging a website page with the browser-based tool so that you can visit it again late. It involves searching, saving sharing site pages, you find interesting and relevant to your niche. Promoting your content and being tagged on these sites is beneficial as:

• It helps to access high authority backlinks for the website to boost its presence on SERP
• Allow interaction with the potential collaborations and influencers to grow an online business
• Add social bookmarking buttons on your site to make this off-page SEO process simpler. 

4. Classified Advertisement – Classified advertisement is online advertising of a product or service by writing an interesting description about it. An advertisement comprises headlines, details, and contact details. Benefits of using classified advertisement:

• They are easy to use and free
• Open up a global market for your products
• Helps to increase the traffic on the website

 Points to keep in mind:

• Do not fill the website with classified ads as it will increase the bounce rate.
• Use websites that allow you to use backlinks and direct marking.
• Do not post free classified ads every day.
• Describe your company and services in detail and publicize only the relevant information. 

5. Image Sharing– Image sharing refers to submitting images related to a website in different images sharing sites. Some sites to which image can be submitted is Photobucket, Flickr, Imgur, etc.  Benefits of images submission:

• Images are first noticed in content thus have greater potential to drive traffic to the site.
• You can optimize your image links for targeted keywords using the alt attributes.
•  Images help to acquire lots of inbound links. 
• Optimized images hold a chance to get displayed on Google search results thus driving traffic ad conversions. 

Points to keep in mind:

• Create infographics, as it has the potential to display complex information in a simpler representable manner.
• Optimize images with keywords.
• Promote seasonal content like charity or donation drives related to the brand. 

6. PPT and PDF Submission– PPt and pdf submission is the process of presenting data on slides or pdf form and sending them to high authority submission sites. Ppt comprises text, images, and graphics to attract internet users and reach the target audience more effectively. It helps the website to get inbound traffic through backlinks thus improving page ranking. Fresh and quality content, when submitted through PPT or pdf, can make others share your submission in their blogs and websites, which helps to generate quality inbound links in long run. 

7. Quora Submission– The Quora submission is the process of submitting questions and answers related to the website and product on Quora etc. Quora is a high authoritative site that is referred by people frequently to get answers to their questions. Whenever they search for related questions, your posted answers will promote the link to your website. You can answer the already mentioned question or can create your own.

Points to remember while Quora submission

• Track down the forums relevant to your domain or find Q&A threads that are thematically or topically beneficial to you.  
• Answer the question that is frequently asked by the searchers. 

8. Video Submission – Video submission is the process of submitting business or product-relevant videos on high authoritative video submission sites to get quality backlinks. Many users don’t like to read long posts and prefer videos that are easy to watch and compatible with various devices. Most people like sharing videos with family and friends which helps to promote business. Thus it is an interesting, engaging, and easy way to drive traffic. 

Points to remember while video submission- 

• Post engaging and product-relevant videos.
• The video should not be too long. 

9. Ping Submission– Ping submission is the process of sending auto-generated notifications to the engine spider. It keeps them updated about the crawling activity. Pinging helps the website owner to get a count of crawlers due to the generated backlinks. Benefits of ping submission:

• It helps to increase the site indexing. 
• It improves the site ranking on the search engineer result page. 
• It helps to increase the website domain authority.
• Posting pings is free.
• It helps to generate good backlinks. 

10. Search Engine Submission- Search engine submission is a method of requesting a search engine to get a new website indexed. It alerts search engines about the website’s existence. Advantages of search engine submission:

• Increase visibility and ranking of the business website in the search result.
• Direct higher traffic to the website.
• It is a cost-effective measure. 
• Helps to establish a successful brand identity in less time.
• Helps to generate greater revenue.

While search engine submission, avoid using a service that claims to submit hundred of search engines as it leads to email spam, low quality.

11. Blog Submission- The process of submitting blogs on blog submitting websites to gather user attention for the website is blog submission. It helps businesses to offer fresh content to the user regularly so that they keep visiting the site. It helps to gain backlinks and earn profit along with building a good rapport with potential customers. Benefits of blog submission:

• It helps to establish authority in a niche by sharing industry-related news and information. 
• It helps to generate an authoritative link to the website as meaningful blogs are sources for other writers who can mention your website in their articles which will generate the inbound links. 

The blogs submitted should offer unique and useful information to readers.

12. Guest Blogging- Guest blogging is also known as guest posting. It is an act of writing content for another company’s website. Guest blogging is an advantageous SEO activity as

• It attracts traffic back to the website. 
• It boosts domain authority using external links to high authority domains.
• It increases brand credibility and awareness.
•  It helps to build relationships with peers in the industry.

Guest Blogging is a two-way street where featuring guest blogs is also a beneficial act as it helps to deliver new perspectives and fresh content to the reader.

Tips to enhance the Guest Blogging strategy

• Write a clear and concise author bio for the companies that prohibit linking back to your website.
• Try to include relevant internal links back to the company’s previous blog post to increase authority and traffic
• Conclude post with call-to-action so that readers leave comments. As more people comment on the blog, the more popular your post will become in an SEO search. 
• Promote guest blogs on your social media sites to boost traffic.
• Use google analytics to track traffic generated by guest posts. It will help to get a clear idea of what is working in favor of business and whatnot. 

Conclusion

Success in digital marketing and off-page SEO demands consistency and experimenting. Now, as you are equipped with the basics of off-page SEO you are all ready to stretch the limits and test and try the practices that work for your website success.

If you are looking for SEO Services for your business, we can help you out.