Your website is not only the face of your brand, it’s arguably your most meaningful marketing tool. You should already be familiar with how on-site SEO tools can help improve your brand’s findability–but what about off-site SEO? What is off-site SEO and how can it be used to make your website stand out?
On-Site SEO vs. Off-Site SEO
On-site SEO refers to the content, structure, and technical aspects that make up how your site is ranked by search engines. It’s making sure your content is on-brand, on-topic, valuable, and optimized for accessibility. Without proper on-site SEO, your site would likely have middling results on search engines. If you’re not on the first page of search engine results, you might as well be on the last.
Off-site SEO, however, refers to the tactics that help boost the popularity and viability of your site. It also includes meaningful/valuable links, popularity metrics, and correlational ranking data. It also refers to your content marketing–like your social media. The stronger your off-site SEO, the better your overall SEO results will be.
The most important thing to remember, however, is that both on-site and off-site SEO refers to your web pages–not your website as a whole. That means your SEO strategy should apply to more than just your home page or landing page. Each individual page should have its own SEO strategy as part of your overall SEO strategy.
Off-Site SEO Tips
To prevent against those who might game the system, search engines aren’t transparent about their page-ranking algorithms. At the same time, there are a few key components that go into optimizing your off-site SEO, like link-building and popularity metrics.
One major way to boost your off-site SEO is to generate backlinks from diverse, reputable websites. Ideally, that means your content is so compelling that sites all across the internet link to it. In reality, however, that means utilizing tools like YouTube to link back to your website. For example, a brand video on YouTube would lead back to several different pages on your website–which would boost your off-site SEO rankings. Even social media can be used to backlink to your web pages!
Arguably the most meaningful way to improve your off-page SEO is through effective content marketing. The more valuable content is to your audience, the better it’ll rank organically. If more people (and web pages) share or endorse that content, not only is it naturally being seen by more people but search engines pick up on that popularity. Make sure your content is relevant and is worth the time your audience takes to consume it.
Make Your Digital Content Count!
Again, your digital content is the lifeblood of your brand. Your digital content is, in essence, your brand’s digital existence. Everything your brand publishes online is technically considered content. From the layout and words on your web pages to your social media posts to the last email your brand sent out: it’s all content. More importantly, it should all be synergized with the same style–and with the same goals in mind.
While link building is widely considered among the chief off-site SEO tools, content marketing may be more important. Plus, if you nail your content marketing, there’s a good chance your link building will be augmented as well. In other words, if your content is comprised of things that people are already searching for, it’ll be more widely shared. If that content adds value to your audience, it’ll be more widely shared. More widely shared data means better off-site SEO, so strive to create content that folks want to share!
The key takeaway is this: the more meaningful connections you make with your customers across different channels, the better. Not only for your brand awareness and viability but for SEO–both on and off-site.
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