Daily Archives: June 21, 2022

What are Off-Page SEO Techniques? | All You Need To Know

What are Off-Page SEO Techniques

SEO is a complex and ever-changing field, and hence it can be hard to keep up with the latest changes in the SEO community, let alone know what techniques work best.

But if there’s one thing you should focus on for your SEO strategy that will boost rankings, it is off-page SEO.

This leads to the question: what are off-page SEO techniques?

Don’t worry; we got you covered. In this article, we’ll go over the basics of off-page SEO, what off-page SEO includes, why it’s essential, and some of the best techniques you can use to improve your rankings.

So, let’s dive in!

What is off-page SEO?

Off-page SEO refers to the actions you take outside of your website to improve your search engine rankings. It includes everything from link building and social media engagement to directory listings and local citations.

In other words, off-page SEO is all about optimising your website’s external visibility. By putting together a robust off-page SEO strategy, you will be able to improve your website’s authority across search engines.

The difference between on-page SEO and off-page SEO

It’s essential to understand the difference between on-page and off-page SEO before going into off-page optimisation techniques.

On-page SEO refers to the actions you take on your website to improve your search engine rankings. This includes techniques like optimising your title tags and meta descriptions, using keyword-rich URLs, adding structured data markup, etc.

On the other hand, off-page SEO refers to the process of optimising your website and its content outside of your website. In other words, you don’t change anything on your actual website but instead focus on building links and increasing your website’s visibility elsewhere through external measures.

While both are important for optimising your website’s visibility, off-page SEO, however, is often seen as more critical for two reasons:

1. It tells search engines that your website is a valuable and authoritative resource.

2. It’s easier to control since you’re not limited by your own website’s design or coding.

With that said, you can’t optimise your website for off-page SEO if you don’t have robust on-page optimisation in place. So, make sure you’re taking care of on-page optimisation first and foremost.

Once you’ve got it under control, you can start working on building your website’s external visibility with the off-page SEO strategies listed below.

Why is off-page SEO important?

Now that you know what off-page SEO is and how it differs from on-page SEO, you might be wondering why it’s so important. Here are a few of the key reasons:

  1. Boosts recognition and authority

As mentioned earlier, off-page SEO is what signals search engines that your website is a valuable and authoritative resource. The reason for this is simple- if other websites are linking to your content, it must be good.

Think about it this way- if you’re looking for a new restaurant to try, are you more likely to trust a place recommended by a friend or one that’s not?

Of course, you’re going to trust the recommendation of someone you know. The same goes for search engines. If other websites link to your content, it’s a sign that your website is worth paying attention to. So to put it in simple terms, off-page SEO helps you build the relationship between your website and search engines. The stronger that relationship is, the higher you’ll rank on the SERPs.

In doing so, you’ll also be building your domain authority, which is a crucial factor in improving your website’s overall SEO.

  1. One of the most effective ways to increase website traffic

Off-page SEO is also important because it’s one of the most effective ways of increasing website traffic.

Consider this- if you want people to visit your website, you need to make sure they can find it. And one of the best ways to do that is to rank high on SERPs.

The higher you rank, the more people will see your website in their search engine results. And, as more people see your website, the more likely it is that they’ll visit it.

Not to mention, by using off-page SEO methods, you’ll also be increasing your website’s visibility in other places online, such as social platforms and directories. That means you’ll be getting traffic from multiple sources, which is always a good thing.

Techniques for off-page SEO that work

There are a variety of techniques you can use to benefit from the power of off-page SEO. However, not all of them are created equal. That’s why we’ll only be recommending the techniques that we’ve found to be most effective. These are:

1. Link building

Link building is one of the most important factors that influence search engine results because the number of links pointing to your website (inbound links) determines your website’s ranking.

Although the more links you have, the better, it’s not just the quantity of links that’s important, but also the quality and linking page authority.

A high-quality link is one that comes from a website that’s:

  • Relevant to your website
  • Has a high domain authority score
  • And is frequently visited by your target audience

So, when you earn backlinks from authority sites, it tells search engines that your website is also a high-quality and relevant resource.
Think of it as getting a “vote of trust” from another website.

Additionally, although there are several ways to go about building authority links, some of the most effective methods include guest blogging, digital PR, brand mentions, and newsjacking.

Lastly, aim for your backlink profile to be as diverse as possible. That way, you’ll be less reliant on any one traffic source and more likely to rank higher on SERPs.

2. Social media marketing

Social media is another powerful off-page SEO technique. By being active on social platforms, you can increase your website’s visibility and attract more visitors.

This is because, for many users, social media is their go-to source for information. So, by being active on social media, you’re allowing your website to be seen by many people. In a way, social media platforms are like mini search engines in and of themselves.

Additionally, the good news is that there are many ways to use social media to your advantage. For example, you can use social media to:

  • Share your content
  • Engage with other users
  • Position yourself as an expert in your industry
  • Handle customer service
  • Build relationships with influencers

The possibilities are endless. Just make sure to use a social media strategy that aligns with your overall digital marketing goals.

3. Local SEO

When you do local off-page SEO, you optimise your website for Google’s local results. This means that your website will show up in search engine results when people search for businesses near them. This accounts for 46% of all Google searches , which makes local SEO highly valuable.

Additionally, since local SEO is such a powerful marketing tool, it’s essential to make sure your website is optimised for it as part of your off-page SEO tactics.

To help with this, there are several things you can do, such as adding your business to directories, claiming your Google My Business listing, optimising your website for local search, and more.

Google My Business

Many businesses make the mistake of not claiming their Google My Business listing. This is a huge mistake!

Google My Business is a free listing service that allows businesses to add their business information, such as hours of operation, location, etc. And, the best part about it is that it’s ranked high on Google SERPs.

What are Off-Page SEO Techniques

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So by not using Google My Business, you’re missing out on a valuable opportunity to improve your website’s local SEO. On top of that, you’re letting your competitors steal your customers!

To get started, all you need to do is create a business profile. From there, you can add your business information and start optimising your listing for local SEO.

Citations/directories

Another way to improve your website’s local SEO is by adding your business to directories. When you do this, you’re creating a citation for your business.

A citation is simply a mention of your business on another website. They usually include your business name, address, and phone number (NAP). And the more citations you have, the better your website will rank in local SERPs.

Local directories

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There are several directories you can add your business to other than Google My Business, such as Yelp and Foursquare. Remember, the more places you add your business to, the better your website’s local SEO.

In terms of citations, for them to be effective, they must be accurate and consistent across all directors. So, before you add your business to a directory, make sure your NAP information is up-to-date and correct.

4. Forums

This may be an unexpected one, given the history of spamming forums, but they can be a great place to get links. The key is not to spam them to get links but to legitimately add value and participate in the conversation.

In fact, many forums will allow you to include a link to your website in your signature. So, by adding valuable content and participating in the conversation, you can get a high-quality link to your website and, at the same time, position yourself as an expert in your field.

With some commitment, forums can be a great way to build relationships, generate leads, and get links, and soon you’ll be able to create a name for yourself in the industry and be seen as an authority figure.

Forums in SEO

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Examples of such popular forums include Reddit and Quora. There are plenty more but focus on finding ones that are relevant to your industry and start participating in the conversation.

5. Influencer marketing

Influencer marketing has become one of the most popular ways to market your product or service. And, for a good reason– it works!

In a nutshell, influencer marketing is when you partner with an influencer to promote your product or service. Here an influencer is someone who has a large following and can steer their followers to take action. For example, let’s say you sell fitness equipment. You should then ideally partner with a fitness influencer and have them promote your product to their followers.

Influencer marketing thus, when done correctly, can be an extremely effective way to reach a large audience and generate leads. To get started, you need to find influencers specific to your industry.

Once you’ve found a few, reach out to them and see if they’re interested in partnering with you. But, keep in mind that it will be expensive. However, if you have the budget, it’s worth considering.

Lastly, don’t leverage influencer marketing for link building. The whole point of influencer marketing is to reach a large audience and generate leads, not links. So, focus on the campaign’s goal and don’t try to get too many links from it. And if you do, make sure they’re no-follow links. Otherwise, you’ll be violating Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.

6. Guest posting/guest blogging

Guest posting, also known as guest blogging, is when you write a blog/guest post for another website in your industry to provide value to their audience.

For example, let’s say you run a marketing agency. In such a case, you could write a post for a website that focuses on small business tips. In return for the post, you’d usually get to include a link to your website.

This makes guest posting a great off-site SEO technique to get exposure to a new audience and generate leads. And, if you do it correctly, you can also get some high-quality links.

The most effective link building strategies

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Remember, the key is to find high-quality websites in your industry that are a good fit for your blog post. Your objective should be to tap into their audience and provide value so that your brand is seen as an authority figure.

This is because if you focus on providing value, you’ll get natural links with no effort. And, if you’re able to get your blog post published on a high-quality website, you’ll also see a nice boost in referral traffic.

7. Broken link building

Broken link building is done when you find broken links on websites and then contact the website owner to suggest a replacement link. For example, let’s say you’re a web developer and you found broken links on websites related to web development. In such a case, you should reach out to the website owner and suggest a replacement link to your website.

This type of link building, thus, is a great way to get quality backlinks since you’re providing value to the website owner by suggesting a replacement link. Not only that, but it’s also a great way to get exposure to a new audience and generate leads.

To get started with this technique, find websites in your industry that have broken links. You can use a tool like Monitor Backlinks to do this.

Once you’ve found some, reach out to the website owner and let them know. Lastly, include a link to your website or website page as a replacement.

8. Podcasts

Podcasts are essentially radio shows that you can listen to on your phone or computer. They are becoming more and more popular, as they prove useful in reaching out to new audiences.

They can be helpful in covering just about every topic. For example, let’s say you sell software products. You could start a podcast about the software industry and interview experts in the field. This will help you generate leads and build trust with them.

Additionally, if you’re able to get your podcast featured on popular directories like Apple’s Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Listen Notes, you’ll also be optimising your business for other search engines and gaining more exposure.

Ready to try out off-page search engine optimisation?

Each of these techniques will help you build high-quality links, expose your brand to a new audience, and generate leads. But, remember that off-page SEO takes time and effort. So, be patient and keep at it.

Remember, consistency is critical.

Now that you know what off-page search engine optimisation is and the 8 techniques you can use, it’s time you get started. So, what’s the hold? Begin today!

What are Organic SEO Services? | Everything You Need to Know

what are organic SEO services

As a next-door Google user, when was the last time you clicked on a top search result labelled “ad”? If your answer is anything from “barely” to “not sure”, you’re among the 94% of users who pick organic search results for their query. Now, you must be wondering, what are organic SEO services?

Now switch your lens to that of a business owner – what does this statistic mean for your online marketing strategy? Firstly, paid advertising works, but not most of the time. Second, and most importantly, your customers need to see your online footing first before you even convert a lead.

That is where organic search engine optimization services step in to change the game of your website traffic behaviour. If you’re curious about organic SEO services and their major elements, you’re in the right space.

But before that, let’s clear some smoke around organic rankings.

What is Organic SEO?

Organic Search Engine Optimization or SEO is a digital marketing process of improving your website rankings to the top of the unpaid listing. It is achieved when the content is high on relevance, value, and authority. It has sub-strategies like keyword research, optimised content, and link building to boost your position on search engines.

Organic vs Paid Advertising

Paid ads appear on top of SERPs, much closer to the organic listing. And this is a significant source of revenue for search engines. There are different categories like pay per click, for example, where you pay them every time someone clicks your ad. Others include native, display, and social media ads.

Paid vs. Organic Results

Now that the basics are out of the way, let’s steer towards various organic SEO services you might need when designing an SEO campaign.

What is Organic SEO Services?

Organic SEO works in a straightforward way: Google crawls and indexes your web pages with its algorithm to decide your website rank.

A website is where you can publicise and offer solutions, products, and the overall brand picture. However, what if you notice the website isn’t pulling in the needed traffic to grow your business? In such cases, you’re losing out on major revenue opportunities.

An excellent organic SEO strategy needs consistent optimisation. It includes everything from simple alterations to complex strategies. They equip you to handle and assess areas of improvement to naturally grow website traffic.

Organic SEO refers to the natural placement of a #website on search engine  results pages.

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Why is It Important for Companies?

Organic SEO services are essential to a company for a spectrum of reasons, including:

  • Advantage of Cost: This one easily takes the cake. Pay-per-click Google ads surely put you on the visibility map, but the long-run costs add up to big numbers. But with a sound organic SEO strategy, your organic traffic costs are low, without much compromise on the footfalls.
  • Credibility: Consistently ranking high on search engines deliver more benefits than organic traffic. When customers find you on top of SERPs, they develop a sense of confidence and find your brand credible.
  • Competitive Advantage: As your organic search rankings improve, your competitors will gradually be pushed down in the list. This way, you can outrank them to be on the first page without outspending them in digital marketing, giving more online authority and traffic.
  • Long-Term Focus: SEO services do have quick results, but the traffic may halt once you stop paying for ads. Paid rankings can benefit you exceptionally in certain circumstances-it may plant challenges for growth and scalability. But a solid organic SEO strategy cements your traffic flow that’s not solely tied to paid campaigns.

Categories of an Organic SEO Strategy

A number of measures and tools form a wholesome organic SEO campaign to rank high on Google. Google algorithms rank a website based on three factors: on-page SEO, off-page or content creation strategy, and technical SEO. Let’s have a good look at each of these areas.

On-Page SEO Strategy

Also called on-site SEO, this process involves optimising a website’s front and back-end components for search engines to rank, and you experience more site traffic. Its components include content design, site architecture, and HTML. Unlike other tech areas, on-site is based on your decisions.

How, you ask? On-page SEO is vital as it feeds search engines a variety of cues that assist them in figuring out what your content is. Search engines aim to match web pages with keywords and search queries users type in the search box during the indexing and ranking procedures.

So, what should your on-site SEO checklist include?

On-Page SEO

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1. Creating Quality Content

With regards to SEO, high-quality implies original and relevant content.

So, the best action would be to run a quick Google search for your target keywords. Observe the top search engine rankings and examine the results on its first page. Note down things like:

  • The type of content
  • Top keywords for under search intent
  • Use of images and video elements
  • Page design – UX and fluid site structure

Once through with it, design your content around informational and core business areas. You need in-depth keyword research, so pay attention to the organic search results. The process involves using tools like Google Keyword Planner or Trends to discover and identify relevant keywords and their search volume by region or season.

That apart, informational content like blogs and articles along with internal linking helps boost the SEO quality by making your website visible as an answer to customers’ questions.

2. Title Tags & Description

When search engines crawl for results, they read your title and description, among other things. It helps them grasp the page’s authority, competition, et al., to rank your website.

Each web page needs unique titles that help both search engines and customers understand the relevance of your site.

Take note of these important page title SEO tips for improved site quality:

  • Inserting keywords at the start of page titles after careful keyword research
  • Including crisp descriptions
  • Adding numbers or power-words (top 5 tips or Ultimate Guide, etc.)
Meta tags

Like title tags, meta descriptions are on the top of a website and contains target keywords. Ideally, they should be within 150-160 characters, easy to understand to appear on the search engine results page. It is your chance to capture user attention and convince them to click on your link.

3. Optimisation for Mobile

With more people spending time on their mobile phones, it’s important your website adjusts to the screen size and page scroll speed. Move to responsive page designs with CSS3 media queries for standard content experience across devices.

You also need to optimise for local SEO by being consistent with your name and contact and adding your location in the site’s metadata.

Off-Site SEO

This includes all the efforts made outside of your site design to improve your SERP ranking. Off-site SEO is important as it contributes to more than 50% of the ranking factors.

Think of it as primal in establishing your authority among web browsers. Websites commanding higher authority tend to take plum positions in organic search results than those with low or none. That is because search engines tout such sites as credible and high-quality.

Have a look at the common off-site SEO strategies that are integral in your organic SEO campaigns.

1. Link Building

Also called backlinking, it’s the process of directing to another website. It’s crucial you gauge what links work best for your content marketing strategy. As Google considers backlinks or external links as a stamp of popularity, linking to websites with excellent authority contributes to your standing. Naturally, there’s a correlation between sites with high-quality links and high organic ranks.

what are organic SEO services

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There are two kinds of links that can spike your organic SEO performance.

  1. Natural Links
  2. Self-Promotion links

Earning good backlinks adds a component of trust towards your brand, as others are vouching for your content.

2. Content Marketing

It’s not just an on-site element where you only create posts on your website. Consider if your post or infographic is picked by a reputed website or content company: that’s content marketing.

Include guest posting in your SEO strategy to help your business grow beyond traditional marketing methods. But take a step back and focus on creating highly engaging content that adds value to users and is shareable. Popular content marketing tactics are:

  • Well-designed infographics
  • Ebooks and whitepapers
  • Research papers and related resources
  • Surveys and relevant studies

3. Social Media

The previous point brings us to the most vibrant channel for increasing organic SEO results.

It’s seen that 93% of online users visit a social media platform every day. Platforms like Instagram are search engines in their own right, and the right SEO strategy cannot overlook the immense potential there.

Present your brand identity, and channelise the platform as a customer service tool. It’s most likely customers would prefer to raise queries on your social handles for a quick response or inquire about your business. Consider opting for influencer marketing if you’re a product-based business. It’s a promising way to reach the masses, a sort of outsourced marketing (in a way).

4. Local Listings

This involves steps to amplify your presence in your own location of service. To collect information for local queries, search engines rely on specific keywords around location, links, citations, etc., to present relevant results.

Use free SEO tools like Google My Business that helps get the Local Pack to include and update your prime intel like work hours, contact, and key products & services.

what is google my business account with profile

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Technical SEO analysis

Borrowing from Neil Patel, a strong technical foundation is necessary along with other organic SEO work to rank high on a search engine like Google.

You need to be in tandem with the search engine bots to help understand your web architecture to easily index your content among organic results. But how do you accomplish this?

1. URL Structure

URLs are also known as links. But is it a key area of concern in organic SEO strategies?

Indeed.

URLs are an important factor for ranking and promoting Google PageRank. Your URL structure must consider user experience. That means simple URLs with easy-to-read components and keywords related to the page’s content are SEO-friendly.

2. Fix Broken Links

This space is to touch upon crucial status codes – 404, 301, & 302. Understand using redirects correctly during link building.

Both a user and search engine would be badly surprised to find a blank or an erroneous link, which hurts your visibility. You can avoid and manage such events by using a broken link checker like this one to stay ahead of the tech glitch.

3. Website Speed

All your digital marketing efforts may take a hit if the page loads slowly. People are impatient and will hop on another page for their answers, and you’ll miss out on traffic.

Google knows this is an undesirable experience and choose pages that load faster. Test your website for speed, and check out the Core Web Vitals to create a user-centric environment.

The Bottomline

Whether you choose SEO specialists or do it yourself, a successful organic SEO campaign involves multifaceted areas of work. What makes organic SEO important is its immense potential to feature on top of SERPs without shelling too much money in Google ads or other digital marketing services.

Your search engine optimization strategy must envision and align with your business goals of creating a seamless user experience with outstanding support and services.