Off-Page SEO: What Is It & How Can You Take Advantage of It

On-page SEO is a fantastic starting point for optimizing your website. But it’s not the only piece of the puzzle if you want to rank high in the search engine results.

Search engines like Google promote trustworthy sites that provide value to users. 

How? 

They look to other websites to gauge just how credible and authoritative your site is. Off-page SEO tactics such as link building, collecting online reviews, and engaging on social media can help you build that credibility and authority. 

Believe me, off-page SEO is essential if you want to increase the chances of grabbing that all-important top spot in Google.

Ready to fine-tune your off-page SEO techniques? 

In this comprehensive guide, I’ll explain what off-page SEO optimization is, share how I helped a business grow its off-site SEO, and recommend strategies for stepping up your off-page SEO game. 

Key Takeaways

• Off-page SEO refers to all the activities you and others do away from your website to raise its ranking in search engines.
• There’s a common misconception that off-page SEO is just about building backlinks. While getting backlinks is important, there’s much more to the process.
• Other off-page SEO strategies include online reviews, guest posting, content marketing, and social media engagement.
• Off-page SEO is all about trust—you must prove your credibility and worth to customers and other websites.
• Remember that SEO is holistic. You need to work on your off-site SEO, on-site SEO, technical SEO, and local SEO to get the best results.

Table of Contents

• Key Takeaways
• What is Off-Page SEO, and Why Is It Important?
• Off-Page SEO Strategies
  • Off-Page SEO vs. On-Page SEO
• Off-Page SEO Best Practices
  • Have Concrete Goals in Mind and Track Them
  • Prep Your Site for Link Building
  • Take Advantage of Broken Link Building
  • Generate Quality Infographics
  • Build Brand Signals
  • Have a Promotion Plan for Shareable Content
  • Build Partnerships With Other Relevant Brands
• How to Avoid Google Penalties for Unnatural Links
• Off-Page SEO Case Study
• FAQs
• Conclusion

What is Off-Page SEO, and Why Is It Important?

Off-page SEO (or off-site SEO) concerns everything done off your website to increase your website’s reputation and authority. This leads to boosting your traffic and rankings in the search engine results.

Here’s an example where I’ve got a mention on the HubSpot blog.

Many think off-page SEO is just about getting backlinks to your website. While building links is an integral part of the off-page SEO optimization process, it’s much more than that. You need a well-rounded, balanced approach to off-site SEO for the best outcome.

So, why is off-page SEO so important?

Rob Tindula, Director of SEO at NP Digital, explains off-page SEO’s impact this way: 

“Not only can off-page efforts like link building, reviews, and local business profiles help your on-page efforts, but they can be critical components for conversions and your business’s bottom line. Always put a holistic mindset at the forefront when it comes to digital marketing strategy.” 

Let’s break down these benefits further: 

• It increases brand awareness. The more websites that mention you, the more likely it is that people discover you.
• It establishes trust. Off-site SEO shows that you’re a reliable and authoritative source of information. Those positive ranking signals can help you climb the search engine results.
• It drives traffic to your website. Off-page SEO increases your search engine ranking, organic traffic, and referral traffic.
• It works with other elements of SEO. For example, reviews and citations also boost your local SEO presence, meaning more visibility in the local search results.

Off-Page SEO Strategies

Here are some types of off-page SEO tactics you might use in your marketing strategy.

• Link building. Backlinks on credible, reliable websites act as a vote of confidence for your website content. The more you have, the more positive the effect on your rankings.
• Bylined thought leadership. Publishing articles on other websites generates backlinks and showcases your expertise. While this is a subcategory of link building, on average, these types of posts generate less search volume.
• Citations. Slightly different from backlinks, citations list your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) on various directories. They’re great for showing you’re an active, consistent, reliable business.
• Reviews. Positive reviews show other customers—and the search engines—that you’re reputable. Reviews can also include keywords that can help your business be featured in additional searches.
• Content marketing. Creating high-quality, relevant content attracts backlinks from other websites. It can also help you score shares on social media. 
• Influencer marketing. Influencer marketing introduces your brand to new audiences, shows you’re a legitimate business, and helps build backlinks.
• Forums. Contributing to forums like Reddit and Quora can increase brand awareness and trust. These forums can also give you great ideas for keywords and content marketing.
• Social media. Posting on social media raises brand awareness, allowing you to engage with your target audience and drive moretraffic to your website.
• Podcasting. Guest appearances on podcasts is an opportunity to promote your business and show people that you’re a voice of authority.

Off-Page SEO vs. On-Page SEO

Off-page SEO concerns everything you do away from your website to boost your search engine rankings. On-page SEO involves everything you do on your site to boost those rankings.

For example, writing a guest post for another website is off-page SEO, while writing an article for your own site is on-page SEO.

While off-page SEO does more to establish trust in your website, on-page SEO is easier to implement, as you have more control over the process.

However, it’s important to factor both into your overall SEO strategy. For example, creating a value-packed piece of content for your site makes it more likely for other websites to link to it. And that helps you build a strong backlink profile.

Off-Page SEO Best Practices

Now that you know what off-page SEO is, how do you use it? Here are some of my expert tips.

Have Concrete Goals in Mind and Track Them

Before you implement your off-page SEO strategy, it’s vital to know what you want to achieve from it.

For example, is your overall aim to:

• Get on the first page of Google for a specific keyword?
• Get backlinks from high-quality, respected websites in your sector?
• Become a top voice for a particular topic?

Once you know, you can determine the right off-page SEO techniques to get you there.

Putting a specific, tangible goal in place gives you something to work toward and track. Use the SMART acronym to guide you. In other words, your goals should be: 

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Realistic
• Timely

Here’s the SMART goal framework in action with a hypothetical goal as an example: 

“I want to be a voice of authority in my sector, helping establish trust in my business (specific, achievable, realistic). I will do this by appearing on two podcasts and creating three guest articles by the end of Q3 (measurable, timely).”

Prep Your Site for Link Building

Link building is a lot like painting a wall. You want to prime your wall before applying that first coat. Likewise, you need to prepare your website so it’s optimized to gain as many backlinks as possible before you start your outreach.

Here’s how to make sure your web pages are ready for link building.

• Add internal links. Good internal linking means that when a specific page gets a backlink, the authority from the backlink gets passed to the other links on your page. Make sure you link to relevant pages and remove any broken links.
• Optimize your technical SEO. Audit each page, making sure they load quickly and that your headings and metadata are on point. Don’t forget to add structured data if needed. Also, be sure your site architecture and URL structure are on point.
• Do your keyword research. Optimizing for the right keywords and search intent means your pages will appear in front of the right people. 
• Audit your content. Remove inaccurate, low-quality content from your website, or take steps to make it better.

Take Advantage of Broken Link Building

Did you know that two-thirds of links to sites over the last nine years no longer work? 

You can take advantage of this with broken link building. This is when you identify broken links on a website, tell the owners, and recommend they replace them with links to your own content. It’s a fast and easy way to get backlinks.

How can you find broken links? The Check My Links Chrome extension is an easy way to find broken links at a glance. If you want to identify broken links at scale, an SEO spider tool like Screaming Frog can help.

If you find a broken link, don’t forget to check all the other links on that page before you reach out. You don’t want your website featured on a page with lots of low-quality, spammy links.

Generate Quality Infographics

OK, infographics don’t bring in the backlinks like they used to. But when you do them right, they’re a valuable tool for showing off your expertise.

The trick is coming up with an idea your target audience will love, executing it well, and promoting it as much as possible.

The final point is especially important. A lot of people think they can stick an infographic on their website and wait for people to start sharing it. However, you’ve got to put in the promotion effort if you want it to go viral.

Here’s an infographic I love from VinePair. It shows the most popular hot sauce in every state. It’s fun, shareable, and encourages people to talk about their favorite sauces.

Build Brand Signals

A brand signal is information that shows the search engines how well-known, relevant, and trustworthy your brand is. 

While small, positive brand signals come together to give your website a well-deserved SEO boost.

Examples of brand signals include:

• Mentions of your brand on other websites (with or without links attached)
• The anchor text used on other websites (for example, anchor text using your brand name can reinforce your brand identity to search engines)
• A strong social media presence
• Customer reviews

The advantage of brand signals is that even if you don’t have time to implement a backlink campaign or money to create infographics, you can still improve and grow your off-site SEO.

Create good content, provide fantastic customer service, and you can take advantage of brand signals and the benefits they bring. 

Have a Promotion Plan for Shareable Content

Shareable content is brilliant for off-page SEO optimization. It increases the chance of earning backlinks, makes more people aware of your brand, and helps you stay relevant.

Chad Gilbert, VP of Content Marketing at NP Digital, explains that “some elements that make content shareable include unique data. You can collect this data by interviewing stakeholders or people from your target audience or running a survey/poll with a larger group of your target audience. Subject matter expertise or opinions are also great additions to make your content more shareable. 

“One way we do this is by working with SMEs (subject matter experts) in the industries our clients are in. The SMEs typically will share out content they are quoted in, so some promotion is already baked in, and we can connect with the SME’s existing audience.”

People share content because it resonates with their values, triggers a specific emotion, or makes them feel good about themselves.

Take the World Record Egg, which got over 60 million likes and, up until 2022, was the most-liked post on Instagram. People shared it because it was simple, relatable, and funny.

Not all your content will be shareable, and that’s OK. However, dedicating time and resources to promoting and marketing your shareable content pays dividends when it comes to off-page SEO.

Build Partnerships With Other Relevant Brands

By building brand partnerships with others, you can get backlinks, extend your reach, and put your name in front of people who might not have heard of you before.

One of the best ways to build partnerships is through influencer marketing. The great thing about influencer marketing is that there’s an influencer for every business. 

You don’t need to link up with the likes of Ronaldo or Kim Kardashian to promote your products or services. Nano-influencers and micro-influencers often get more engagement than their larger counterparts. In fact, small-scale influencers drive 60 percent higher engagement rates than macro-influencers.

Other ways you can build brand partnerships include sponsorship opportunities, cross-promotions, or even collaborations on products or services. For example, Crocs and Busch Light joined forces to design a new range of shoes as part of a brand partnership.

The key is to work with a partner in a similar (or adjacent) industry who shares your goals and values. 

How to Avoid Google Penalties for Unnatural Links

I can’t talk about off-page SEO without mentioning Google penalties and unnatural links.

While high-quality, relevant links can boost your search engine rankings, spammy, low-quality ones can knock your website out of the search results. The search engines may even stop showing your pages entirely.

Here’s how to ensure you only encourage the best backlinks for your website.

• Create high-quality content that appeals to your target audience. Low-quality content won’t get backlinks.
• Diversify your anchor text. A mix of keyword phrases, brand names, and generic terms will show Google that you’re not trying to manipulate the rankings. To influence how your backlink anchor text appears on other sites, you might include anchor text suggestions in your link-building outreach. 
• Grow your links steadily. A sudden spike may be a cause for concern in the search engines.
• Focus on getting backlinks from relevant websites in your industry sector. Irrelevant links are a red flag to the search engines.
• Research websites thoroughly for domain authority, organic traffic signals, and brand relevancy. before asking for backlinks. 
• Avoid unethical SEO tactics like paid link schemes or private blog networks.
• Monitor your backlinks regularly and flag any that look suspicious.

Off-Page SEO Case Study

My agency, NP Digital, worked with Ascent Funding to improve its off-page SEO through increased social media engagement and improved brand authority. 

Ascent Funding wanted innovative ideas to boost brand awareness.

We collaborated on the “Pursue Your Dreams” contest, in which students shared short videos for an opportunity to win $10,000. We promoted the initiative using Ascent Funding’s website, social media profile, and university partnerships. We also reached out to influencers, universities, and the media. 

The campaign was a huge success, exceeding Ascent Funding’s expectations. The company received 334 entries and three loan submissions as a result of the campaign. More highlights include:

• 334 submissions, 34% higher than the 250-student goal.
• 32 placements on high-ranking .edu sites
• 47,000 impressions and over 2,000 engagements on TikTok
• 15k pageviews in the 30 days, 78% of those being new users.
• 218  press release pickups

The campaign led to new supporters, increased brand awareness, and lots of user-generated content (UGC) for future marketing campaigns. 

FAQs

What is off-page SEO?

Off-page SEO concerns any optimization that takes place away from your website. A successful off-page SEO strategy tells Google and other search engines that your site is valuable to your audience.

What are some off-page SEO techniques?

Key off-page SEO tactics include building high-quality backlinks from authoritative websites, encouraging positive online reviews and brand mentions, and engaging with your audience through social media.

How does on-page SEO relate to off-page SEO?

By optimizing your on-page SEO, you increase the value of the page, making it more desirable to link to. That makes your off-page SEO efforts a lot easier.

How do I choose the right SEO KPIs?

Understanding your goals is a good place to start. Do you want more to build website authority, get more engagement, or focus on conversions?

You can then choose the right key performance indicators (KPIs). For example, if your goal is website authority, I recommend measuring:

• The number of new backlinks and referring domains
• The domain rating of linking domains
• The amount of traffic and conversion coming from referring domains

Conclusion

Off-page SEO can be challenging. It takes time to build relationships with other websites, and you’re not in complete control of the process as you would be with on-page SEO.

However, it’s well worth the effort.

Patience is key. Take the time to prepare your site for your off-site SEO efforts, including optimizing your site architecture and making sure it’s easy to navigate.

If you’re creating content, identify your target audience and understand what they want to see. You should make content that answers their questions and encourages them to share with their peers.

Be consistent, persevere, and you’ll be one step closer to conquering the search engines.