13 Off-Page SEO Techniques for Increasing Organic Traffic and Brand Awareness
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If you want to increase true brand awareness and drive massive organic traffic to your website, you will need to implement some effective off-page SEO practices. It’s a big deal. There is little clear-cut and effective content on the Internet about where digital marketers should focus the majority of their resources, knowledge, and time to drive organic traffic to their site from an off-site SEO standpoint.
That’s where the idea for creating a comprehensive off-page SEO techniques checklist arose. I hope it will be of assistance to you in your digital marketing endeavors.
The majority of user searches are performed for one of two reasons: to find information (informational query) or to find information and buy (commercial query). You need both types of users – information seekers and buyers – because either case is a win-win situation: you’ll either convert them into customers or gain some long-term subscribers.
Let’s start with an off-site SEO tour.
Before we can discuss off-page SEO, we should first review our understanding of what SEO is. Although this may seem redundant (after all, you came to our blog already knowing what SEO is and how it works), we will paint a quick picture of what SEO means today. Search engine optimization (SEO) refers to the totality of search marketing efforts aimed at making websites and online presences stand out in the eyes of both search engines and users. SEO should make your brand stand out in a sea of other brands vying for first place in SERPs. It also aims to quench users’ thirst for new, high-quality, relevant, and useful information.
You can’t just ‘SEO’ your website and call it a day. It’s an ever-shifting goalpost.
SEO is a distinct and exclusive language that marketers and webmasters use to communicate with search engines. If you will, it is a language bridge between humans and robots. SEO is synonymous with friendliness, credibility, authenticity, quality, transparency, fairness, optimization, variety, and other attributes. Furthermore, SEO is divided into two major categories: on-page SEO and off-page SEO. SEO strives to provide what Google requests.
Furthermore, search engines in general consider a variety of factors when ranking a website, including on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and others.
On-page SEO techniques can refer to a wide range of things and practices, such as optimized titles and snippets, search-friendly URL structures, friendly navigation – breadcrumbs, user sitemaps -, internal links, text formatting – h1, h2, bold, etc -, user-friendly 404 pages, accelerated pages in terms of loading, mobile-optimized pages, high-quality fresh content, image optimization – image size, proper image names, ALT tag
Off-page SEO refers to optimization activities that take place outside of your website. Off-site SEO refers to anything that occurs outside of your website and contributes to your ranking: social media marketing, influencer marketing, mentions (direct or indirect), guest blogging (sometimes black-hat), and so on.
This type of search engine optimization, also known as off-site SEO, provides search engines with insight into how people and digital entities all over the world read your website’s overall features. Off-page SEO rhymes with words like link building or promotion activities, but the whole thing is about much more than just links. We’ll go over it further later.
By implementing better off-page SEO techniques, you are attempting to demonstrate to your readers and search engines that your site is trustworthy, authentic, relevant, and has the potential to be popular in your industry. The benefits of good off-page SEO tactics are numerous, but here are a few examples: higher rankings, higher PageRank, more visits, more social media mentions, and higher visibility.
Off-page is more passive because it comes after you’ve worked hard to deliver quality and uniqueness on-page. What happens off-page is more important and valuable than what happens on-page in terms of outcome. Having truly rich, fresh content and a user-friendly website but no followers, likes, shares, mentions, or links on the internet is pointless and futile.
However, on-page SEO has a significant impact on the future of off-page SEO. That is why the outcome must be considered before beginning an activity, not after it has been completed. Begin with on-page SEO and then move on to off-page SEO.
Search engines’ algorithms may change, or ranking factors may be replaced or rearranged, but off-site SEO will continue to be important. Because businesses require reader approval as well as linking fellows. The user perception of your site’s worthiness and quality is critical to you.
The key to winning them is to create the best product available, not just another on the market, and as a result, off-page SEO will naturally do the work – people will talk about you because they are already converted or drawn to you.
Let’s get to the ultimate off-page SEO techniques checklist and learn some lessons for future marketing strategies without further ado.
Link building reigns supreme.
Create and pursue high-quality links. The first and most important thing to remember about links is this. “NoFollow is an attribute webmasters can use when linking to a website that tells search engines to essentially ignore the link,” according to our SEO terms glossary. When linking to external websites, social networks are notorious for using NoFollow links. DoFollow links are those that do not have the NoFollow attribute.
Link building is the most widely used marketing technique among professionals all over the world. To some extent, it is the most desired outcome of all. It is so important that, despite Google’s suggestion that content is the most important ranking factor, it is frequently preferred by the general public over the principle of crafting and providing quality fresh content. Nonetheless, content contributes significantly to your linking strategy.
Links are interpreted as votes or applause for your website, indicating an overall appreciation for your brand. The same link-building effort aided the rise of what is now known as black hat SEO.
People are sometimes so desperate for links that they engage in risky practices such as forum signatures, registering your website in content directories, link exchange schemes, link networks, blog directories, comment links (a.k.a. comment signature), article directories, and so on.
The topic match between the two domains linked by a link (is the link relevant? ), anchor text, link freshness, website trustworthiness, domain authority (DA) and/or page authority (PA), and the number of links used by the “sender” page are some of the factors that make a referring domain, and thus a link, valuable (or not). As a result, pay attention to who you’re linking to and how you’re linking to them.
The web contains three types of links:
Natural links: a user/customer/reader recognizes the content on your page and has a favorable opinion of your services, and links to your company as a sign of trust, appreciation, and endorsement;
manually build links: obtained through direct link-building efforts; asking customers to link to your product or influencers to share your content;
Self-created links: when you post your website link in comments (also known as a comment signature), or in web directories, forums, press releases, and so on (most of them enter in the black hat category)
The best course of action would be to engage in natural link-building. The best way to accomplish this is to create content that is worthy of links, and the links will follow naturally. Guest blogging is also a good idea, but be careful not to overlink your website, which will make your contribution look spammy rather than useful.
Also, build your links at a normal, traditional pace, i.e. gradually, or Google will think you’re using black-hat magic.
Quality, not quantity, should be the goal of link building. Many digital marketers and businesses fail to recognize this. Choose high-quality links. However, this should not prevent you from linking to and receiving links from smaller or younger brands and professionals, as long as the domains are good and relevant to your niche.
They must also meet the following criteria: quality, proper text and keywords, inbound numbers, and the others I’ve already mentioned. Finally, you should get the best of both worlds. And you should target it even if you believe your business is in a dull niche with little you can do.
The most link juice is passed by the best links. That is exactly what your brand requires, and it does not even have to be thirsty. Furthermore, page authority (as well as general domain trust) is a clear indicator of a site’s status and overall SEO tactics. That is because Google is not only interested in links, but also in their impact on the online environment and on your website.
When you obtain an inbound link from a large domain like Wikipedia, it can do wonders for your brand. Today’s lesson: try obtaining links from and from large link aggregators such as Wikipedia – this is a white-hat SEO strategy.
On the same note, inbound links from non-profit (.org) and educational (.edu) sites, as well as official (.gov) sites, are particularly effective. These are massive domains that offer extremely high-quality links while also passing some sexy link juice and authority to your page. To examine your inbound links, use a link analysis tool such as Site Explorer to see what, where, and what type of links you have from “abroad.” Examine your link profile to determine which pages provide the most link juice.
Learn the basics of broken link building. Resurrect those pages or design an eye-catching 404 page with links to other internal pages. Check your website for harmful links, such as adult sites referring to you or malware domains sending a link to your website, when analyzing your link profile.
You can check this using the aforementioned Site Explorer tool. Examine the anchor texts as well. They are frequently unrelated to the topic of your page and can easily mislead Google into “forming an opinion” about your content. It wasn’t until recently that I realized how important anchor texts are and how they clearly indicate the relationship between your page and the linked one. As a result, I began to pay more attention to the words I used when adding the outbound link.
Utilize Social Media Power
Google may consider social signals when ranking a page. You must win over your audience in order for Google (or any other search engine) to like you and rank you high. Especially since, as previously stated, brand mentions can count as links.
The buzzwords of the day are Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Instagram. They’ve never been more successful or powerful in their entire lives.
They certainly know how to engage people, provide them with the means to be inspired and cheered up, provide them with the friends they require (though most of the time, only available in the virtual world), and provide them with the shares and likes they crave. Brands and online marketers, on the other hand, seized the opportunity and saw these social platforms as the best playground for brand advocacy and promotion.
Shares and likes are social media enchantments. They help your company grow and spread like wildfire. You gain new subscribers, fans, or leads whenever you share relevant, fresh, and engaging content with your user community.
When it comes to social media, there are three things we recommend you keep in mind:
Be responsive – people will talk about you when they are happy with your services, when someone asks for a recommendation or feedback from friends, or when they are dissatisfied with your product. In any case, be sensitive and interact with your audience. Customer service can be provided through any channel, whether online or offline, on your support page or through social media channels.
Befriend the Big Brothers – There are a plethora of thought leaders, influencers, renowned professionals, or simply skilled group administrators who could lend you a hand in spreading the word about your brand.
One way is to share your content or mention you, two ways is to follow you, and three ways is to simply influence your self-development as a businessman or marketer in the field. Connect with social media experts and let them shape you by taking what works for them and learning what to avoid. They say that birds of a feather flock together. Stay with the good guys, and the results will come.
Monitor your online reputation – brand mentions are a valuable asset to your company, so treat them as such. As previously stated, brand mentions do count as links in Google’s search algorithms. Get a reputable brand monitoring tool and see who mentioned you across social media channels (and not only), and what they say about you, and then use that opportunity to contact them and win them as customers or future clients.
Include an RSS Feed Subscription Box.
It is preferable to have fewer subscribers who visit your site on a regular basis than a large number of one-time visitors. This is why all reputable blogs and brands include an RSS subscription box on their pages. RSS is an abbreviation for Rich Site Summary. And I believe that sums it up. Subscription boxes, also known as RSS boxes/stream RSS/channel RSS, make page information available in XML format.
People are drawn to the trigger word “subscribe” and provide their email addresses in order to receive information without having to actively search for it on the internet.
You not only enrich your contact and subscriber agenda by using this type of contact form, but you also have an interested recipient to whom you can send and communicate your company updates, news, blog posts, and so on.
Users are frequently pleased to benefit from continuous rich information, data, and news without having to manually look them up, and are particularly pleased when they receive them via email in the comfort of their homes or work offices.
Don’t Be Afraid to Comment on Blogs
Some argue that it is too risky to recommend because it can easily turn into a black hat practice. Blog commenting is an excellent off-site SEO activity for increasing organic traffic and SERP ranking.
There are numerous articles on the internet that explain how to properly comment on blogs, and everything you need to know is just a click away. However, the general consensus is that you should do it “white-hatly” and avoid any other tactics.
Give your opinion on topics and draw attention to yourself, but don’t use a comment signature. Simply mention your brand and make its appearance relevant within the body of relevant and useful tips.
Guest posting is still popular.
Similar to blog comments, you should define your reasons for contributing in this manner from the start. Most guest blogs come to promote their company or product, which can sometimes result in spammy and annoying reading. Be fair, and prioritize providing actionable, fresh, and relevant information. Not your website’s links.
Writing guest posts on a regular basis helps you not only build quality backlinks (duh!) and drive more organic traffic to your website, but it also does something else. Yes, you demonstrate professional behavior by writing not only on your blog but also by contributing to others’ blogs.
Some brands enjoy flirting with knowledge from other professionals in the field, though this occurs very rarely. And this is one of those times when you must pick your men wisely.
Posting in Forums Is a Thing
Forums are an excellent place to promote your website, and this is one of the off-page SEO techniques. The most important hubs for actionable information and authentic answers to questions are Quora, Reddit, Yahoo Answers, and EHow. Forums are an excellent place to meet your peers and converse with them about topics of mutual interest.
It’s fine to mention your brand in blog comments or guest blogging, but avoid doing so directly. Provide some actionable information on the specific topic first, and then, if applicable, fit your brand between the lines.
These Q&A platforms are true gold mines, but they must first be won by using the appropriate words, tone, and style when contributing. Make it relevant and visible. Especially when these channels can bring you a lot of organic traffic and, if you’re lucky, conversions.
Create Trust
Off-site SEO, of course, includes trust. After all, that’s how you get votes on social media or from customers. Transparency is one of the most important factors in fostering trust. Post useful content and avoid misleading your readers with catchy titles and low-quality content. That is not how you increase organic traffic!
Page Authority (PA) and Domain Authority (DA) are two important indicators of how search engines see your website. It’s like having your whole life in front of your eyes. You should check your PA and DA, and also your inbound links with a site explorer tool.
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is that setup that makes your website’s relationship with the user safe. This type of link is making sure that the data passed between the web server and the browsers stays private and unharmed. Users trust a site more when they see that their data is secured by this encrypted link when entering private data such as credit card numbers, usernames, passwords, or any other sensitive information.
One way to build and check your users’ trust is to make sure you get business reviews. You can start by asking your present customers to check your rating section and leave a contribution there. It’s important to let them know how and why it’s important that you need their opinion on your services, all expressed and posted publicly.
The more customers you’ll have, the more reviews you should get. Especially if you’re having a Facebook page where people can stay up-to-da about and connected to your business, and leave reviews.
Yet reviews ask for quick answers from you, however positive or negative they’d be. Commit to visiting your review section often and leaving comments. Your users need to see you’re a live person, one that doesn’t shy from treating their customers with respect and appreciation.
Incorporate Videos and Images
People like to play and experiment, even if it means playing something else and just witnessing it. That’s why augmented reality is a massive hit nowadays, with Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook incorporating motion visuals projected onto the real world and driving people crazy with fascination. And all this AR is connected to video and image.
Video and images are viral nowadays, so you should bet on them. How else do you think platforms like YouTube, Vimeo (video), Flickr, Pinterest, Photobucket (photo), Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat (video & image) have reached this far with their success story?
Off-site SEO is about getting attention to your website thanks to outbound activities, unrelated to your page contents. Hence promote your business through videos, podcasts, infographics, quotes, etc. Just take the example of Tasty by Buzzfeed or Tastemade. They’re rolling out videos like crazy and people love it, love it, love it. I bet they get more likes, shares, and bookmarks than some blog post published by someone good at SEO and digital marketing.
Getting back to our sheep, hub pages like Pinterest, YouTube, and so on, have massive PageRank and trust, hence you should join them and associate your business with them, by using their platform to post stuff about your products. Given their sharing and like/thumbs up/upvote system, you’ll gain brand awareness through shares and likes.
In addition, the links that you get from YouTube videos and their meta description are extremely valuable and they help you improve your off-page SEO.
Last but not least, don’t forget about optimizing your uploaded file titles, file names, description sections, size, and links. SEO works in these niches too.
Build Relationships with Webmasters/Influencers
Although already mentioned before, you should make friends among those you admire and whose steps you wish to follow in your career. Although with quite a busy schedule, they’re usually willing to guide, inspire, and help.
Start connecting with them, impress them enough to make them share your content and you’ve won yourself some quality relationships. But beware, you have to make sure you don’t overlook them in time, but always make sure to keep in touch with them, ask for their advice, and feature them in your pieces of content. This way, your content is more bound to be shared across their social channels, than random content on your blog.
Be Present On the Web
McDonald, Coca-Cola, and Bic are everywhere. More people might’ve heard about them than who’s heard of a camera, let’s say. And that’s because their marketing strategies are unbeatable. They know how to address all customer segments, satisfy all fans, and deliver tasty and cheap food, or useful tools.
Well-done off-page SEO techniques increase brand reputation and authority. Be present, live this very moment to make your brand heard. Think of easy-to-understand ways to communicate your brand to your customers and attract them with quality services. Make them feel special. Learn how to talk to all customer segments or, at least, define your target audience, instead of floating around in the marketing space with no clue whatsoever.
Craft a Sparkling Brand Image
Nobody wants more of the same thing. Think about what people need most and don’t get, seize the opportunity, and deliver. This is how you’ll leave customers’ memory of you, of your uniqueness and utility, and someday, of your greatness.
Just look at Buzzfeed (I’m a huge fan, please pardon my enthusiasm). They get ten times more attention when posting something than a random marketing brand does. Because they knew how to shine their way in a world full of tips, recipes, and did-you-knows, and stand out, even though the market was already saturated. Plus, they knew how to address various and different customer segments.
Or Neil Patel. He’s known all over the marketing industry and probably even farther. It’s because he knew how to stand out, be unique, and deliver simple messages and content to all audiences, not just those with advanced marketing knowledge.
Document Sharing Is Beneficial
By sharing content about your brand on other platforms, you’ll be able to rank for keywords that your site would otherwise be unable to compete for due to factors such as high competition. Upload documents to doc-sharing sites like Scribd, Academia, and SlideShare if you believe your piece of content will be of interest to others.
Treat the documents as if they were traditional pieces of content, conducting keyword research and fully optimizing titles, file names, and transcripts. When appropriate and possible, include effective call-to-action buttons and links back to your website.
The advantage of having documents posted on such platforms is that search engines cannot crawl PDFs and PowerPoint files, but these sites make them readable. Furthermore, you borrow some link juice for your website, which is fantastic.
Create podcasts and videos on your to-brand topic, then upload them to SoundCloud, YouTube, and other platforms with a transcript. The transcript is where you can make it easier for search engine crawlers to find your content. That’s SEO for you, baby!
PR Promotional Game
The more you get out in the world, the more you’ll learn and be known for.
Make a habit of attracting the public eye, giving and hosting interviews, and gaining the audience of your influencers for your brand. Make yourself visible, and you will be noticed.
The truth is that SEO can benefit from PR best practices and that PR can benefit from SEO best practices.
Do press releases whenever there are product updates or something important to communicate. You can help your brand reach out to more customer segments and get your message heard by contacting and maintaining good relationships with journalists and outlets in the field.
Press releases, interviews, and other types of contributions provide a new opportunity to practice your SEO and content marketing skills and optimize the content so that it ranks high in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Conclusion
Search marketing has long been ranked second to email in terms of top online activities. As a result, you should appear in SERPs when users conduct queries.
One method is to write excellent content, make your website user-friendly and appealing, and properly promote it, and links and traffic will naturally follow. Another option is to create a reader-focused online presence and focus on the searcher’s intent.
This is all part of on-page SEO, but remember what we said about on-page and off-page SEO? It was said that successful off-page SEO comes after good on-page SEO. As a result, ensure that your on-page SEO is strong.
Also, keep in mind that people only refer to, share, like, and discuss content that they enjoy or recall. As a result, act accordingly.
Finally, avoid playing with fire by employing black hat off-page SEO techniques. You can make search engines, visitors, and subscribers your adversaries. Google can penalize you, visitors can block you, and subscribers can blacklist you. That is something no one wants.
To end on a positive note, just be yourself and everything will be fine. Off-site SEO can assist you.
