There are two components to SEO. On-page optimization and off-page strategy.
Google was built upon a foundation that valued backlinks. These backlinks passed numerical value from one site to another, and they had a major influence on rankings. Unfortunately, they could be heavily manipulated. For years, Google has been at war with individuals and companies who continually implement different strategies that are manipulative. Today, scheming strategies that had worked no longer do and can have a detrimental effect on a website’s rankings.
Clix’s approach to off-page optimization involves obtaining backlinks, but for all of the right reasons. Off-page optimization is not a matter of forcing the issue. It’s a matter of implementing a backlink-building strategy that is focused, marketable and effective.
A decade ago, off-site SEO has been all about links. But it’s expected for search to progress, given that there’s a continuous evolution in web usage – which also has an effect on web marketing best practices.
These changes allowed search engines to accumulate far deeper understanding of how people make use of the web, and in turn a better ability for them to assess websites worth and deserving of higher rankings.
Off-site SEO factors have been transforming its filters to become more reliant in data that are outcomes from pure marketing efforts (off-page SEO is pure marketing).
Search engines know that they can’t trust webpages to vouch for their own value. Even the shadiest websites would call themselves the best, and #1. Instead, search engines use complicated algorithms that take into account both on-page and off-page factors, focusing on quality and relevance. The off-page information gives search engines an outsider’s view of the webpage. They want to know how other websites and users regard the site. So if, for example, there are many links pointing back to the webpage (especially if these links are on quality websites), this indicates to search engines that the webpage is popular and useful. And when a webpage is useful to outside users and has great on-page SEO (page title, meta description, interesting content, etc.), it can climb to the top of search engine results pages.
A few elements of Off-Page SEO
There are many different types of off-page SEO, but some techniques are more useful than others. We’re going to break them down into useful strategies, moderately useful strategies, and useless (as well as potentially harmful) strategies.
- As many high quality backlinks as you can get. Making use of high-quality backlinks is one of the most efficient ways to improve your SEO. If you’re hoping to appear authoritative and trustworthy (two qualities of high-ranking webpages), you need to be linked in web neighborhoods with these qualities.
- Blogging. When you write a blog post, you’re accomplishing three important things. First, each blog post expands the number of pages in your site index. Second, you’re creating content that can draw in traffic from the kind of complex searches that make up the “long-tail” of keyword traffic (for more information on the statistical concept of the “long tail”, click here). And third, you’re creating something of value (hopefully) that can be shared on social media channels. Getting people to share your content on social media websites can be a huge boost to off-page SEO efforts.
- Video marketing. Setting up a channel, posting videos, and linking them back to your website in the video’s description can be an effective way to build backlinks (and get a second listing in search engines beyond your website).
- Implementing local SEO. This include setting up and optimizing a Google local account. Here’s an important tip: make sure that your NAP (name, address, and phone) information is correct…then go out to 50-100 “citation” sites like YP.com, superpages.com, and yelp.com and setup accounts with that same NAP information. This shows data aggregators like Google and Bing that your information is correct and reliable.
- Relevant and engaging comments on high authority blogs. As long as you take the time to make thoughtful comments, this is a useful way to add backlinks. But there is a reason it’s the last item on the list. It’s the least useful of the “good”.
- Press releases, when used to generate backlinks. Although they’re sometimes useful, press releases are overused and overrated. The backlinks tend to have very little authority, making them a waste of time, money, and resources. Unless there is a legitimate reason for the release, you should spend your time on other projects.
- Guest posting on a website or blog. This seems like a great idea, but your post will be on an interior page of the website and have little authority. Remember that domain authority is different from page authority; even if a domain has high authority, interior pages within it may not.
Our off-page optimization approaches are completely customized. We don’t rely on a tool belt of tricks. Rather, research dictates our moves. Each client varies, and that’s the way it should be!