What is Off Page SEO?

When it comes to SEO, the more technical elements can be harder to understand. However, SEO is a set of processes, and you need to ensure you do them all to really help your search ranking. Off Page is a process that needs to be completed, and in this article we will look at what is off page SEO.

What is Off-Page SEO?

Off-Page SEO or as it is also known Off-Site SEO refers to the actions that are taken outside of your website. These actions will ultimately impact your rankings within search engine results pages. The process of optimising your off-site rankings is not complex, and involves looking at the search engines perception of your website. 

The perception of your website is based on the sites popularity, relevance, trustworthiness and also its authority. To create a positive perception of your website you will need to be connected to reputable places on the internet. This can be through linking to or promoting your website and vouching for your content.

Why Does Off-Page SEO matter?

Even though it is not fully known about how the full Google algorithm works, it is also reported that 50% of your ranking is made up of how your Off-Page SEO appears. This means that it is of equal importance to increase your pages trustworthiness and authority as it is focusing on your keywords and meta tags. 

On Page vs Off Page

Now we have explained what Off-Page SEO is and why it matters, it is probably a good time to look at the differences between that and On-page SEO. The best way to distinguish between the two is on-page are things you have full control over. If it is a case of including a H1 Title, Meta Description or even page speed you are able to do all of these. Whereas with off-page SEO this is not always the case. 

Off-Page is very much centered around others, and perception. For example if you reach out to someone to ask if they can link to you, you may or may not get a response. You will need that link to help your website’s perception on the search engine. However, you are not able to control the response.

To decide if it will fall under on-page or Off-Page SEO ask the question can you control it? If you can, it’s On-Page. If you can’t then it’s Off-Page.

Link Related factors

Backlinks are potentially the most crucial part of Off-Page SEO. This is because Google search is based around a platform called Page Rank. Page Rank is the algorithm that looks at the quality of the backlinks pointing towards a webpage. Poor quality backlinks therefore do have a negative effect on your ranking. The factors that determine the quality of them links are as follows:

• Number of referring domains 

Having more links from unique websites or referring domains means that you get higher rankings. But also means that there is more organic traffic flowing. The trick with backlinks is not to increase the amount of them overall to your website. But increase the amount that is linked directly to pages. This will then create traffic to the places you need it most. 

• Link Authority 

Not all links are created as equals, it’s the quality that matters. The higher the linking authority of that page, the better authority it then passes on. In plain terms a higher authority page is worth more than one from a low authority page. But how do you judge what is a high or low?

Using software such as AHRefs is perfect for finding out this information. When conducting a search on their platform you will see the UR button. This UR button is related to the overall URL ranking. The higher the ranking, the more authority it carries. These are the backlinks you need to help your search ranking.

• Anchor Text 

Anchor text refers to the clickable words which are used to link one web page to another. Having backlinks that contain relatable anchor text can increase in your search rankings. 

• Relevance 

Referring to relevance once again. If you think of backlinks as votes. Votes are considered trust mechanisms the same as backlinks are. If you have a website link to yours they are pretty much vouching for your content. The relevance of that linking website however needs to be relevant to your page. 

If your page contains hundreds of backlinks, but none of them relevant then you will damage your search ranking. Search rankings are built on how effective that content is to the searcher. If your backlinks do not reflect it, then you may find yourself moving down the google ranking. 

To Conclude

As you can see there is a big difference between the use of On-Page and Off-Page SEO. You need to use the Off-Page elements to help increase your search ranking. This therefore needs to be placed into your marketing plan. The process is very clear, and very easy to follow once you have done your research. 

Take a look at our Knowledge Hub for more SEO related content.