Off Page SEO
What is Off-Page SEO?
Off-page SEO (sometimes referred to as “off site SEO”) is pretty much everything you do outside your website to build up its reputation with search engines (primarily Google). While link building is the most important part of off-page SEO it goes far beyond just getting links.
Not all links are created equal. How you obtain links, and where they come from, can and will have a big effect on how well your website performs in search results. Things like page authority, domain authority, page reputation, domain reputation, do-follow vs. no-follow, anchor text, relevance, traffic, and many other issues come into play. We haven’t even touched the other variables that come into play for local SEO. Not understanding how off-page SEO works can be very costly.
Why is Off-Page SEO so important?
Put simply, Google measures the importance of a web page by the quantity and quality of recommendations it receives. Think of each link as a recommendation. Let’s pretend you have 100 links from the same website domain. 100 Links from a single domain has far less value than 100 links from 100 different domains. Think of each domain as a person and you start to see how it works.
Here is an illustration to help understand how good quality link building works: Let’s say you own a custom bicycle shop in Amsterdam. You have 3 different people in the neighborhood who recommend your services:
- Louie the loan shark
- The local butcher
- A cyclist who won the Tour de France
Here’s a stupid question: which of the above recommendations are most likely to get you more business? Obviously nobody wants a recommendation from Louie the loan shark. Everybody loves the local butcher, but what does he know about cycling? Obviously, the recommendation from the Tour de France winner would be priceless! Your reputation (and thus store traffic) can skyrocket if the right person (domain/website) endorses your business.
Let’s step back into our off-page SEO shoes now. If the above bicycle shop has a website with a number of links from prominent cycling related websites, it is likely it will outrank many competitive websites.
There are numerous other factors to consider, but you get the idea. If you only have butchers and loan sharks linking to your custom bicycle shop website don’t expect Google to be impressed.
Why is it important to start “Off-Page SEO” now?
3 words: it’s a marathon. The gun goes off and the runners head down the track. If you wait until all the runners are 3 miles down the road you will have to run a lot faster to make up ground. Your competitors are not slowing down on their off-page SEO so now you are playing catch-up. Even if you are only staying even with the other runners it is important to keep running (adding relevant content and links) so as not to fall behind competitors who are also pushing to be at the top.
The longer you wait the higher your upfront costs will be to catch up. So, the sooner you start your off-page SEO the faster you will catch (and hopefully pass) your competition.
How do I get started with off-page SEO?
The first step is a full health assessment of your website. How does your off-page profile compare with your competition? How much effort will be required to “catch up” with the other runners in the race? Are there any bad links we need to “disavow” or offset with good quality links? Is your on page SEO set up correctly so as to compliment the off-page efforts? Is local SEO critical to the success of your business? Etc.
Contact us and let us know your concerns. We will be happy to evaluate your needs and get you on the road to more relevant traffic.