7 Effective Off-Page SEO Strategies (Beyond Just Backlinks)

Off-page SEO strategies help improve search engine rankings by building trust, establishing website authority, and enhancing your online reputation. Read on for the most effective strategies that’ll rocket you to the top of the SERP.

There are three main pieces that make up a complete search engine optimization (SEO) strategy: on-page, technical, and off-page.

On-page SEO includes things like content. Technical SEO includes alt text, meta descriptions, and site architecture. Then there’s off-page SEO.

Below, digital marketing expert Maria Smart helps explain everything you need to know about this vital SEO pillar.

What is off-page SEO?

Also called off-site SEO, off-page SEO covers all the SEO tactics that take place outside of your own website. 

As Moz explains, optimizing for off-page ranking factors involves improving search engine and user perception of a site’s popularity, relevance, trustworthiness, and authority.

Why does off-page SEO matter?

Simply put, off-page SEO matters because it influences the trust, authority, and relevance of your website in the eyes of both users and search engines.

• It boosts website traffic and visibility because exposure on social platforms, forums, and other websites drives users to your content.
• It complements on-page SEO efforts. Even well-optimized pages may struggle to rank well without off-page SEO signals.
• It helps build authority and credibility because search engines use signals (like high-quality backlinks) to determine if your site deserves higher rankings.

Off-page vs. On-page SEO vs. Technical SEO

To better illustrate the difference, here’s a handy visual of the different tactics commonly used in off-page, on-page, and technical SEO:

Off-page SEO factors to keep in mind

You have a degree of control over some elements of off-page SEO. Others may be out of your hands, though you can attempt to influence them.

HubSpot explains this includes but is not limited to things like:

• Backlinks
• Brand building
• Citation building
• Content marketing
• Video marketing (YouTube)
• Forums
• Local SEO
• Review management

How can you help influence good off-site SEO? Smart advises that optimizing your citations is a great start.

You can’t exactly control reviews published about your company, other than trying to offer the best customer experience possible. But what you can do, particularly with negative reviews, is mitigate, respond, and try to take the conversation offline.

The same goes for social profiles like Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) and YouTube pages.

It’ll benefit your off-page SEO to clean up any duplicate efforts and know how your profiles look on the search engine results page (SERP).

Pro tip: Consider creating a recurring reminder or calendar alert to stay on top of profiles and check in on them at regular intervals if possible. This way, you can be sure all of your pages have the most up-to-date images, contact info, operating hours, and more.

How off-page SEO benefits your brand

Off-page SEO addresses a host of important ranking factors that Google considers when evaluating your website’s trustworthiness beyond authoritative content and having a technically healthy site.

Social signals such as likes and followers can also be considered off-page SEO, as well as guest posting, link building, press releases and the like, Smart adds.

Basically, all of these elements come together to help paint a picture of your business in online spaces outside of your website.

7 effective off-page SEO strategies

Luckily, there are tried-and-true off-page SEO techniques you can try to maintain healthy SEO that shouldn’t consume too much of your time.

Here are 7 strategies to keep yours in good standing:

• Monitor your social presence

Although presence on social media platforms isn’t a direct ranking factor, it can attract potential backlinks, increase visibility, and boost brand awareness.

Be sure to respond to both negative and positive reviews, update profiles, and add new photos when applicable.

• Join and participate in forums and relevant communities

Find out where consumers in your field are gathering online (e.g. Quora, Reddit, or Yelp) and participate in discussions.

Add your own thoughts, link to relevant (not spammy) resources, and connect with potential customers.

• Guest post on relevant websites (and get potential backlinks in the process)

If you have a solid on-page SEO foundation with high-quality content that ranks well, guest blogging or posting can be a great way to demonstrate your E-E-A-T skills.

Experts at ClearVoice emphasize that this can:

• Direct more organic traffic to your site
• Improve your site’s authority
• Boost your backlinks

Just make sure you’re creating highly relevant content that provides actual value for the reader.

• Link building

This is an old standby for a reason: it works.

Reach out as often as you can to relevant sources to get the placement you want in their articles or on their website.

Strategies include broken link-building strategies, outreach, and (of course) creating valuable content that others will naturally link to.

• Create and syndicate press releases

Press releases help you promote new solutions, business changes, and industry insights. This can help generate backlinks, increase brand exposure, and drive traffic to your website.

1. Local SEO presence

This enhances visibility in local search results, driving foot traffic, leads, and conversions for local businesses that depend on customers in a specific area.

Be sure to maintain related citations and business listings on platforms like Google Business Profile if you’re keen on targeting regional audiences.

1. Consider creating infographics

To get quality links, you need good, engaging content, including graphics.

Design visually appealing infographics that distill complex information in an easily digestible (and shareable) way to help drive engagement and visits to your site.

Pro tip: According to Ahrefs, “Google’s algorithm takes many off-page factors into account when deciding if and where to rank web pages. Links are one of those factors, but there are many others. For that reason, it’s challenging to rank on the merit of your content alone.”

Red flags to keep an eye on

When you’re assessing the current health of your SEO, Smart says there are a few things in particular to look out for, such as:

• Not ranking well for branded terms
• A backlink profile that is small and not authoritative or relevant
• No local online presence
• Poor social media engagement
• A website with low domain authority
• Online reviews that are poor, non-existent, or even just unanswered

Off-page SEO is affected by all of these things.

Taking care of these issues can make your business appear more authoritative to Google search and other search engines since all of these “signals” are calculated into your overall domain authority, whether your company is new or established.

The takeaway

It’s clear that off-page SEO is just as important as its on-page and technical counterparts. The tricky thing is that off-page elements are a bit harder to control.

However, when you know the best practices and what common missteps to look out for, you can include off-page SEO maintenance in your overall SEO plan and know that you’re being intentional about keeping yours in a good place.

Need a hand with off-page optimization, reaching your target audience, and becoming a high-authority website? The digital marketing pros at HawkSEM have you covered.

This post has been updated and was originally published in July 2021.