An off-page SEO checklist can help you stay on top of this often-overlooked category of search engine optimization. First, however, it’s important to understand what off-page SEO is and why it matters.
Off-page SEO is exactly what it sounds like. It’s the elements on pages other than your website that affect your website’s ranking.
When you compare on-page and off-page SEO, it’s easier to see what off-page optimization is. In fact, you probably already do quite a bit of off-page SEO, even if you don’t call it that.
On-Page vs. Off-Page SEO
The following table shows examples of on-page vs. off-page SEO.
| On-Page SEO | Off-Page SEO |
| Headings | Backlinks |
| Keyword-enriched content | Social media shares |
| Internal links | Brand mentions |
| ALT text | Domain authority |
| Desktop UX | Podcast mentions |
| Mobile UX | Google Reviews |
| Page load speed | Local search/Google Business Profile |
Off-page SEO is less about things you do to your website and more about how others perceive your brand and website. Google places great emphasis on a website’s E.A.T., which stands for Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. Representing these traits well affects your search engine rankings.
Gone are the days when a low-quality website stuffed with keywords and backlinks purchased from link farms could rank highly in search results. Search engines are now shifting toward providing results that address the user’s search terms and intent.
In other words, off-page SEO is becoming more important because your website’s bona fides are becoming more important. The more your brand and site become known for expertise, authority, and trustworthiness, the better they should rank.
Off-Page SEO Techniques
Here are some of the most common off-page SEO tactics:
- Trying to get high-quality backlinks from reputable websites
- Monitoring backlink profiles of competitors
- Posting regularly scheduled, high-quality content on social media
- Running paid social media ads
- Guest posting on authoritative blogs in your industry
- Appearing on relevant podcasts
- Having a plan to get more Google reviews
- Having a complete, accurate Google Business Profile
- Ensuring Google is crawling the site regularly
Some of these are more straightforward than others. How, for example, can you get those coveted backlinks from prominent sites in your industry? Next, we’ll offer some examples and approaches you can try.
Off-Page SEO Examples
Broken Link Building
One technique for gaining high-quality backlinks is broken link building. It has become quite popular, but it is still worth trying in many industries.
To do this, you search important websites in your industry for dead or broken links. When you find one, you notify the site owner of the bad link and ask if they would fix it by linking to your website. Tools like the SEMrush site audit tool can help you find broken links on other websites.
Increasing Google Reviews
Do you ever see a Google Business Profile with hundreds of reviews? Businesses get more reviews because they ask for them and make it easy for people to leave them.
Some brick-and-mortar businesses instruct sales associates to ask every customer for a review with every purchase. Some may add a QR code to receipts to take customers directly to the review page.
They also typically get reviews by monitoring them and responding to them, whether a given review is positive or negative. A high number of reviews indicates a business that is well-established.
Guest Posting and Podcasting
Writing a guest blog post for a prominent website in the industry can be a great way to get brand mentions and a high-quality backlink. It’s important not to take advantage and try to stuff the post full of links to your website, however.
Industry podcasts are other excellent sources that ultimately generate brand mentions and backlinks. Podcast websites will link to information about guests, including their websites. Industry events can be excellent occasions to find bloggers and podcasters with clout and initiate relationships that can lead to guest opportunities.
Ensuring Google Has Recently Crawled the Site
The easiest way to check when Google last crawled your website is with the Google Search Console. Simply log in and enter your URL.
Google will tell you the last date your site was indexed, its status, and whether it encountered indexing or crawling errors. If there are errors, the Search Console can also provide information about errors preventing search crawls, so that you can fix them. Fixing crawling errors can make a measurable difference in your search rankings.
SEO Must Be Comprehensive
The three pillars of website optimization are on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and technical SEO. Your site designer or UX specialist will most likely take care of technical SEO tasks, like XML sitemaps and page load speed.
You should regularly consider both on-page and off-page SEO. While you (or your writer) consider on-page SEO with each content addition or blog post, off-page SEO can easily become an afterthought.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you have no control over off-page SEO. There are very few aspects of off-page optimization that you can’t control.
It’s not always easy to get backlinks from sites you want them from, but aside from that, you have extensive control over the elements of off-page optimization. Be sure to check in with your off-page SEO regularly, and you can take your entire SEO strategy to a new level.
The Many Moving Parts of Optimization
A well-rounded, well-executed SEO strategy has many moving parts. The success of one aspect of optimization affects others. Staying on top of it all can feel overwhelming.
That’s where we come in. The Best Websites crew understands on-page, off-page, and technical SEO and uses them with every website we build.
If you want a website that performs and gets your business the attention it deserves, we invite you to schedule a call with us. We would be pleased to show you how we get outstanding results for our clients.