Off-Page SEO Techniques to Apply in 2020 for Better Ranking
Search Engine Optimization, often abbreviated as SEO, is one of the techniques employed to improve the website ranking on the Search Engine Result Page (SERP), for instance, Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. On a broader level, SEO can be divided into three categories, namely Technical SEO, Off-page SEO and On-page SEO. Some of the basic Off-page SEO techniques that one can employ include the following:
· Natural Linking
· Mutually-built Linking
· Self-created Linking
· Social Media Marketing
· Guest Blogging
· Linked & Unlinked Brand Mentioning
· Influencer Marketing
Just like other technological advancements, SEO techniques tend to evolve with the passage of time. The same goes for Off-page SEO and its landscape also updates and emerges as time passes. The techniques which might have earned you a fortune some 3 years ago, might not be relevant today. So, let’s discover what are the major Off-page SEO techniques which are prevailing to rank your website higher on the SERP!
What is Off-Page SEO?
Before discussing the trending techniques for Off-page SEO in 2020, we need to discuss Off-page SEO in detail:
Off-page SEO also referred to as Off-site SEO, is one of the techniques employed by Marketers to rank the website on SERP by taking actions outside of its premises. This involves optimizing the Off-page ranking factors, such as users’ as well as Google’s perception of the site, the level of trustworthiness, relevance, popularity as well as relevance. To accomplish this, often linking to your website by other reputable and already established websites on the world wide web as well as vouching for the reliability of your content.
Off-page SEO is quite relevant and important to rank your website higher on Google and other search engines. Though the techniques often tend to change and update with the passage of time. Off-page SEO has been found to be forming about 50% of the site ranking factors that affect site ranking on the SERP.
7 Off-Page SEO Techniques to Rank Better
As discussed earlier, Off-page SEO techniques tend to change with the passage of time. Here is how you can keep up with the latest trends of Off-page SEO techniques to rank your website better:
1. Guest Blogging
When it comes to applying Off-page SEO techniques is the guest blogging, since it allows you to not only enhance your bank linking but also developing a better site reputation. When you guest blog on other blogs, they often allow you to link back to your own blog or site. Hence, it allows you to feature your website on other mediums and build your profile reputation in the process.
In order to do so, the first step is to implement a strategy and finding those websites or blogs that help you in supporting your reputation through guest blogging. This process can be made easier by using a tool by the name of Alexa’s Audience Overlap Tool. You just need to enter the URL of your 10 competitors’ website and you’ll end up with a list of sites that share the same pool of audience. Moreover, Alexa also allows you to find the SEO rank of the site by clicking on its linking. Hence, these blogs or websites are the ideal guest blogging sites and you can get access to the audience that will help you in better ranking.
2. Competitive Backlink Checking
When it comes to taking your Off-page SEO to another level, checking the backlink strategy of your competitors is the best step. It is often advised to see the websites or blogs which your competitor has chosen for backlinking. Often you get to see and check the links which can later prove to become an avenue of opportunity. Hence, you can choose from those links to be used as backlinks within your website.
One of the proven methods is to use Alexa’s Competitor Backlink checker and enter the links of your top 10 competitor’s sites. This tool will generate a list of all the backlinks that have been used by your competitors. And it even identifies the page in which the respective backlink is present.
3. Business Directory Sites
When someone builds a website, it is often the first step to building an online presence for the website. The following step involves the setup of a business directory as well as social media profiles. It is often recommended to build a profile on already established blogs and websites to impart a sense of being a legitimate business and having a trustworthy profile.
Setting up your profile on other sites allows you to create a backlink to your website which enhances es Google crawlability as well as improving the Off-page ranking factor. Hence, creating a profile on all the related business directories as well as social media platforms is necessary for improving SERP ranking. For even better online visibility, it is often recommended to build a Google My Business page to improve your brand or website’s online presence.
4. Social Media Marketing
Though it is still in the process to identify social media engagement, shares and likes as a technique of Off-site SEO, it is still advised to use Social Media Marketing to improve the chances of better SERP ranking. Having a sound Social Media presence often leads to building reputation and consequently, better user engagement. Whenever you post something on your website, you can use Social Mediums to market about it and even redirect people from there to your site, ultimately leading to better Off-page SEO.
Hence, the focus should be to create a Social Media Marketing Strategy linked to your Off-page Strategy. It will help you to engage with your content through sharing, liking and commenting on your social media handles and even redirecting to your site.
5. Influencer Marketing
One of the proven Marketing and Site ranking methodologies used by the Marketers is to market your site by using someone’s reputable profile. Often it involves paid promotions and involves making terms with influencers in the respective niche so as to promote content through a mutual understanding. Hence, once the influencers decide to share your content or site through their platforms, it drives a massive impact on your Off-page SERP ranking. Often their customer base ends up engaging with your content through clicking the links and thereby, enhancing your site engagement.
Building better SEO rankings is not a single-person task and often involves strategic decision to find already established mediums and targeting them aptly eventually.
6. Blog Directory Submission
Blog Directory Submission is also a term used by Off-page SEO experts to drive traffic to a particular website. It involves submitting your blogs to different blog directories, such as Reddit, Scribd, Flipboard, to name a few. This allows you to have your name and blog published at different mediums on the internet and hence drives the traffic back to your site. These blog directories often help you to access their wider circles and even help you in generating safe and spam-free backlinks to your site.
Furthermore, blog directories often display your website for each search engine query containing the related keywords. Moreover, the more are the blog directory submissions, the more are the chances of getting a paid partnership opportunity. Moreover, you can even get a chance to review other blogs and sites and thereby, increasing the overall ranking plus the revenue. This method can be referred to as the most reliable and safest method in getting the backlinks.
7. Article Writing
Whenever you write an article, it constitutes only 20% of what would be referred to as content curation. Your content can only be helpful if someone is able to access it and get the idea behind it. Therefore, creating a sound profile on sites like LinkedIn Pulse, Quora and Medium are one of the tested ways to enhance Off-page SEO ranking. When you publish a query, answer a query, or even an article on one of these sites, you get a higher Google ranking as these have quite an authority when it comes to the domain.
All of these afore-mentioned platforms have a built-in larger access to audiences all across the globe and hence, you get to target quite a chunk of it. Moreover, they also allow you to create a backlink to your own website or blog, which can further lead to driving the traffic back to your site. Moreover, they come up with built-in features to enable you to enhance your SERP rankings.
Last but not least, these proven methodologies are the cream of what would define the Off-page SEO ranking factors of your site. As a website or blog owner, you need to keep up with the latest trends and even follow the Google Ranking Updates so that you do not end up missing the real challenge!
