Off-Page SEO 101: How to Build Search Presence
Off-Page SEO Basics: Backlinks & Beyond
Imagine yourself as a race car driver. You’re good. You’ve got the skills. But, what are you working with under the hood? Remember, providing quality content won’t be enough for SEO.
You might have the skills, experience, and industry insight needed to build quality content, but, there are still things you need to do in the background. If you want to build a holistic search presence, you need to develop your off-page SEO.
What is Off-Page SEO?
The goal of off-page SEO optimization is the same as on-page SEO—getting a higher ranking on the search engine results page. One of the most important ranking factors for search engines is “authority”.
How it’s measured is still a mystery. But, the logic behind authority is pretty simple. Google promotes trustworthy sites to users.
The more people that vouch for you, the more trustworthy your site becomes. How do people vouch for your site?—Backlinks.
What are Backlinks?
When a site links back to your content as a reference for deeper insight, you’ve got yourself a backlink. There are two kinds you need to know: “do-follow and no-follow”.
A do-follow backlink gives you “link juice” and helps boost your trustworthiness and authoritativeness. No-follows don’t provide “link juice” but can still help bring traffic to your site.
Social media platforms, Wikis, and directories are examples of sites that give nofollow backlinks that can help generate traffic but not “link juice”.
You can get backlinks naturally by virtue of having the highest quality content, especially if you’re offering something unique. Statistics, case studies, and infographics are prime examples.
But, you can’t rely on getting natural backlinks alone if you want to keep up with the competition. You need to be proactive and do backlink building campaigns.
But, aside from backlinks, there are other ways you can build a strong search presence.
Building a Search Presence Through Off-Page SEO
You’ve got quality content—make sure it gets seen! Here are five tactics you can use to improve your overall search presence.
Social Media Engagement
The likelihood of a new website ranking high on SERPs is low. But, we still need ways to generate traffic to our site. That’s why we run social media engagement campaigns.
Engage with your target audience, share valuable content, and encourage user-generated content (UGC). Don’t just use your social media as a way to market products. Think of it as an opportunity to build a community around your brand.
Understand your audience. Learn what type of content resonates the most with them. And, keep track of your data. This gives insight into which strategy to keep, which ones to improve, and which ones to let go of.
Online Reputation Management
The internet is wild. People can say whatever they want. While we do support free speech, what we don’t want to support is anything that could be harmful to our brand and our customers.
That’s why reputation management is important, especially on our social media channels. We need to monitor and respond to reviews, comments, and mentions about your brand.
Build trust and credibility by providing excellent customer service and addressing concerns. Remove any hateful or harmful comments. You don’t want those associated with your brand.
We don’t mean removing anything negative about your brand. Those types of comments and reviews are important. It helps you grow and identify areas that need improvement.
Influencer Marketing
Collaborate with influential individuals or brands in your industry to leverage their reach and influence. Seek opportunities for guest blogging, co-creating content, or partnerships.
Influencers are key-opinion leaders, especially if they’re in a small niche. What they say matters to their followers. This level of trust can result in higher levels of engagement.
But, before striking up a partnership, ensure that the influencer’s brand and vision align with yours.
Online Directories and Local Listings
List your business in relevant online directories and local listings. Ensure consistent and accurate information, such as your business name, address, and phone number (NAP).
Although it won’t directly boost search engine rankings, it could still bring a decent amount of traffic to your site. Plus, people still use online directories the same way as the old yellow pages.
Make sure to prioritize your Google My Business (GMB) profile. Then reach out to online directories and ask if you can be included in their listings.
Most of these sites offer no-follow backlinks links but some give do-follows. As with all backlinks, make sure they’re coming from legitimate websites that are relevant to your industry.
Social Bookmarking and Content Sharing Platforms
Submit and share your content on social bookmarking and content-sharing platforms. These platforms allow users to discover and bookmark interesting content, driving traffic back to your website.
The most popular of these sites include Reddit, Pinterest, and Tumblr. Most competitors won’t invest much into building a presence on sites like these. However, users often go here to do more in-depth research.
Key Takeaways
Building an online search presence shouldn’t be limited to just your website and social media channels. Remember, it has to be holistic. Covering all the bases gives you a higher chance of being seen by the right people. So, if you want to improve your search presence, consider the following:
- Invest in backlink building.
- Conduct social media engagement campaigns.
- Do online reputation management.
- Add your business info on online directories and local listings.
- Establish your presence on social bookmarking and content-sharing platforms.
