Are you working hard to increase your SEO rankings this year? No matter how user-friendly or fast your website may be, that’s only half of the battle. To be at the top of the search engines and overtake competitors, you need to engage in off-page SEO.
Off-page SEO is the practice of improving your website rankings and domain authority using methods that go beyond enhancements to your actual website. Keep reading to learn 9 of the best off-page SEO techniques for 2021.
1. Build Backlinks for Off-Page SEO
Easier said than done, we know! For those new to the world of SEO, backlinks are links from other website that link to your own pages and articles. They are one of the most important ranking factors, as they act as personal recommendations from great website, and the more high quality links you have, the better your standing becomes. Imagine them as a digital road sign, pointing other website users to your site.
More than this, backlinks hint to search engines that your website offers valuable information. Why else would a great website be directing you there, right? When search engines see that high-quality websites are directing users to your website, they gather that your website must be pretty great as well and give your rankings a push, as a result.
Building backlinks takes time. If you are buying them, make sure to go with reputable companies that provide genuine outreach services to acquire valuable links websites with a high domain authority. If you’re performing outreach yourself, understand that getting responses and eventually a link takes time, patience and persistence.
2. Guest Posting
One way you can build backlinks is through guest posting. A guest post is when you write news, reviews, or content for another website. In it, you post a link back to your own website, thus earning your site a backlink.
There are a few guest posting rules that you should aim to follow. Don’t duplicate the same content on different websites, as Google flags this and may demote your website as a result. In addition, don’t post multiple guest posts on the same website – search engines are smart and view this as cheating the system.
If you use guest posting opportunities on a variety of websites in a sparing manner, this can be a great way to begin building your backlink profile.
3. Engage in Social Media
One of the most popular and effective off-page SEO techniques is to engage in social media. Not only does social media increase use increases the level of backlinks if your content is shared, but it also channels traffic to your page.
With so many social networks, you can easily get lost in them all. Try to concentrate and hone in on just one social media network, to begin with, and increase your use as time goes on. Post relevant, high-quality content on a regular basis. The most traffic-generating social media are Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
4. Social Bookmarking
Social Bookmarking is a very easy and effective way to link build. A social bookmark is essentially a reference website, that advises you on sites with similar topics. Imagine it as one of the big old yellow phone books, but for the internet.
On social bookmarking websites, discussion categories are organized into rooms and threads. Post content on a relevant topic in your industry and you earn yourself a backlink. However, to get the most from social bookmarking it helps if you actually engage in the site itself, upvoting and sharing other articles, instead of just posting.
Also, keep in mind that other backlink strategies mentioned in this article are more valuable than social bookmarking, but engaging in this practice can definitely be a boost!
5. Leverage Influencers for Off-Page SEO
If you have content that is shareable, or you have a great product to showcase, then reach out to influencers. They can market your product or service on their feeds, podcasts, and posts. Fans trust influencers and when they mention a product or service, and link to it, people who are interested will be looking to learn more.
Do some research beforehand on influencers in your niche. Send them a short message explaining who you are, what you do, and what your proposal is. Some of them may do it for free, some may ask for gifts, and some of them may charge a fee.
6. Create Sharable Content
Creating sharable content is always the most important and valuable off-page SEO tactic. Sharable content is anything that people will be interested in and are willing to share on social networks and feeds. However, making content people want to share is harder than it seems.
Sharable content can include valuable blog posts, articles, infographics, videos, or a combination of all! Make sure you research topics that are important to your niche. Try to get a unique take on them. Then make sure they are well written, easily readable, informative, and aesthetically pleasing for users that come across it.
Format your content correctly if it is written. Break up sections with headers, bullets, white space and be sure to maintain the reader’s interest using images or embedded videos to separate text. Once you have done this, make sure you have plenty of links to other articles on your page, so they can continue to navigate through your website!
7. Submit to Forums
Another way to build backlinks is to submit to forums. While this does seem to be one of the older off page SEO examples, it still can work to increase your domain authority. There are a number of forums you can join.
Once you are in, start to join in discussions and chat with the people on the site. Give suggestions, answer threads, and pose questions. People will soon start to see you as a community member and value the opinion and expertise you and your website provide.
8. Question & Answer Sites
Question and answer sites are great if you have a product or website to promote that solves a problem, or offer valuable insights to those turning to the internet for help. There will undoubtedly be a number of questions posted by people who are asking for solutions. All you need to do is join the site, then discuss ways to solve the problem and provide a link to your website article as an extra resource.
Always make sure your answers are well written. They should be clear, informative, and to the point. Make sure the crux of them is not to advertise yourself or your company, but to genuinely provide helpful answers to questions. providing your link should always be the secondary objective.
9. Image Submission
If your website uses a lot of images and infographics, then you should consider submitting to image sites and boards. Make sure they are correctly optimized with correct URLs, titles, and alt tags. When people do image searches, they will be linked to your site through the pictures you have uploaded, just as articles would do for text-based searches.
Continuing Off-Page SEO
Even with these techniques, off-page SEO can not be done as one time thing, and then forgotten about. It must be a frequent practice part of your SEO strategy to truly work in increasing rankings, traffic and site engagement.
If you need want to learn about including SEO in your marketing strategy, read this article on the importance of SEO for your business.
