Off-page optimization
Offpage optimization is an area in search engine optimization (SEO). This involves actions taken by the webmaster outside of the page, which are intended to lead to a better ranking. Offpage optimization is to be understood as a contrast to onpage optimization.
Why Off-page Optimization?
Of course, it is always important to make optimizations on the website so that it ranks well in Google search results. But factors outside of a site also contribute to it rising further in the rankings. The following measures can be used offpage:
Linkbuilding
Social Signals
Brand building.
The goal is to make a company or a page more well-known, to spread the brand widely on the web, and thus generate traffic to the site.
What off-page factors are there?
Off-page optimization can only be influenced to a certain extent. However, if you know which factors can be adjusted, it helps actively improve the rankings.
Linkbuilding
About building a high-quality backlink structure in off-page optimization, the goal is to improve the visibility, quality, and consequently the ranking of a website. This requires the quality and optimization of the following off-page factors:
Number of external links: In accordance with the fundamental principle of the internet—networking—a link is equivalent to a recommendation. Therefore, the more backlinks a website receives, the more important it appears. To counteract manipulation in this context, not only the sheer quantity of backlinks influences the ranking, but also the quality of the incoming links. This, in turn, is composed of various factors such as the link's age, thematic relevance, and the authority of the linking website.
Relevance of the topic and naturalness of the link structure: If a backlink is seen as a recommendation, then only those are meaningful and natural that relate to the theme of the website and provide the reader with additional information if they follow the link. Ideally, only websites with similar thematic focuses are linked. At the same time, a natural backlink structure is considered crucial for search engine ranking. Here, the duration of link building primarily determines naturalness. A young website that receives many and strong backlinks within a few days appears not to have been voluntarily recommended to search engines.
Link text and link position: Link texts are considered in website ranking, which is why they should in any case include the most important keywords at the forefront. Furthermore, it is important to vary the link texts to avoid duplicate content. The position of a link is weighted differently: A backlink directly from the content is considered more valuable than a link from the footer (bottom section) or from a link list (accumulation of several links).
Link popularity, domain popularity, IP popularity: In a balanced backlink structure, there are links from different websites, domains, and IP addresses. The more diverse a backlink structure is, the more valuable it appears to search engines.
The creation of good backlinks is preceded by a comprehensive analysis and, if necessary, a cleanup of the backlinks. The optimization of off-page factors is, therefore, very time-consuming, which is why it often constitutes a large part of search engine optimization.
What is not well-regarded in link building, however, are links that come from link farms, forums, or directories. These links will not have a great impact on a site's ranking.
Social Signals
Social signals refer to those signals of off-page optimization that come from social media towards the website. For example, this includes how many likes a linked post receives or how often a post is retweeted. The possibilities are diverse, and it is controversial which signals actually bring benefits and which do not.
The fact is, however: The more interaction there is with a post in which the website is linked, the higher the chance that people will generate traffic on a site and possibly increase sales.
Brand building
Brand building can also advance the off-page optimization of a website. Good marketing and PR promote brand awareness. The more frequently a brand is mentioned online, the more authority it is attributed—leading to an improvement in ranking. Therefore, brand-building measures should by no means be underestimated and should be used for greater brand awareness.
Signals off-page still have an influence on the ranking of a company or brand. Often, only a few criteria can be directly influenced. Rather, helpful and unique content should be created so that users naturally enjoy interacting with the contents of a website, thus increasing the ranking on Google.