Are you satisfied with your business website’s SERP rank on Google? Is your website traffic increasing year-on-year? Implementing the right off page SEO techniques can push up your SERP ranking and traffic.
As the name suggests, Off -page SEO refers to all the activities executed outside the website to make it rank higher on search engines. The most important element here is building high-quality backlinks.
Backlinks help a search engine to ascertain the authority and credibility of your website. A website that has backlinks from reputable websites and blogs usually ranks higher. A top-ranking page on Google has 3.8 times more backlinks than other pages.
80% of Google’s search engine algorithm relies on off-page factors. So, no matter how much you have optimized your website; you can’t improve your Google ranking without off-page or off-site SEO.
A study conducted by Ahrefs shows that websites with fewer backlinks and lesser number of referring domains rank lower for relevant keywords. Getting backlinks from more referring domains should help you climb the ranks. See image below
Top 5 Off -page SEO Techniques you should Begin with
There are many off page SEO techniques available. However, if you are yet to initiate building high-quality backlinks, you should start with the following 5 simple techniques.
Business Listings and Directory Submissions
One of the simplest ways of building credible backlinks is by listing your business on platforms like Google My Business, Yahoo Local and so on. This is particularly helpful if you want to market locally.
Next, list your business on high-quality industry-specific directories with an appropriate description and a link to the relevant page on your website. This will add referring domains and backlinks to your website.
Though there are a ton of directories available, submitting to the right directory is the key. For example, Capterra and G2 are the top software directories. Similarly, every industry has relevant directories that can help you build high-quality backlinks.
Question and Answer
Another important off page SEO technique is to utilize Question and Answer websites like Quora and Yahoo answers. All you need to do is search for questions related to your industry or products and services and provide useful answers to them.
Avoid blatant promotion and focus on giving genuinely helpful answers. Occasionally, you can link your answer to a blog or website, if relevant. This establishes the backlink and also builds your thought leadership and credibility
Social Bookmarking
Social bookmarking is the process of storing, organizing and sharing your website links on bookmarking websites like Reddit, Digg, StumbleUpon, etc.
The only caution you need to take is to write quality-content with attractive tag lines. If enough people share your bookmarked content, search engines consider the content useful and quickly index your page.
This helps in improving your company’s PageRank and improves your brand visibility.
Forum or Group Discussion
You can improve your website’s credibility and make it more visible by searching for and participating in relevant Forum discussions about your products and services.
These forums and groups allow you to participate and offer solutions to your target audience and add value to them. Not to mention that participating in these discussions improves your website’s Google ranking.
Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is another effective off page SEO technique. In order to make this technique work, first identify the keywords you are interested in. Then, find websites relevant to those keywords that allow guest blogs.
For example, if you are a technology company, you can submit guest blogs to sites like Venture Beat, High Def Geek and others. Always ensure that you are submitting your blogs to a reputable website and your content is unique and high-quality.
Bottom Line
From the many techniques that are employed today, we have picked the top 5 you can begin with. Like in everything, sharing rich and contextual content is the key.
Building high-quality backlinks is your ticket to higher SERP ranking and higher PageRank. However, it is a time-consuming and arduous process. Outsourcing your off page SEO to an