SEO Basics: Off-Page Optimization
Off- page optimization, similarly to its counterpart on-page optimization, is a part of search engine optimization (SEO) that includes all measures that can be implemented outside the website to improve the positioning in the search results of search engines. This process usually consists of building as many high-quality and topic-relevant backlinks as possible.
As such, off-page optimization is often equated with link building. But this does not cover the term in its entirety. Certainly, there are other elements pertaining to off-page optimization that can significantly impact your SEO such as social signals, online reputation as well as brand management, trust — today we will be delving more into backlink building, which is a central factor for off-page optimization.
What are the goals of off-page optimization?
The major goal of off-page optimization, as with SEO as a whole, is to achieve top rankings in the organic search results. This form of optimization should never be considered and used in isolation. Only in conjunction with on-page optimization, can websites and thus rankings be sustainably improved.
A positive side effect of stronger linking and the resulting increase in visitors is that Google receives more user signals. Positive user signals such as a high dwell time, a low bounce rate and a high CTR can in turn have a beneficial effect on the ranking.
Backlink building as a central factor of off-page optimization
One of the most popular ways to implement off-page SEO is to use backlinks. Since the beginning of the Internet, cross-references from websites to other websites have been important indicators for search engines of how important and relevant a website is in relation to a search query. Each backlink can be seen as a “recommendation” or reference from one website to another.
The goal of link building is for a website to obtain the highest possible number of backlinks from the highest quality sites possible. To achieve this, different ways exist, which are more or less liked by Google. Search engines prefer it when a website builds backlinks organically, because it offers high-quality content and users, thus, link the page voluntarily. A link is then a recommendation to the user, showing that another site is reporting something good on a topic.
In the evaluation of incoming links by search engines, it plays a significant role — amongst other things — where the link in question is placed on the link-giving website, what domain authority this page has, what anchor text is used and how relevant the referring page is in terms of the target page.
Basically, it is assumed that backlinks for a website develop naturally — i.e. automatically because of the existing content). In SEO practice, however, attempts are made to positively influence the number of links to a website with backlink building.
At this point, two types of off-page search engine optimization with the help of backlinks can be distinguished — the passive and the active backlink building.
In SEO, passive backlink building consists of encouraging users to voluntarily link to a website through their own content. The higher the quality of the content of a website, the more users are inclined to link to this page. Thus, the basis for targeted backlink building is the creation of unique and high-quality content that can serve user needs.
Active backlink building is described by the targeted control of link creation. Such measures can be found, for example, in content marketing. In this case, you can place guest articles or other content on other websites and generate a link in them by referring to their own website. Links to one’s own website that are distributed via social media are also conceivable.
Part of the off-page optimization consists of analyzing the link structure of your own website as well as those of the referring websites. In this case, check first which websites link to the analyzed page. The IP address, the type of link — no-follow or do-follow link — as well as the quality of the linking site are important aspects of analysis.
If this analysis reveals backlinks that could have a negative impact on the ranking, they should immediately be removed.
Now that you know a bit more about what SEO is and how it works, you can work on making changes to your website to improve your search engine optimization and increase your ranking in the SERPs.
