THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO ON-PAGE AND OFF-PAGE SEO
What is SEO? SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It’s the practice of optimizing content to be discovered through a search engine’s organic search results. Search engines use sophisticated algorithms and technology to return the best results for any query. There are three significant benefits of search engine optimization that attract marketers from all over the world.
- TRAFFIC FROM YOUR SEO IS FREE
- TRAFFIC FROM SEO IS CONSISTENT
- TRAFFIC FROM SEO REACHES GOOGLE’S AUDIENCE
The confusion that mainly hits the majority when learning about SEO is whether on-page and off-page terms are types or SEO techniques. And if you are among the majority, you’re just in time and on the right site to learn precisely what on-page and off-page types of SEO mean and how you can get expertise in each of them. On-page SEO activities are used to manage website traffic by changing pages. On-page Optimization activities include improving a website’s structure, interlinking, page load time, title tag, and meta description. In comparison, off-page SEO activities are tasks performed to increase the presence and visibility of a website on the internet. Creating contextual backlinks, social media marketing (likes/shares), guest blogging, question and answers websites (quora), and so on are examples of tasks. The goal of SEO is to ‘indicate relevance. We will now break down the two types into groups to gradually understand more about them.
ON PAGE SEO:
In simple words, on-page SEO is the practice of optimizing web pages for specific keywords to improve search visibility and traffic that will ultimately help in ranking higher in search engines. Standard on-page SEO practices include optimizing title tags, content, internal links, and URLs. If you want search engines to reward you with page one’s visibility, you must take your on-page SEO strategy seriously. Although Google has gotten much more innovative than before, it still looks for a specific keyword on your page. But that does not mean you can just go on stuffing keywords in your content, as keyword stuffing stopped working long ago, which also ruins the user’s experience. On-page SEO is not just about using keywords in your content. It is 2022, and you need to rank and optimize the content for a) user experience, b) bounce rate and dwell time, c) search intent, d) page loading speed and e) click-through rate.
This was all about why SEO on-page still matters. Let’s move on to how you can optimize your content for SEO.
USE TARGET KEYWORDS IN THE FIRST 100-150 WORDS
The first step would be to use your “main” keyword in your content’s first 100-150 words. This will help google understand what your page is all about.
USE OF H1 TAGS:
Google has already made it clear that using the H1 tag helps Google understand the page’s structure. H1 is an HTML tag that indicates a heading on a website. Platforms like WordPress automatically add the H1 tag to your blog post title. But if that is not the case with you, check your site’s code to ensure your title is wrapped in an H1.
USE H2 TAGS FOR SUB-HEADINGS:
If the H1 tag is the main title of the content, H2 tags are to be used to indicate sub-headings of the article. It is essential to use H2 tags to make your content more organized. Similarly, you can use H3 tags to further subdivide and organize your content.
GIVE IMPORTANCE TO KEYWORD DENSITY:
Keyword density how often you use a specific keyword on a webpage. Although there are no hard and fast on-page SEO rules about keyword density, ensure your target keywords appear naturally throughout your post. In addition to your primary keyword, include synonyms, long tail keywords, and related tags that help your page rise.
DO INCLUDE EXTERNAL LINKS:
If your content has external links to related pages, this helps google figure out your page’s topic and also points out that your page consists of quality information. Websites with external links have more chances of ranking up on google than those with no external links.
OFF-PAGE SEO:
Contrary to on-page SEO, off-page SEO is done outside your website to improve your search engine rankings. Just like on-page SEO is not only about placing keywords, off-page SEO is not just about links. It goes deeper than that. Off-page SEO refers to all the activities you do away from your website to raise a page’s ranking with search engines. It mainly tells Google what others think about your site, which is determined by the number of links pointing to your pages. If you have many of them, search engines will assume that you have great content and can provide value for your users. Link building is often considered the main off-page tactic, but this also includes tactics such as content marketing, social media, appearing on podcasts, landing reviews, building local citations, and much more. Backlinks and other off-site signals still form the foundation of Google’s algorithm, and no doubt, there is a clear correlation between total backlinks and google rankings. As evidence of a positive reputation, google relies on a site’s off-site influence to determine whether or not that site can be trusted. This includes a) a large number of positive user reviews, b) recommendations from experts, and c) mentions on authority news sites and Wikipedia. Hence, you should not entirely focus on link building, as there are many other off-page SEO techniques and tactics that you should be using. They will not only help you to drive success from SEO but also help to build your brand. So now, without any further ado, let’s jump into off-page SEO techniques that will help you get the hang of it!
CREATING VALUABLE BACKLINKS:
Building backlinks for off-page SEO is all about quality and not quantity. If you want the links you built to boost your rankings in the search engine result pages, they need to be authority links from related sites. Google is more likely to rank a site than another if one domain has more backlinks. Google also takes into account the quality of the link and the relevancy of this link to your environment.
BRAND BUILDING:
We all know that Google rewards brands; hence, brand-building activities should be part of your more comprehensive SEO and marketing strategy and your approach to off-page SEO. To build your brand, you’ll need to improve your brand searches as they tell how many people search for your brand on google. To check your brand performance, you can check the google search console performance report and the impressions column for all your branded searches.
GUEST POSTING:
Guest posting means publishing an article on someone else’s website to get more brand awareness and traffic back to your website. Guest posting, if done right, can contribute far more t your marketing strategy than just being used as a way to build links. You should reach out to third-party websites whose target audience is similar to yours. This way, you will increase exposure and brand awareness amongst potential customers and heighten the chance of driving referral traffic from that website. Guest blogging can be broken down into these simple steps.
- Compile a list of websites within your niche that accepts guest bloggers or third-party entries and articles
- Research content, tone, and primary user base of every site
- Prepare a list of possible content ideas that would be a good match based on the blog’s brand, audience, and needs.
- Contact the site editor or webmaster and pitch one of your ideas.
FORUM POSTING:
A forum posting site is an online discussion board that allows users to have meaningful conversations in the form of a posted message. If done correctly, forum posting can bring multiple benefits to your brand or business. Exposure to new customers, a better understanding of your customers, and opportunities to answer any questions customers or potential customers might have.
PRESS RELEASE:
A digital press release is a new link-building strategy for many SEO and is the perfect way to earn authority links. It can also increase brand awareness. Brand searches put your business in front of your target audience and get them talking about you, drive referral traffic, position you as a thought leader in your industry, and help build trust signals.
CONCLUSION
If you are wondering which strategy is more critical, on-page and off-page SEO together will improve your search engine rankings. However, you need to finish the on-page before focusing on off-page SEO. That’s how you’ll create a balance, and your orders will start to improve.