6 Off-Site SEO Strategies You Need to Be Using

by Robert Clough

You can’t focus so much on on-site SEO optimization that you forget about off-site strategies. Here are 6 things you need to be doing to round out your SEO.

We hear all the time how important internet marketing is for today’s businesses. It’s why companies increased their digital marketing spend by nearly 14% in 2016.

Many focused on on-page search engine optimization (SEO) and building their internet traffic. And why shouldn’t they? It’s where most consumers are spending much of their time so it makes sense to market to them here.

While this is working wonders for businesses across every industry, it’s important not to forget about off-site SEO.

If you’re not familiar with this form of marketing, then continue reading.

What Exactly is Off-Page SEO?

Those already knowledgeable about SEO know mainly about on-site optimization. This consists of implementing keywords into web pages and blog posts, optimizing images, and ensuring links aren’t broken.

Off-site SEO, on the other hand, deals around optimizing your companies online and offline visibility. You can do this with the use of content, links, and relationships.

The goal is to create an optimal experience for your visitors and search engine bots. This, in turn, helps improve your recognition via brand mentions, higher rankings in Google, increased traffic, and higher conversions.

But how do you achieve all of this?

Let’s take a closer look at six of the best SEO techniques you can use off-site.

1. Make a Product/Service that’s Best in its Class

Imagine having a great website, high-quality content, and all the buzz in the world to drive traffic to your business. Yet, when visitors get to your site and order your product or service, they’re completely dissatisfied with it.

You can see how quickly this will damage your company’s reputation and sales. So the first step to creating a successful business is to first have a product or service that’s best in its class.

With a high-end product or service, you can count on word of mouth to earn you more business and traffic.

2. Write Guest Blog Posts

You hear all the time that having fresh content published on your site is key to optimization. Sure, this will earn you some ranking points with Google and other search engines.

But not as much as garnering quality backlinks will. This is why we suggest writing guest blog posts for sites with high authority and rankings.

Backlinks coming from these sites carry more weight, which can earn you a higher ranking on search engines.

The idea is to write for a site that’s relevant to your industry and audience and includes a link back to your website (particularly a related blog post or contact page – not the home page).

Also, don’t just write guest posts for links – use this as an opportunity to build relationships with the site owner.

3. Improve Your Customer Service

Over the years, we’ve seen a number of major companies that had big issues with customer service. This includes Bank of America, Time Warner Cable, and Charter Communications.

And who can forget about the ordeal with American Airlines? You know, when the passenger was dragged off one of their flights?

Who’d want to fly on that airline after that? Don’t let this be you.

It’s not just about your phone and email customer service, but also how you treat clients in person. Be sure your employees and contractors are well-trained to handle tough situations where things can get out of control.

You can also improve your communications with customers by sending out mass text messages. For instance, you can notify them of deals, changes to your privacy policy, and so on.

4. Engage with Your Audience On Social Media

What’s great about social media is that it oftentimes creates a bridge between your target customer and your business.

The key is to research which platforms your particular audience frequents. Then create business profiles and begin posting valuable and engaging content.

Try to stir up conversations with your audience. Be sure to jump into the discussions to build visibility, recognition, and trust for your brand.

You can also use this platform for sharing your blog posts and guest articles written for 3rd party sites. While this doesn’t count as backlinks, it’ll still help drive traffic to your site (which Google and other search engines look at when ranking).

5. Create Videos that People Want to Share

Going viral is one of the best ways to get more people knowing about your brand. But this only happens when you’re sharing content that’s highly valuable and relevant to the target audience.

It seems that video is one of the most shared pieces of content on the web. And it’s also worth noting that Facebook videos get 135% more organic reach compared to other visual content, such as pictures.

This is crucial information if you’re using social media to engage with your audience.

It’s also a good idea to share your videos on other platforms, such as your own YouTube channel, and on your blog or website.

6. Build Rapport with Influencers in Your Industry

Today’s consumers are smart – they hate being advertised to and choose brands based on their trust level. And one way they determine whether or not to trust a brand is through social proof.

One form of social proof is what influencers say about a particular brand. If you can get your brand mentioned by an influencer who’s trusted in your industry, then you can potentially earn yourself more traffic and customers.

Now, it’s important to choose influencers that don’t promote just any ol’ brand. Otherwise, their followers are likely to ignore their brand mentions and promotions as just advertisements.

Building Your Own Off-Site SEO Strategy

Now, it’s time to get started creating your own off-site SEO campaign. You can give the above ideas a try and/or incorporate other off-page ideas as well.

This isn’t an all-inclusive list but should help point you in the right direction.

However, if you’d like to learn more about SEO (on-site and off-site), then we invite you to visit our blog. At Search Engine Guide, we feature information and tutorials on everything to do with SEO.

Stop by today to see what you can find to help improve your digital marketing efforts!

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