Is Off-Page SEO Still Important? Why Your Website Still Needs Link Building Campaigns in 2020
In this ever more digital world, it’s no secret that a successful business needs SEO in their marketing strategy. Most people obsess over on-page SEO tactics like blog creation, meta descriptions, and internal linking – which are all incredibly important to a robust SEO strategy. But, you’re only doing half of your job if you’re not including off-page SEO as well.
Off-page SEO continues to be one of the most effective ways to boost your online SEO presence and capture organic and high-intent traffic. Let’s explore what off-page SEO entails and why it’s so important for growing business and increasing reach.
What is Off-Page SEO?
When ranking search results, the Google algorithm takes a variety of on-site and off-site factors into account. On-site ranking factors include the website’s internal linking structure, on-page content, optimized metadata, images, videos, site-load speed, mobile responsiveness, and other technical and content-related factors. Off-page SEO factors consist of any and all tactics that occur off of your business’ website to create links back to your domain. Increasing your website’s domain authority weighs heavily on ranking higher on the search engine results page (SERPs).
Link building campaigns can take many different forms, such as writing and placing a guest post, contributing to someone else’s article for a link, finding broken links and suggesting new ones to a webmaster, building business listings on online business directories, or offering evergreen content or resources like videos and infographics for publication on industry-focused blogs or publications. Link building can sometimes be a tedious process, often requiring hundreds of outreach emails to be sent each week, but the payoff is well worth it in the eyes of Google.
The Importance of Off-Page SEO
The Google search engine algorithm is constantly changing, and it can feel like the goalposts keep moving each time you get close to cracking the code. This is by design, Google releases several core algorithm updates a year to make the search experience more tailored and personalized for users. Still, throughout all the updates, off-page SEO tactics have not lost their effectiveness over the years.
Increase Ranking Power & Domain Authority
More ranking power means it’s more likely your business will show up higher on Google’s search results. Off-page SEO tactics help send signals to Google, showing the search engine just how much value your site has to potential users. Although Google’s algorithm changes constantly, there’s one thing we know to be true: we cannot underestimate just how important link building for SEO really is. Through various updates and changes over the years, backlinks have continued to be one of the signals that Google relies on.
So what is link building? Simply put, it is the process of getting other sites to link back to yours. Popular tactics include guest posting on other people’s websites and contributing to other pieces of content (such as a guide where you may be an expert), and always include a link back to your site. Google sees each of these links as a vote of confidence, especially if you build links on well-established and authoritative sites. This signals to Google that your site is a good resource for users and can potentially boost your ranking position for searches related to your content.
Build Brand Reputation
Off-page SEO can also help you build a reputation for your brand. Backlinks from credible sources do play a heavy role in this, as do user-generated content from social media channels or online reviews. Reputation is important in the eyes of customers, but in terms of Google’s algorithm as well. A 2018 algorithm update brought with it a focus on expertise, authority, and trust when ranking sites.
Social media doesn’t have a direct impact on your search ranking, they are considered “nofollow” links by the Google crawlers but can do wonders for boosting your reputation. What they do, however, is bring greater visibility to your brand, which could lead to more organic traffic. Google does take website traffic into account when ranking pages, so keeping these channels up to date with timely information can help improve reputation and ranking potential.
Positive reviews from sources like Google My Business can do wonders for enticing customers to shop with you, but are also helpful in building your reputation and increasing your authority in terms of page rank. Some sources even suggest that Google looks at these reviews in a similar light to backlinks, meaning good reviews are incredibly important. Reviews with keywords related to your offerings in them can also benefit you. For example, if you were the owner of a winery and someone in your area looked up the term “local winery”, your business is more likely to show up if a customer left a review saying “I love this local winery”.
Off-Page SEO Isn’t Going Anywhere Anytime Soon
If we’ve learned anything from Google’s constant algorithm updates it’s this: off-page SEO isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Businesses today need to have the right mix of on-site and off-site SEO tactics for the best chances of success. Enlisting the help of an experienced digital agency is the best way to increase your rankings and get seen by users. Because we’re driven to deliver more within our & Culture mindset, the SEO specialists at Cape & Bay can show you how to best optimize every opportunity as part of your digital marketing strategy. Get in touch with us today!