Just like on-page SEO , off-page AKA (off-site SEO) is the practice of optimizing a website to rank higher in search engine results. However, off-page SEO focuses on improving a site's authority and popularity, rather than its on-page content. There are a variety of tactics that can be used for off-page SEO, including link building, social media engagement, online citation building, optimizing your Google My Business (GMB) and Geo-tagging images. By mastering off-page SEO techniques balanced with on-Page SEO, business owners can improve their site's visibility and drive more qualified traffic to their pages.

In this article we are going to dive into what each of these tactics are and how you can start implementing them today into your website optimization.

• Link building
• Social media engagement
• Online citations
• Google My Business optimization
• Geo-tagging

The power of quality links

Getting high quality backlinks from authoritative websites can be one of the most effective ways to boost your off-site SEO

Although Google does take into account how many backlinks a website has, quality is even more important. Trading or buying spammy links used to be an acceptable practice, but it is not anymore. You can determine which backlinks are of good quality by using SEO audit tools such as Majestic, UberSuggest and SEMrush.

Relevancy is also something important to consider when getting backlinks for your website. A backlink can be relevant in two different ways: location and niche. If you load your page with irrelevant links then this can actually hurt your search engine rankings rather than boost it.

Good Social Media Engagement

Being engaged with your audience is very important to your SEO optimization as well. When Google sees that you have a good amount of followers and have consistency in your posting habits then you will be rewarded for it.

Another way social media platforms can play a role in your SEO is that they are high quality backlinks and high quality citations for your site.

Consistency with Online Citations

Online citations are your name, address, and phone number (NAP)  listed consistently across local 

directories  on the internet. When putting in your information in the directories make sure to double check that it is accurate. Google loves consistency and if you type in an address wrong or miss a number in your phone number this can actually hurt your rankings. Any misinformation entered can confuse Google's spiders when crawling your digital footprint.

It is also recommended that you keep track of all the citation sites, usernames and passwords in a Google spreadsheet to refer back to in case you need to change the information entered. This also helps you  avoid duplicates. Having duplicate listings on directories can hurt your rankings as well.

Optimizing Your Google My Business

Your Google My Business (GMB) plays a very important role in your off-page SEO. This is normally something that most business owners don't pay enough attention to or don't know the proper strategies to optimize it.

Consistently adding more photos to your GMB regularly is one of many strategies that can be used for optimization. Be sure to not have duplicate photos because Google will see this as spam even though this is not your intention.

Posting updates about your business regularly is another great strategy to fully optimize your business profile. This is an opportunity to Incorporate keywords into your content and tell Google what your business is all about.

Having a Google My Business gives customers/clients the option to post reviews about your business. Positive reviews are more important than ever right now. The number of positive reviews you have, the better your rankings will be. Google sees reviews as votes. The more votes a business has, than the higher they are in the search rankings. Positive reviews are not only good for SEO but it also puts a good impression on your business and can motivate people to buy your products/services.

When optimizing your GMB, fill in as much information as possible and utilize all of the characters. i.e. Google My Business allows up to 720 characters in your business description. Use all 720 if you can, or as close as you can without stuffing keywords or repeating yourself.

These are just a few out of many strategies that are necessary for fully optimizing your GMB.

Boost Your Rankings By Adding Geotags

Geo-Tagging content is a more advanced SEO strategy but is necessary to get ahead of the competition in search rankings.

Geotagging is the process of adding geographic coordinates including latitude and longitude to media so it can be located on a mobile device. This could include photos, videos, websites, QR codes and other contextual information.

Having your website optimized for both on-page and off-page SEO is essential for any business looking to rank higher in search engine results. By using these strategies and other techniques, you can increase your website’s authority and drive more traffic to your website.

If you want to make sure your SEO is done properly, contact Dark Matter Strategic today for a FREE strategy session. We’ll work with you to create a comprehensive plan that will get your website ranking high and generate a more consistent flow of qualified leads to your business.