The vast world of SEO has
two major divisions- on-page and off-page SEO. While on-page SEO includes the
direct optimization steps revolving around publishing content, off-page SEO
focuses on techniques that gather backlinks and popularity from external resources.
No matter how strong your
on-page SEO is, it is impossible to gain authority and win top rankings without
consistent and well-directed off-page SEO strategies.
Every year, new trends
take place of the old ones in the SEO world. There are a few techniques of
off-page optimization that have been performing better than others. This
article will show you all those off-page SEO techniques, which you can try to
boost ranking in 2018.
Blog commenting
Blog
commenting is not a new concept in the world of SEO. However, this
year has shown a growth in this trend. The fact that this technique brings
highly targeted traffic to a site has made this process highly popular among
the practitioners.You manually search for
blogs that are relevant to your business and site. Searching SERPs with a few
core keywords related to your business or niche can help you find the right
blogs to start commenting.
Experts suggest reading
the selected blogs to make your comments valuable. The idea is to give
additional information to the readers. It should also seem useful to the blog
owner, so they allow your comments in their comment section.
Think long-term when
using this tactic. Start by just adding information without any links that
refer to your site. This will help in building a relationship with the blog
owner.
Eventually,
you can lead to adding URLs or headlines of relevant articles on your site.
This will bring more interested traffic directly to your site. Plus, you will
attain chances of winning backlinks in
future.
Article marketing or
submission
If you have enough time
to invest in article marketing, it can bring hundreds of backlinks and upgrade
your domain authority. There are different approaches that SEO experts suggest
when creating articles and submitting them to different online platforms.
One approach is to create
a parent article and produce various baby articles associated with the same
topic. These baby articles don’t have a low word count.
In fact, they contain
different versions of the parent article that you create. After developing
different versions of the same article, you can start submitting them to
various blog networks and article directories.
Another approach
incorporates posting articles on forums that invite unique content. Such forums
allow you to obtain credible backlinks that bring traffic to your site and helps
in improving rankings as well.
However, this approach
requires high-quality articles. Hence, you need expert writers who understand
your business. Or, you can write on your own if your marketing scale is low.
Directory submission
This technique is very
popular among site owners to win backlinks. However, you have to constantly
keep an eye on the new directories that appear in the picture.
You look for general
directories, reciprocal directories, paid directories and others. Among all of
them, niche directories are considered most effective, as they help you win
relevant backlinks.
The art
of winning links from directories revolves around your ability to
create appealing description and relevant anchor text.
Always include your main keyword in the title, which becomes the anchor text
for the link.
Write descriptions with
the aim to influence people to visit your website. Keep it short and crisp, but
don’t give a vague idea. Choose simple words that clearly explain your web
pages.
There are tools out there
to help you count the number of backlinks you attain. Such tools are effective
in planning your ongoing directory submission approach.
Forum posting
Answering questions on
forums is also a great way to drive traffic. You can link your relevant web
page with an appropriate answer.
First of all, you have to
find the right forums that are suitable for your niche or business. Then,
understand the rules and regulations that are followed in a forum. After that,
you can begin answering posts along with your profile or signature link.
Most forums provide a
list of unanswered questions. Also, you can promote your new content on such
forums and develop traffic, backlinks, and rankings.
You can start by posting
answers and posts in 5 to 10 forums. Make sure that these forums come under
your niche. Eventually, you will gain backlinks and get more forum options to
market your website.
Guest blogging
Guest blogging requires
an analytical approach to success. You can’t pick any random blog and approach
for guest blogging. There are several factors that make a blog suitable for
guest posting.
First of all, you should
find out the readership level of a blog. Many sites offer guest blogging
opportunities in their initial stages. Your job is to find well-established
blogs that are relevant to your niche.
The writing part is
simple. You have to focus on the core writing values to create an information
piece of content. However, the linking process changes a little bit. You need
to make sure that the topic presents opportunities to link guest posts with
your web pages.
To find guest posting
opportunities in your market, you can follow this example:
Core keyword + guest
posting
Replace the “core
keyword” section with the keyword your niche belongs to.
Few tips when preparing
content for guest posting:
·
Make sure that your content can offer value to the prospect
website.
·
Follow a disciplined optimization guideline to help the site
owner.
·
Use meaningful images along with alt tags and descriptive
filenames.
These tips will enhance
your chances of getting posts approved. However, the job doesn’t end there. You
need to follow all the questions that people ask on that forum. Answering the
comments will grow your authority and help to improve the brand power in the
digital market.
Using Q&A platforms
There are forums such as
Quora and Yahoo where people simply add their questions. These platforms are
perfect to build quality backlinks and win traffic. You can promote your
content on your own by attaching a reference link to your web pages along with
your answers.
It is important to give
value to the answer seekers. Don’t just try to lead them to your site. Find
relevant questions and genuinely help with your expertise.
Most platforms have
regulations regarding link attachments. Being too aggressive can lead to
getting banned from posting answers. Hence, it would be better to use two
separate accounts and don’t overdo the backlink process.
Answer more and link to a
few answers only. Eventually, you will build a strong reputation of your
profile and win traffic for your site.
Social bookmarking
Social bookmarking is one
of the fastest ways to build backlinks. This simple off-page SEO technique
requires very little effort. But you have to give time to attain visibility on
the bookmarking site you join.
Starting this approach
requires only joining. Then, you can just add a link of your web page
and let other people vote for your content. Social bookmarking sites are
working in all kinds of niches. You can use your core keyword along with
“bookmarking” to find relevant sites.
This technique is really
valuable to win quick backlinks. Plus, you start getting traffic as people
start taking interest in your content. It is important to include proper tags
if a site asks. Such tags will make your links visible to readers who are
interested in your niche.
YouTube Marketing
YouTube has become a
great platform to win a wide audience and market your site or business.
Depending on the purpose of marketing, you can use YouTube for different
off-page SEO goals.
For instance, you can
create videos related to sales. An appealing headline and clear call-to-action
are the basics for any video.
Plus, you have to provide
informative content in the video, so that, people see, like and share your
video content. Such videos also become a promotional element on forums,
bookmarking sites and other platforms. You can use paid marketing approach to
get more visibility for sales videos.
Many site owners create
informative content in video medium and promote it via YouTube. Thanks to
modern video creation tools, you just need to spend a few minutes to make a
video on your site-related topic. You can provide a strong description and link
your official web page along with it.
Social media networking
This might
be the most effective and most difficult off-page SEO technique. Almost every
site uses social media profiles for
online reputation and branding.
Platforms such as Twitter,
Facebook, Snapchat, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and others have become a valuable
space where business can tap into community interactions.
A successful social media
reputation requires time and a well-directed approach. Every platform is
unique, so you have to change your marketing approach.
The first step is
obviously to create SEO optimized profiles on each platform that are most
relevant to your niche. Include links to your site while creating social media
profiles and complete all the information required.
Consistently post content
that engages audiences. You can use relevant keywords and attach site and web
page links whenever relevant in a post.
The idea is to provide
information and create curiosity to achieve link clicks at the same time. With
time, you gain followers who help in promoting your content all over the social
network.
Data-driven Infographics
The
boost in the popularity of data has given rise to infographic marketing approach.
Infographics are generally a visual demonstration of data. This data can
include valuable numbers, research, surveys or even informational text.
Graphical representation
of information makes it interesting and more engaging. This is why it attracts
influencers who share and link back to your infographics.
There are many platforms
nowadays providing free as well as paid versions of infographic creation tools.
You can get your subscription and create promotional content for an enhanced
exposure.
Many SEO professionals provide
exclusive infographic content pieces. So, you can hire professionals if your
marketing scale is high enough.
Data-driven infographics
immediately get attention. You can use such content pieces on your web pages,
social media platforms, forum posting and even when answering questions on a
Q&A site.
This will bring traffic
from all directions to your site. Plus, search engines give importance to web
pages with infographics while ranking.
Press release
Press releases also help
in gaining valuable backlinks. This approach allows you to win links and
promote your site at the same time. Also, the linked pages get an immediate
traffic boom. You can diverse that traffic to other pages on your site via
internal linking.
You can search for
platforms that offer press release opportunities for free. One Google search
will lead you straight to a perfect press release site. But this is the easy
part.
Creating valuable press
release is much harder than people realize. You have to follow a correct format
of such content and focus on benefits instead of the features of your content
idea.
The format of a
high-quality press release:
·
Headline
·
Release date and location
·
Introduction (answer what, why, when, who and where)
·
Content body
·
Boilerplate
·
Contact information
If you have a business,
it would be better to hire professional copywriters to write press releases for
your business.
Web 2.0
Every online business and
site owner is leveraging this off-page SEO technique.
Platforms such as Blogger
and WordPress have high reputation and domain authority in the digital world.
You can use such platforms to build links and attain higher rankings. The best
part is that you attain complete control over the backlinks that you create.
The process requires
creating a well-optimized blog for content and creates links to your official
site.
Tying It All Together
Hopefully, you have
understood these actionable techniques that are working in 2018. However, it is
important to remember that the success of any off-page SEO technique depends on
your ability to implement. Make sure you follow the tips and guidelines that
make every tactic successful.
