The average website owner probably has no idea what off-page SEO is or whether or not it is important. However, professional SEO providers know that this is an important part of the SEO process when high directory rankings and a continuing flow of website traffic are the goals.
Simply stated, off-page SEO describes a number of important things you should do to achieve a high page rank (PR) for a live website. These things are actions you can take outside of your website pages aimed at building link popularity, hence the name off-page SEO.
Links are Critically Important to Achieving a High Ranking
First, understand that the number of back links you have from other relevant sites to your website will have a significant impact on how major search engines rank your site. You can readily check your website’s linkages (link popularity) for free by going to: http://www.linkpopularity.com . This free tool will show you that the greater the number of links you have, the higher your page rank will be. There are other sites that offer similar link assessments too.
Second, it is not easy to develop links to popular websites that are relevant to the products or services your site offers. This takes work and is best accomplished by having very informative content on your website’s pages. Naturally, the content on your pages is actually part of the on-page SEO process, so link development should follow after the pages themselves have been optimized within the primary SEO process.
It should be obvious that other websites will be more inclined to provide a link to your site if they perceive that there is some advantage to them by doing so. Just offering a reciprocal link from your site to theirs may not be enough incentive and, by the way, Google prefers non-reciprocal links.
Internet Marketing Makes the Most Difference
Internet marketing activities, often referred to as SEM (Search Engine Marketing) is a very effective program when it comes to providing incentives for other sites to give you a back link. Some of the methods you can employ include:
- Feature Articles – Prepare and submit articles to available Internet article directories. There are many of these that will accept and publish your articles free of charge. Most provide a place where you can provide a profile or resource area that can include a link to your website. Many of these article directory sites are immensely popular and have high page ranks themselves which will help your own PR. There are also article directory submission sites that, for a modest fee, will submit your articles to hundreds of such sites. And if you don’t feel truly qualified to write these articles yourself, a good SEO provider can do this for you.
- Blogs – Blogging is a good way to develop links as well and you can utilize the same articles mentioned in 1. (above) as blog content. Be sure that there is a back link to your website in either the blog copy itself or the author’s profile area.
- Forums – There is a continuing expansion of online communities dedicated to the subject matter of your website. Market to these by locating and joining them. When you do, you’ll be provided with a ‘signature box’ where you can leave a link back to your website. You can post a variety of messages on these forums too and leave a link to your website in each post.
An SEO Services Provider Can Do It All
If you don’t have the time or inclination to handle these things yourself, hiring a good provider of SEO services will prove a sensible investment. These folks are truly professionals who have the technical competency and experience to optimize your website and carry out an ongoing SEM program to keep it ranked highly and able to provide that all-important continuing flow of targeted traffic that your business needs.