The Top 5 Off-Page Ranking Factors: A Starter Guide

On-page SEO is an integral part of any marketing strategy. Everyone knows how important the website content and design is. But SEO is much more than simply arranging your website in the most optimized manner possible. You have to go beyond the page to practice off-page SEO.

You can do numerous things to improve your search engine ranking outside your website. In fact, without off-page SEO, your promotional campaign may hit a dead end.

Are you ready to dive into the exciting realm of off-page ranking factors? This article will dissect them in all directions to give you a good idea of where to start.

On-Page SEO vs. Off-Page SEO

Is on-page SEO more important than off-page SEO? You cannot compare and contrast them. They are friends, partners, and members of the same family.

Even though an average SEO specialist spends twice as much time on on-page ranking factors than on their off-page siblings, it does not undermine the importance of the latter.

Factor #1: Backlinking

Backlinking is the most important ranking factor of off-page SEO. The power of links is hard to underestimate.

They do not just drive traffic to your webpage but improve the ranking of your website in the eyes of the all-powerful Google. Several types of backlinks exist:

Natural Links

Appear when another website links to yours without any direct effort on your part. These links are the most valuable and work the best.

Meanwhile, they do not require any investment of time and money. However, natural links are the toughest to achieve, and they need plenty of on-page SEO work.

Manual Links

Appear thanks to the work you do to place them on other websites. They involve guest posting, collaboration with influencers, partnership with indirect competitors, customer reviews, and much more.

Manual linking requires plenty of effort but brings excellent results as long as you find the right websites to link from.

Black Hat Links

Such link building is illegal and can be penalized. It involves creating link farms (sites that feature links to other sites and nothing else). Black hat SEO tactics are frowned upon and could lead to a ban.

Self-created Links

Appear when you insert links in forum profile signatures, press releases, and blog comments. They are not as efficient as natural or manual links, but they do their job just fine.

Not all links are created equal. To achieve the best results with back-linking, the link has to:

• Appear on a popular website
• Be posted on a website with content related to your website
• Be published recently
• Appear on a trustworthy website
• Be in a company of other high-quality links
• Be posted on a domain with genuine authority

Factor #2: Website Loading Speed

According to experts at Miromind, off-page SEO addresses those behind-the-scenes factors that may not be apparent yet are critical to gain high visibility. One of such factors is website speed. While it may seem insignificant, it affects the website’s visibility tremendously.

The reason is user experience. How willing is your potential customer to wait for 30 seconds for the website to load? Nobody is ready to wait that long nowadays, and Google knows it. That is why to get high rankings, you need to work hard to improve the loading time of your webpages.

Google is helpful enough to give you a tool, which can analyze your website and tell you what slows down the loading time.

Here are a few things you need to consider to increase the loading time of your webpages:

·    Use software for file compression to reduce the size of your JavaScript, HTML, and CSS files larger than 150 bytes.

·    Use image-editing programs, such as Photoshop, to reduce the size of your images. Remember, even though images and videos are fantastic for promotional purposes, if they slow down the loading time, send them to the trash can.

·    Optimize your code by removing unnecessary characters, such as commas and spaces, to up the loading speed.

·    Reduce the number of redirects you use. This is especially true for mobile versions, which will often packed with redirects. Opt for more content on one page and smooth scroll down features.

The harder you work on the website loading time, the fewer visitors you will lose and the better you will appear in the mighty Google’s eyes.

Factor #3: Social Media Presence

Building a social media presence is not just vital to your marketing effort; it is an important off-page SEO ranking factor. It is a simple way for potential clients to find out about your brand and communicate with your representatives.

Meanwhile, search engine crawlers can check social media posts and index links, which could affect your search engine rankings.

Even though social media presence is not vital to SEO efforts, it is an excellent addition to the off-page SEO.

Officially, Google says that social shares are not a direct ranking factor. Links from social media platforms are not as valuable as links from authoritative websites.

However, websites with the best ranking results have numerous shares. They affect your ranking indirectly. But as long as you get the results you want then the process is not so important.

Factor #4: Updated Business Information

This is an important off-page SEO ranking factor for local businesses, but it works for all types of companies as well. You have to list your business in as many places as possible. It does not just help people find you but gives Google reasons to rank you higher.

Take advantage of such websites as Google Places, Yellowpages, Yelp, CitySearch, Yahoo Local, and Bing Local. Make sure to keep your information updated. Meanwhile, you can always insert a link to your website while filling out the data. Links from these directories will help with your backlinking efforts.

These websites are also an excellent way to collect reviews about your business to improve your word-of-the mouth marketing efforts. The best part about all this is that these websites are free to use. So you won’t be investing any money in this ranking factor while getting excellent results.

Factor #5: Guest Posting

If you are an expert in your field, you probably have loads of interesting information to share. Using this high-quality content on your website is excellent, but why not take it further to post it on someone else’s?

Guest posting does not just improve your authority and help you build valuable connections; it improves your off-page SEO. All you have to do is come up with a top-notch article and find a website to post it on.

Websites that accept guest posts allow you to add a link to your site to improve your backlinking efforts. Meanwhile, if the content is beneficial, you can expect other websites to link back to it.

The key to efficient guest posting is not just the quality of your articles; it is the ability to find a top-notch website to post it on. Here are a few simple ways to do it:

·    Ask around – your friends, family, and partners are most likely ready to accept your guest blog.

·    Use Twitter search – most respectable blogs twit their post regularly. Use the search to find those related to your niche.

·    Take advantage of LinkedIn – in LinkedIn you are usually connected to people in your industry or related niches, so finding the right blogs there is easy.

·    Use Google – all you have to do is simply search for “your niche + blog”. Make a list of the most relevant once and check which of them accept guest posts.

·    Promote yourself – A blog allows you to add a small bio. Therefore, use it to post links to your website but also mention your interests so that they show up in relevant search results.

Final Thoughts

Unlike on-page SEO, off-page ranking factors are easier to bring to life. They are cheaper too. The above factors are the key to SEO success. Even though other methods exist, these are what you should start with. Good luck!