Off page SEO techniques are the “second half” of site optimization after the “first half” or on page SEO techniques have been established.
Basic on page SEO techniques are site architecture, interlinking, proper meta tagging, relevant text, keyword density, load time, condensing white space and a sitemap. Once these elements have been included, then off page SEO techniques can be used to boost a site’s rank in search engine results pages from Google and Bing.
Essentially, off page SEO techniques are a set of methodologies which help to up a site’s credibility with search engines. The more “presence” a site has off it’s URL, the more authority it gains. In turn, its page rank increases and when targeted keywords are searched, that site appears close to the top of the results.
What is Off Page SEO?
To answer what is off page SEO, we must first define “off page”. That is properties which are not directly located on a site. Examples include blogging platforms, social media and backlinks from other websites.
Off page SEO techniques are a set of optimization elements which search engines use to measure a site’s authority and credibility across the web. Search engines find websites three primary ways: through direct sitemap submission, through manual URL submission and by following links on other websites. Off page SEO techniques are used to bolster a site’s inbound or backlinks, thereby using the “popularity” of prolific inbound links to rank the target site higher.
Off Page SEO Techniques
There are many acceptable off page SEO techniques which are used to increase search visibility. Some of which are waning in popularity, others are falling victim to a changing landscape of index algorithms and still others remain viable.
It is important to note that search engines employing too many off page SEO techniques in a short amount of time is considered over optimization. So these off page SEO techniques must be used wisely or a site could be penalized.
Chief among those off page SEO techniques waning in popularly is directory submission, falling victim to altered index algorithms are blog networks and viable are stalwart Web 2.0 properties. Of course, there are new off page SEO techniques which are becoming mainstream and still other off page SEO techniques that are in their infancy.
Checklist of Off Page SEO Techniques
Below is a list of common off page SEO techniques. The level of usefulness in each of these off page SEO techniques differ. For instance, Google’s head webspam guru, Matt Cutts, does not recommend some of these off page SEO techniques such as article directories and directory submissions.
- Search Engine Submission to Google and Bing (Yahoo is now run under Bing)
- Directory Submissions
- Press Releases
- Article Directories
- Social Media
- Bookmarking Sites
- RSS Feed Directories
- Sitemap Submission to Google and Bing
- Video Publications with Transcripts on Sites like YouTube
- Inbound Links with Anchor Text
- TLD Backlinking from Sites Containing .gov and .edu
While this isn’t an exhaustive list of off page SEO techniques, it contains the most used and reliable methods. Of course, only by utilizing and monitoring incorporated off page SEO techniques can a site owner know which produce the best results