How to design a strong off-page SEO strategy.
Lessons learnt from earning over 50,000 contextual links for thousands of websites in the toughest niches.
In 2023, virtually every business that has a website is prioritizing their investment in SEO. The reason being, amidst the chaos of the current year, customers are resorting to online channels for safe purchasing, and optimizing their online presence is a surefire way to gain an edge over rivals. While some firms have set up internal teams, and others have hired external agencies to boost their search engine rankings, a documented off-page SEO strategy is still a rarity among most businesses.
There are numerous online resources available on creating an off-page SEO strategy, comprising of hundreds of opinion pieces and case studies, with varying levels of credibility. In fact, it’s probable that you’ll come across more inaccurate information than accurate advice. However, that changes now. We have assisted over 5,000 websites in achieving exceptional link building and SERP outcomes, and we are now prepared to disclose the strategies that underpin our success.
Why is it important to earn links?
The ultimate objective of any SEO strategy is to augment the rank and authority of a website. Most seasoned SEO professionals would agree that obtaining links is an indispensable aspect of achieving this goal. Links serve as a signal to search engines such as Google, indicating that a website is a reputable and trustworthy source of information, validated by others. The reasoning is that if the content is original, of high-quality, and well-crafted, it will attract references from other sources naturally. However, acquiring contextual links is not always a straightforward process. It can be particularly challenging and time-consuming to earn links naturally if the website belongs to an obscure niche, which is not ideal when running a business. Nevertheless, with the right on- and off-page SEO tactics, one can secure valuable links that are quick, scalable, and most importantly, sustainable.
We understand that you may be skeptical and rolling your eyes because you’ve probably heard that building links is in violation of Google’s webmaster guidelines. While we do not deny this, we would like to provide an explanation.
Google Says No, We Say Yes – Here’s Why
For several years, Google has been condemning paid link building. Their strong stance is to prevent websites from manipulating search engine rankings and to ensure that the information delivered to end-users is the most pertinent and of the highest quality. While this is a noble cause, this view categorizes all link building practices into a ‘naughty’ corner, without considering nuances. As with all SEO strategies, there are both black and white-hat approaches to link building. Some people are so preoccupied with obtaining a specific number of backlinks that they are not concerned about how they obtain them. They pay brokers to access lists and entrust their off-page SEO strategy to strangers, which is a terrible idea. Often, these third parties make grand promises but deliver nothing but low-quality links on websites created solely for the purpose of selling links. These black-hat practices are easily detected by Google and other search engines. By utilizing them, you run the risk of undermining the authority of your entire site and jeopardizing all your rankings.
The opposite of black-hat link building, which involves paying for links, is white-hat link building, which entails earning links as a component of your off-page SEO strategy.
The low-risk method of white-hat link building involves contributing unique, high-quality content to publishers on subjects related to your business and earning a contextual link back to your website in return. Although you may have to pay for this privilege, it’s no different than display advertising. By writing on topics about which you have expertise and being recognized as a reputable source, you’re providing value to both the publisher’s website and its readers.
The process of white-hat link building prioritizes quality over quantity. Obtaining a few contextual links in well-written content through transparent means is much more effective for your off-page SEO strategy than hundreds of black-hat backlinks. In the end, if you acquire links through relevant and informative content, search engine algorithms have no way of determining whether or not you paid for them, but it doesn’t matter. You’ve earned them through hard work! This guide will take you through the process of creating a robust off-page SEO strategy that produces long-term outcomes.
- Design a successful on-page strategy
- Determine your pillar and cluster pages
- Build themed link funnels
- Diversify your link profile
- Create a solid and actionable 12-month off-page strategy
Design Your On-Page Content SEO Strategy
Here are some steps to help you design your on-page content SEO strategy:
- Conduct Keyword Research: Begin by identifying relevant keywords and phrases that your target audience might search for. You can use tools like Google Keyword Planner or Ahrefs to find keywords that have high search volume and low competition.
- Optimize Meta Title and Description: Use your target keyword in the meta title and description to make it clear to search engines and users what your page is about. Keep the title under 60 characters and the description under 155 characters to avoid truncation in search results.
- Optimize Heading Tags: Use header tags (H1, H2, H3) to organize your content and make it easy for users to read. Use your target keywords in the H1 tag, and include related keywords in the H2 and H3 tags.
- Write High-Quality Content: Write well-researched, informative, and engaging content that addresses the needs and interests of your target audience. Use keywords naturally and avoid keyword stuffing.
- Optimize Images: Use descriptive alt tags and filenames to help search engines understand the content of your images. Optimize image file sizes to ensure fast page load times.
- Improve Page Speed: Site speed is an important ranking factor, so optimize your website’s loading times by compressing images, minimizing HTTP requests, and enabling browser caching.
- Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly: As more users access the web from mobile devices, it is essential to ensure that your website is responsive and mobile-friendly.
- Use Internal Linking: Link to other pages on your site using relevant anchor text to help users navigate your site and improve your site’s internal linking structure.
By following these steps, you can create a strong on-page SEO strategy that improves your website’s visibility in search results and drives more traffic to your site.
You won’t move the needle in search engines unless your website has the solid foundations necessary to execute an off-page strategy. These include elements such as quality content, keywords, page load speed, metadata, URL structure and mobile optimization.
Google only cares about user experience. And if it thinks you’re more concerned with your bottom line than with consumer needs, well, the odds will not be in your favour.
Whether you run a goods or service-focused business, you probably want your sales pages to rank well and drive high intent, bottom-of-funnel leads. You’ll likely have these pages built to convert visitors. However, while sales and service pages are great for Google Ads and Facebook campaigns, they’re terrible for SEO.
Sales and service pages are typically less likely to rank well on search engines because they are not designed to answer users’ questions. Furthermore, Google is a private enterprise and would rather you pay for ads, which is why it earns over $162 billion each year. This underscores the importance of creating regular blog content for your website, which provides answers, adds value, and educates users. Therefore, although conversions are important, it is essential to prioritize the needs of end users if you want to improve your SEO and drive traffic to your site.