Every commercial website has to take advantage of SEO in order to achieve a good Google ranking. On-page SEO is a big part of that. However, it’s not the only part. You also need an excellent off-page SEO strategy if you expect to get the kind of Google ranking you’re aiming for.
To create an excellent off-page SEO strategy for 2021, you need to do the following five things:
1. Evaluate Competitors’ Backlinks As Part of Your Off-Page SEO
How well is your competition using backlinks? To find out, you’ll need to check out their backlink profiles. There are a number of tools available such as Ahrefs and Moz to accomplish this task. Once you have this data, you can determine whether the competition is ahead or beyond you in terms of backlinking. This is a crucial first step for improving your off-page SEO strategy in 2021.
2. Enhance Your Website’s Internal Linking Strategy
A surprising number of websites have no fixed strategy for internal linking. While content may be a priority for them, internal linking is often an afterthought at best. It should come as no surprise that such sites often don’t rank well in Google. In general, each page should have three internal links to other relevant pages.
Internal linking is just another way to help Google put your content into context, which increases its understanding of your pages. The better Google understands your pages, the more likely it will give them a higher ranking. In addition, these links could affect how others link to your site. Of all your off-page SEO strategies, this basic one has far-reaching effects.
3. Locate and Eliminate 404 Errors
Your objective should always be to avoid having any broken links on your website. At all times, your goal needs to be viewers never once seeing a 404 page while navigating through your site.
Viewers landing on 404 pages is the very definition of a poor viewer experience. When Google encounters broken links on your website, it counts against you. A poor viewer experience is the one thing that Google always wants to avoid for its users.
4. Get Your On-Page SEO In Order
As you consider your off-page SEO strategy, you need to also look at your on-page SEO strategy to make sure it’s doing the job it’s supposed to. One strategy complements the other and vice versa.
Should you optimize one type of SEO without optimizing the other, it will be impossible to get the kind of ranking and web traffic you desire. On-page SEO things you need to evaluate include:
- Appropriate use of relevant keywords
- Optimized meta descriptions utilizing keywords
- Regularly published optimized content
- Possible duplicate content that needs to be removed
- Whether or not you have a responsive, mobile-friendly custom website design
- A fast enough page-loading speed
5. Evaluate All Link-Building Options
Off-page SEO is far more difficult than on-page SEO. With on-page SEO, you own the asset: your website. You can make whatever changes you want, whenever you want to. With off-page SEO, you aren’t in control and you rely on others outside of your company.
When considering link building options, there are a number of possibilities, including:
- Guest blogging
- Local citations
- Social sharing
- Pay-per-click advertising
Your company will probably want to use several link-building strategies. The strategies you decide to use will be dictated by your unique needs or limitations. For example, maybe you don’t have the resources to guest blog on a regular basis.
It’s Time To Rethink Your Off-Page SEO Strategy
Many websites have an excellent on-page SEO strategy. However, that’s only half of an excellent SEO strategy. Link building, backlinks, and technical optimization are all part of what helps your website rank highly.
Think about which off-page strategies are most valuable to your website. Remember that some strategies are more doable on your own than others. When the tasks clearly go beyond your ability to execute them, it’s wise to work with a reputable digital marketing firm.
To learn more about improving your off-page SEO strategy, contact Dreamscape Marketing for digital marketing services today at 888.307.7304. We have the SEO knowledge and experience to take your website to the next level of Google ranking.