There are hundreds of SEO ranking factors, from ones that are easy to deploy and control to ones that are subtle and may only have a small effect on where your site lands on Google. However, all of these factors can be summed up in two categories: onpage SEO and offpage SEO. If you’re in the process of trying to revamp your search engine marketing strategy, you may be wondering what the difference between onpage and offpage SEO is.
Identifying the Difference Between Onpage and Offpage SEO
Let’s start with some definitions:
- Onpage SEO refers to anything that a webmaster can do to a website directly to increase rankings
- Offpage SEO refers to any signal coming from a different place on the web that affects the site’s rankings
Between the two, onpage SEO factors are easier to identify and manipulate. These factors are fairly straightforward. Offpage SEO factors require some onsite preparation and thought, but are much more difficult to control.
Onpage SEO Factors
Have you ever heard the phrase “content is king?” It’s a popular one in the SEO world. The content that you publish on your website strongly influences what you rank for and where on the page you’re ranking for it. Content needs to do a few different things. First, it should be relevant to your site and your industry. For example, if you own an addiction treatment facility, you don’t want to be creating posts about dentistry to try to rank on more pages. It doesn’t make sense for your site or for Google, and they’ll penalize you for it. Your content should also help searchers answer a common query about your industry.
Site and URL structure are also big onpage SEO factors. The structure of the site tells Google how to navigate through pages. Choosing URLs and a hierarchy that’s logical and easy to follow is great for both user experience and for bots. Internal linking connects with site structure as well. A good internal linking strategy (linking to other pages on the site) shows Google which pages are connected and helps it to more quickly and easily find related pages.
Another onpage SEO factor that people may not consider because you technically don’t see it on the page is HTML. There are many HTML elements that go into a successful website, including schema and header tags. These help Google to understand more of what the site is doing and trying to say.
Offpage SEO
Offpage SEO factors can be a little harder to pin down since the webmaster doesn’t have direct access to implement these. While it’s possible to have influence over offpage factors, most times it’s not possible to truly control them.
Getting backlinks from other sites to your site is one of the biggest offpage SEO factors. Doing so can take some serious work, though. Google strongly frowns upon buying these links from other sites and will penalize you if you do so. Instead, it’s important to build relationships with companies that complement yours. For example, if you run an addiction treatment center that doesn’t offer detox, you might work with a detox facility to swap links. Alternately, you may have your website mentioned in an article relevant to your industry or your facility. Either way, link building takes strategy and time.
Social reputation works much the same way. You need people to share your content and talk about you on social media in order to build up a good reputation. There’s no good way to manipulate this. The best you can do is share, share, share and build your following to increase your reputation as well as your site engagement.
Site authority is another offpage SEO factor. In order for your site to have authority, it needs to have been around for a while. You can’t trick Google into thinking your site has been around for longer than it has so this one simply comes with time. Other factors that influence authority include consistent posting, relevant content, and click through rate.
Putting All the SEO Factors to Work
While the difference between onpage and offpage SEO is easy to pinpoint, it’s not so easy to implement either strategy on your site. SEO takes time, dedication and a strong knowledge of what Google wants. While you may not have the resources to allocate towards it, Dreamscape Marketing does. We follow trends and consistently implement new strategies to stay at the forefront of digital marketing knowledge. We offer the following services across a variety of industries:
- Addiction treatment center SEO campaign
- Dental practice SEO campaign
- Local business SEO campaign
- Non-profit SEO campaign
- Senior living community SEO campaign
To learn more about the difference between onpage and offpage SEO or to get started with your new website and SEO campaign, give us a call today at 888.307.7304.