Off-Page Optimization
Off-Page Optimization
As I mentioned in the introduction, there are essentially
two parts to any SEO effort: on-page
optimization and off-page
optimization. Off-page optimization is even more powerful than on-page
optimization when it comes to increasing your search engine results on Google.
In my experience, about 85 percent of your results are directly correlated to
off-page optimization.
In fact, after years of consulting for large companies, I’ve
proven that it’s possible to achieve positive results without actually applying
on-page optimization if using off-page techniques properly. However, going down
the path of skipping on-page optimization is a difficult one. Achieving the
results you want will take much longer and require a lot more work. Always
begin your search engine optimization with on-page optimization to expedite
results.
Now that
we’ve discussed the importance of starting with on-page optimization, it’s time
to focus on the next step of any effective SEO campaign—off-page optimization.
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| off page optimization 2018 |
What Is Off-Page Optimization?
In its simplest form, off-page optimization can be referred
to as increasing a website’s popularity. This popularity is defined by the
number and types of websites that link to a given website or URL. I also like
to think of off-page optimization as what you do on the Internet, not directly on your website, to improve
search engine result placements.
The best part of off-page optimization is that there are a
handful of proven techniques you can start using today to improve your SERPs on
the world’s largest search engine.
Off-page optimization
is the most important SEO strategy for those seeking number one placement on
Google. The fastest and most effective way to achieve this goal is by
developing quality links to your website. When I refer to “quality,” I’m
referring to links from sites that:
•
Have an equivalent or higher Google PR than your
site
•
Include similar content to your web page
•
Use related meta tags
• Come
from diverse sources • Have a large
number of quality sites linking to them!
Even more important than the what (quality websites) is the how.
Specifically, how these quality websites link to you is an essential key to
Google dominance.
Link Types
Before going any further, let me explain the various link
types. There are really only three types of links you need to know about: one-way links, reciprocal links, and three-way
links.
•
One-way
links. These are links from a website that is not your own. Also referred
to as third-party websites, these sites place a link from one or more of their
web pages to your website.
Google values one-way links above
all else. One-way links are incredibly powerful (if they’re quality links)
because you are receiving a vote from an independent third party.
•
Reciprocal
links. When you exchange links with another website, commonly referred to
as swapping links, you’re providing a
link to their site (from your own) in exchange for a link from their website to
yours. Reciprocal links are valuable, but not as valuable as one-way links.
•
Three-way
links. Three-way linking is when you partner with another website (site B)
and provide a link from your site
(site A) to their site. In turn, they provide a link from
another site they own (site C) back to your site.
From Which Sites Should You Be Getting Links?
Now that you know the importance of links, the first
question you must ask is where you should be getting links from. There are a
variety of strategies to apply here.
The most effective way to identify the “right” sites to get
links from should be based on who is linking to your competition, which is
defined by who outranks you on Google for your identified search term. This is
a very important strategy and one that is frequently overlooked. You should be
evaluating who links to the number one search result in Google for the keywords
or keyword phrases you’re optimizing for and try to acquire links from the same
websites.
Did you know?
If you
get the same sites to link to your site in the right way, and you’ve optimized
your site properly, in time you will outrank your competition on Google for the
same given keyword phrase.
Many methods help you determine which sites are linking to
the number one result in Google for the keyword phrase you’re targeting. Begin
by identifying which site is in the first position for your search term. You
can do this by visiting Google and typing in your search term. Record the URL
of the number one search result. Once you’ve identified this site, do one of
the following:
•
Google
search. Go to Google.com and type in the following: Link: www.rsplatform.net and
press the return key. Then, replace the phrase, “rsplatform”
with the name of the site you’ve identified as having the number one position
on Google for your search term.
The result will be a series of
sites linking to your competitor. The only downside to this method is that you
won’t know which sites are more important than others (e.g., the number of
links linking into those sites, Google PR, keyword content on pages, etc.), but
it will certainly identify the sites you need to target for link-building
purposes.
•
Alexa.
Go to http://www.Alexa.com and type in the name
of the site you’re researching. Alexa.com is a tool used to measure the
popularity of sites based on the browsing activity of those who have downloaded
the Alexa toolbar. Because not everyone uses the Alexa toolbar, the information
is only directionally correct but provides a reasonable starting point as well
as additional websites you can target with your link-building campaign.
Once you get the
resultant websites, you’ll see a number of options listed for each one. To the
right of your competitor’s website thumbnail image, click Sites Linking In. This option returns a list of sites that Alexa
has identified as linking into the site you’re researching. Use this list to
target sites for link building.
•
Online
SEO tools. I have found that using online marketing tools to automatically
generate a list of sites linking into your competitor’s website, as well as
link details such as Google PR, link text, page title, and so on, can be the
most effective way to generate a list of targeted sites for your link-development
efforts.
I’ve personally bought and used
about a dozen different products to help me keep an eye on my competition and,
more importantly build an effective linking campaign. I regularly use SEO
software because in less than thirty seconds, I know exactly which sites are
linking to the number one positioned website for my target phrase and receive
information that helps me prioritize my efforts like the Page Rank of each
inbound link and domain age. You can learn more about the software packages I
use at mySEOmadesimiple.com but keep in mind that using online SEO tools aren’t
always necessary. You can often accomplish the same outcome without purchasing
SEO software. However, these tools save you a significant amount of effort,
reducing the time required for acquiring in-depth link-building information.
You can use whatever
SEO or link analysis software you want as long as it provides you a list of
sites linking into your competitors and a way to prioritize that list. If
you start to develop links from the highest quality sites first, your climb to
the number one spot on Google will happen that much faster.
•
Identify
authority websites. Authority
websites are those sites linking to three or more of your competitors. If you
don’t have a SEO tool at your disposal, you can accomplish this manually using
the following method:
1. Search
for competitive sites by visiting Google and searching for your most important
search term.
2. Create
a spreadsheet of the top one hundred sites “linking in” to each of your top
five competitors (Microsoft Excel is a good tool for this).
3. Sort
alphabetically.
4. While
looking at the list see if any of the website URLs are duplicated across your
list or use the “find” function. If the site appears two or more times,
highlight it. 5. Once you’ve developed your list of authoritative
sites, visit each one to determine how your competitors are listed and how you
can acquire a link to your website.
How to Get Links to Your Website
As I mentioned earlier, building links to your website is
the most important aspect of improving your Google search results—bar none! It
also provides a significant boost to improving your search engine result
placements on other search engines like Yahoo! and BING.
When I started out, I never realized just how important
inbound links were to Google or how to acquire quality links to my website in
the right way. As a result I spent thousands of dollars, not to mention years
of trial and error, to figure out that the more quality inbound links I
developed, including my keywords in the anchor text, the higher I’d get listed
on Google.
When thinking about acquiring inbound links, and those links
pointing to your website from other websites, there are two key principles to
keep in mind.
Principle #1: Quality attracts quality. When it comes
to search engine optimization, if you take the time to do things right the
first time, you will achieve your goal. An example of this would be the process
of asking a related website for a link that includes your keyword phrase(s). If
you send a form letter or brief email and ask for a link exchange, you probably
won’t get it. However, if you take a few minutes to look at the website you’re
targeting and identify an opportunity to deliver something of sufficient
quality (content, reciprocal link, etc.) you’ll likely receive what you’re
looking for.
Principle #2: Persistence pays off. As I teach you the techniques I’ve used to
rank number one on Google for even the most competitive phrases, think back to
this principle again and again. Persistence is the key for achieving your
desired result. A great example of this is some work I was doing for an online
service company. After analyzing their website and suggesting some changes, I
quickly realized that my on-page optimization recommendations would never be
implemented—largely due to a bureaucratic web development team and their
inability to handle multiple projects simultaneously. Over time I have found
this situation to be more the norm than the exception.
Despite an inability to implement my on-page suggestions, I
moved forward coaching the marketing staff of this company on the off-page
optimization techniques for improving Google search engine result placements.
They immediately started implementing these techniques on a regular basis to
help their site increase rankings for specific search terms.
Truthfully, nothing happened for about eight weeks…and then
WHAM! The techniques they used for building links to their website took hold
and the results were undeniable. One of the keyword phrases that was most
important to them went from the bottom of page 2 on Google to the number six
position—even without the benefit of on-page optimization.
Today, everyone is looking for a quick fix. When it comes to
SEO, there are a number of quick fixes out there. These concepts are often
referred to as black hat techniques
and more often than not, they result in getting your website banned from all
the major search engines. Achieving top search engine placements is like losing
weight. If you go on a starvation diet, sooner or later you’re going to gain
back all the weight you’ve lost and then some.
On the other
hand, change you’re eating and exercise habits slowly over time and you can
create lasting health. The same principle applies here. Develop your links with
a focus on quality, quantity, and diversity. Once you achieve top placements,
you’re likely to stay there with little additional effort. Be persistent and
you will achieve lasting results!
SEO Made Simple Off-Page Techniques
Let’s jump right into it. All of these off-page optimization
techniques will help improve your Google SERPs through link building, the most
effective search engine optimization strategy available today. The more you use
these link-building techniques, the faster you’ll see results. Don’t
hesitate—start using these off-page optimization techniques immediately to
build quality links to your website and watch your Google search engine results
start the climb to the number one position.
Article Marketing
Article marketing is the practice of writing informational
articles within a given subject area and distributing your articles to
information-hungry websites across the web. A number of article distribution
sites will distribute your articles to webmasters seeking content. This is done
by registering with an article directory, adding your article to the relevant
category on their site, and submitting it for review.
Once the article has been reviewed and approved, it is
posted on their website for webmasters to copy and paste onto their own
websites. You leverage this SEO Made Simple method by including a
link back to your website in the About
the Author section using the proper link text (which includes your keyword
phrase[s]).
Place Free Articles on Your Website with Reprint Rights
Another way to optimize your own content is to post your
authored articles on your own website with reprint instructions (I suggest
doing this before submitting to article directories). This allows your website
browsers to repurpose your content under specific terms and conditions and
search engines to recognize you as the original author—a very important step
for improving search engine rankings.
Link Exchanges/Link Requests
One of the fastest ways to build links to your website, and
therefore link popularity, is through reciprocal
linking. As we discussed in an earlier section, there are essentially three
types of links: one-way, reciprocal, and three-way. One-way links are the links
you acquire that point directly to your site. We are discussing a number of
methods for acquiring one-way links, such as article marketing, because they
are often the most powerful type of link you can acquire. Reciprocal links are
created when two websites agree to link to each other. Reciprocal links are
also known as link swaps, link exchanges,
and link partners. When I was first
starting out in search engine optimization I used reciprocal linking to
establish a number of quality links to my website.
The challenge here is that a reciprocal link is really only
valuable if the Google PR of the site that’s linking to you is greater or equal
to the Google PR of your own website. That’s not to say that links from sites
with a low PR don’t provide value. In fact, when you’re starting out, every
inbound link with a Google PR greater than zero helps!
In the last couple of years, basic reciprocal linking has
fallen out of favor. Although I don’t necessarily agree that there’s no value
in a link exchange, I do believe that you need to use a combination of
link-building strategies if you ever wish to achieve top search engine
placements for your desired keyword phrases.
Directory Submission
If you’re going to own and operate a website, you must take
the time to submit your website to well-established website directories. There
are tons of websites out there called website directories that list other
websites and website details. Directory submission is a great way to generate
hundreds of one-way links to your website.
Some directories may charge you to be listed in their
directory of sites. This fee is often used to pay an editorial staff to review
and post your listing, but it may also serve as the price of getting your link
posted on a website that has an established Google PR. In essence, you’re
buying page rank. The one thing to keep in mind is that Google reportedly
penalizes “paid links.” As a result, you want to limit the number of links you
acquire through paid directories.
Blogging
Blogging provides SEO value from two distinct vantage
points. By now you know about blogging and maybe even have a blog of your own.
From a search engine optimization perspective, having your own blog provides a
significant boost to your SEO efforts over time. I’ll also show you how to
leverage other people’s blogs to build inbound links and increase your search
engine rankings.
Let’s begin our review of how to use blogs for SEO purposes
by talking about setting up your own blog. Although creating your own blog
isn’t necessary, it does have a number of benefits that can’t be overlooked.
Once you create your own blog and that blog earns a positive Google PR, you can
start adding links and passing authority to any site you choose. For example, a
number of years ago, I started “The Marketing Blog,” which is now ranked number
one on Google for the term “Marketing Blog.” Anytime I launch a new website or
want to give a client some extra link juice, I simply make a post to the
third-party website. Essentially, by creating your own blog you are developing
an authoritative resource you can use to pass authority and value to any site
you are optimizing! This is a great long-term strategy that comes in handy when
you want to quickly increase the rankings of new websites you are trying to get
to the top of search result listings.
A number of
years ago, after hearing about the popularity of blogs and learning about the
multiple benefits of creating one, I set out to start my own blog. By doing
some research, I found a number of popular websites that actually let you
create and host your blog for free. What’s even better is that the process of
creating your blog is incredibly fast and easy. I suppose that’s why blogging
has become so popular.
Social Bookmarks
Social bookmarking is a way for Internet users to store,
classify, share, and search Internet
bookmarks. A number of years ago, social bookmarking sites such as Del.icio.us, Diigo, Furl,
Ma.gnolia, Netvouz, and StumbleUpon became popular. Soon
thereafter, sites like Reddit,
Digg, and Newsvine began applying social bookmarking to news
items, and now the concept of bookmarking is pervasive throughout the Internet.
Many years later, the process of social bookmarking is alive and well. The
concept itself is similar to “social media,” but doesn’t have the same level of
flexibility or scope.
In simple terms, social bookmarking is a way of tagging
content on the web (news, articles, web pages, etc.) for easy referencing by
yourself and others who may be tagging the same content. This is very similar to
using a bookmark when reading your favorite novel. The purpose is to make it
easy to get back to where you left off or identify content you deem important.
Social bookmarking works in much the same way. The only real difference is the
social component—others can see your bookmarks and you can see theirs.
You can use social bookmarks in a variety of ways to build
inbound links to your website and, therefore, improve your overall site
popularity and Google SERPs. What I personally like about social bookmarking is
it’s easy to do and very similar to other optimization methods I use.
RSS Feeds
Syndicating your own website content is a great way to
provide information to your readers with little or no effort. Using an RSS
feed, your updated content is delivered to individuals who have subscribed to
your feed automatically and can include links back to your website and reprint
instructions (remember, it’s all about the links!).
RSS is a simple XML-based system that allows users to
subscribe to their favorite websites. Using RSS, webmasters can put their
content into a standard format that can be viewed and organized through RSS
software or automatically conveyed as new content on another website.
Forum Marketing
The Internet is an amazing place. If you have a question,
about anything, you can usually find the answer online. This is especially true
when it comes to search engine optimization, pay-per-click, and other forms of
online marketing. In fact, when searching for an answer to a question via
Google or any search engine, you’re bound to find a listing for a blog post or
forum post. Forums are essentially large communities where similar minded
people share ideas, ask questions, and answer them too.
Forums have been around a long time. In fact, if you visit www.big-boards.com,
you’ll find thousands of forums listed. Many of these forums have tens of
thousands of members. These communities are large and provide the type of
interaction you need to answer any question on a particular topic. Forums have
become so popular that I launched my own forum (Internet Marketing Forum) on my
MarketingScoop.com website. You can find a link to the forum on my secret page
or just Google “Internet marketing forum.”
Getting Authority Links: Profile Sites
I actually learned about high authority profile sites by
accident. In fact, if it weren’t for my need to experiment, I’d likely have
overlooked this effective SEO technique and never had the opportunity to share
it with you in this book.
For a time I focused a lot of my energy on affiliate
marketing. Even today I make a nice residual income with niche websites where I
earn a commission each time a product or service is sold. A couple of years ago
I started searching for new ways to sell my own products and generate traffic
to my niche websites. In short order, I stumbled upon a forum that included
“special offers” from other Internet marketers. I liked the idea so much that I
even added this feature to my marketing forum! One of the special offers had to
do with a list of high PR websites where you could leave a link back to your
website.
Social Media Sites (including video)
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few
years, it’s hard to ignore social media. It seems that every day existing
social media sites are getting larger and new ones are cropping up all over the
place. This popularity is driven by the viral nature of social media. You
invite your friends, they invite their friends, and before you know it, the
whole world is connected.
I’ve been participating in social media for a long time. A
number of social media sites have come and gone over the years, but some
continue to dominate the social media space. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are
the leading contenders. Google and other search engines are putting their
social media spin on things too and it’s just a matter of time before their
social networks are a large part of the mix.
YouTube
Begin by
creating an account. Once you register, you’ll have a number of options
available to you. Click on your username and select “Account.” If you click on
“Profile Setup” in the left margin, you’ll see a place to enter your URL. In
addition, each time you upload a video, you can enter a description. When writing
your descriptions, always start with your URL in the beginning. Doing so makes
the link visible and active.
One of the best ways to promote your video and, therefore,
your link, is to tell others about it. YouTube has a subscribe option so once
you learn more about YouTube and create a “channel,” you can drive your
visitors directly to your videos. Once there, visitors can take advantage of a
number of rating options. You can also customize your channel with various
features including comments, subscribers, and so on.
YouTube videos are ranked by the number of subscribers,
“Likes,” and comments. Whenever you produce a video, send a link to your list,
post a link to the video on your site, and encourage users to comment. This can
help your ranking in Youtube and may encourage third-party websites to embed
the video directly into their content. Sharing and embedding videos means more
links to the video itself, which in turn creates more link juice. Over time the
number and quality of links pointing to your site, through your Youtube link,
gain authority which helps your rankings.
If you’ve never created a YouTube video, don’t despair.
There is a great deal of quality video on YouTube and Vimeo that show you
simple ways of creating professional looking videos. Spend some time learning
the art of video making or just use your webcam. Publishing videos is
relatively easy and video production doesn’t need to be complicated. Once you
know how to produce a simple video, you can fuel your link-building efforts in
a powerful way.
Social media can be a great way to build quality third-party
links that add value to your own website or blog by passing link authority to
your digital assets. If you aren’t actively engaged with social media, get
started today. The sooner you become active with social media the faster you
build authority and the more value you create for SEO.
Google Places (a.k.a. “Local”)
Any SEO guide would be remiss if not mentioning Google
Local. Google’s localization strategy is in full force and seems to be
integrated into more and more search results. Most people don’t fully
understand Google Places or realize how they can use “Local” to achieve first
place listings and top placements.
The first step is to register for a Google Places account.
Start by going to places.google.com and registering. When you do, complete as
much information in your profile as possible. The key to showing at the top of
a local search results isn’t necessarily distance or an alphabetical listing.
Google is searching for relevance.
Relevance is created with a comprehensive description of the
services you offer. Even if you’re an online business, you should be developing
a Google Places profile and providing as much information as possible.
Additionally, you’ll want to take advantage of all the features provided by
Google Places. This includes the ability to add photos, reviews, and videos.
Google also allows you, using the Google Tags option, to provide special offers
or coupons to those who visit your profile.
To optimize your Google Places profile, add as much content
as possible. Repurpose videos you’ve created—no matter how basic. Add photos of
your business. If your business is simply online, then add photos of your
products, screenshots of your website, or any other pictures that are relevant
to your business. The final step is soliciting reviews.
Online reviews are driving the Internet. Look
Give People a Reason to Link to Your Website
One of the best ways to attract one-way links to your
website is to promote free content, such as news or articles, white papers,
free tools, and so on, via your own website or blog. This is the inverse of the
link-building strategy we’ve been discussing where you actually push content to
other websites or blogs. Using this strategy, you are creating valuable content
and subscribing to that old adage, “If you build it, they will come.” It might
sound cliché, but thanks to social media and the web, you can attract users to
your website (and links) by having something of value to offer. If you provide
something of value, other websites will start linking to you, giving one-way
links that can dramatically improve your search engine results.
Outsourcing
After many years of creating content, optimizing websites,
and spending countless hours building links to my many websites and blogs, a
good friend and Internet guru turned me on the concept of outsourcing.
Personally, I never really trusted anyone with my web properties or SEO and
still tread lightly. However, over the past couple of years I have found a
couple of good outsourcing partners that I use to support the search engine
optimization of my own websites and blogs – and so can you.
The concept of outsourcing is simple. Find resources to do
repetitive or time-consuming tasks at a low cost. While they are focusing on
“getting it done,” you can focus on new projects, revenue-generating
activities, and other work.
I used to think that outsourcing was only for large
companies. To be honest I had many false perceptions about outsourcing and the
types of individuals that support outsourcing-related jobs. The reality is that
you can find a number of highly qualified, intelligent individuals who are
willing to complete work at a much lower cost than it would be in your own
country. I’ve used freelancers in India, Sweden, and the Philippines for
programming, link building, and administrative tasks.
Whether you are working on a single website or twenty, I
recommend learning more about the opportunity to outsource specific tasks.
There are a variety of resources that allow you to find just the right person
to support your SEO. My personal favorites are oDesk, eLance, and UpwardSEO.com.
There are many others available such as Getafreelancer.com and Guru.com but I’m
partial to the first few because of their size and my personal experience with
them.
Caution: Automated Tools, Shortcuts, and Other SEO Blunders!
Now that I’ve shared the link-building methods I’ve used to
successfully achieve top search engine rankings, and build a number of online
businesses, I thought I’d cover some of the do’s and do not’s you should
consider when implementing any search engine optimization campaign.
For starters, let me remind you that this is a marathon not
a sprint. This is something I’ve shared with all of my consulting clients who
either expect instant results or don’t have a full grasp on how search engine optimization
works.
If you want page one listings in twenty-four hours, I can do
that for you. All I would need to do is find a keyword phrase that isn’t all
that competitive and shows listings for press releases, articles, or social
media on page one of Google. Then I’d put a link on my high authority blog with
the keyword in the title or send out a press release from a site that already
displays a result on page one. But what’s the point? Once indexed, the
corresponding listing will be there for three to five hours and then vanish as
quickly as it arrived. SEO is not about creating a flash in the pan but rather
applying search engine optimization best practices that result in top rankings
that last with little or no maintenance. If you can accomplish that goal,
everyone wins.
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