7 Actionable Ways to Improve Your Off-Site SEO

Do you want to learn how to get your website noticed by more people? If so, you're in the right place!

While optimizing your website's content (on-page SEO) is crucial, what you do off your website plays an equally vital role in how search engines like Google perceive your site and, ultimately, how high you rank.

For context, about 50% of all shoppers start their journey to find a new product on Google. This means that if your site isn't visible, you're missing out on a chance to connect with your audience.

You're going to want to optimize for off-page SEO if you want to improve awareness and engagement. However, creating awesome content that captures people's attention involves a lot of planning and hard work. Luckily, with the right strategies, you can pull this off with ease.

Today, I'll share some of the best off-page SEO strategies I've used over the years to improve our brand's authority and visibility. You'll also find actionable tips that you can start using to build a stronger online presence as soon as you're done here.

Let's dive in!

What Exactly is Off-Page SEO?

First, let's start with a definition so we are on the same page.

Off-page SEO includes all actions taken beyond your own website that affect your rankings within search engine results pages (SERPs).

The primary goal is to build your website's reputation, authority, and perceived importance across the wider internet.

When most people think of off-page SEO, they think of building backlinks. While this is undoubtedly a part of the process, it also includes things like brand mentions, social media signals, online reviews, and influencer marketing.

Building a strong off-page strategy will help you build a strong digital footprint that signals to search engines that your brand is valuable, trustworthy, and authoritative resource worth showing to others.

Benefits of Optimizing for Off-Site SEO

Before we start talking about strategies, it's important to know the benefits that come along with building an off-page SEO strategy. Here are a few of the key advantages you can expect:

Improved Search Engine Rankings - This is often the primary goal. When search engines see other reputable websites linking to yours and your brand being mentioned positively across the web, they interpret these as signals of trust and authority. The result is higher rankings for your target keywords, which makes it easier for prospects to find you.
Increased Website Visibility and Traffic - Higher rankings naturally lead to increased visibility in search results. Furthermore, off-page activities like guest blogging, social media engagement, and influencer collaborations can drive direct referral traffic to your site from multiple sources, which means more opportunities to connect with people.
Brand Authority and Credibility - Off-page SEO is fundamentally about building your website's reputation. When other well-known brands talk about you, it lends credibility. This authority can help you build trust with potential customers and search engines.
Boost Brand Awareness - Every quality backlink, social media share, or online mention contributes to your brand's overall visibility. The more places your brand is seen in relevant contexts, the more familiar it becomes to your target audience, which can improve recognition and recall.
Improved E-E-A-T Signals - Google's E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) guidelines are crucial for content quality assessment. Off-page signals directly contribute to how Google perceives your E-E-A-T, which can affect how your site ranks in the search engine.

7 Off-Page SEO Strategies You Can Start Using Today

Now that we understand why off-page SEO is so important let's dive in and talk about some actionable strategies that have helped us grow 15+ brands over the last 10 years.

1. Start Guest Blogging

Sending well-written articles to other websites or blogs within your niche is a powerful way to improve your reputation and search position. This strategy, known as guest blogging, exposes your brand and expertise to a broad audience and also helps you build valuable backlinks to your site.

It's also worth mentioning that this is an excellent way to build relationships with other key players and thought leaders in your industry.

Getting started with guest blogging takes time, but it's easier than you might think. First, you'll want to identify blogs or websites in your field that accept guest contributions. You can find these by looking for "write for us" or "guest contributor" pages.

Next, you'll want to write a compelling pitch that highlights a high-quality article idea tailored to their audience, focusing on delivering genuine value rather than obvious self-promotion.

Once they confirm the topic, you can get started and write an amazing guest post that gets your brand noticed.

2. Get Involved in Online Communities & Forums

Engaging genuinely in online communities, forums (such as specific subreddits or Quora threads), and social media groups where your target audience congregates can have a massive impact on your off-page SEO.

This strategy helps establish your expertise, build brand awareness, and drive referral traffic. While directly dropping links is often discouraged and can be seen as spammy, providing consistently helpful contributions and valuable insights can lead to organic mentions and opportunities to include a link in your profile.

The key is to identify communities where your ideal customers are active, listen to their conversations, and answer questions thoughtfully so people will see that you genuinely want to offer value, regardless of whether they actually visit your site.

3. Use Social Media for Visibility and Trust Signals

If you want to build a successful SEO strategy, you'll want to do a few things on social media, like;

Sharing your content or your partners' content
Engage with your audience
Build a community
Find ways to help people in your industry

While it's true that social media shares might not carry the same direct ranking weight as backlinks, they play a crucial role in boosting visibility, driving traffic, and creating opportunities for link acquisition.

Strong social signals can also indirectly influence how search engines "see" your brand, which, as you can imagine, has an impact on ranking.

If you want to make the most of this strategy, identify sites where your target audience is most active. Consistently share your blog posts, offer valuable tips, and participate in relevant conversations.

Here's an example we shared to show the changes coming to WordPress in the next update, because we know this topic matters to our readers:\

Image Source: LinkedIn

It's also a good idea to use appropriate hashtags so you can increase the discoverability of your content. It's worth noting that, according to some studies, link-builders who incorporate social media into their outreach typically see a higher link-building rate.

4. Encourage and Showcase Online Reviews

It's also super important to convince customers to leave reviews on relevant platforms like Google My Business, Yelp, or other review sites, since this is a great way to improve your visibility and off-page SEO.

Positive reviews build immense trust and credibility, which we've established are crucial for both potential customers and search engines. When you also consider that over 70% of online shoppers check for reviews before buying a product, it's clear that there is a lot of value here for businesses across all industries.

With this in mind, you'll want to make it easy for your customers to leave reviews by providing direct links or sending polite follow-up requests after a customer makes a purchase. It's also crucial to monitor review sites and respond professionally to all feedback, so people know you're listening and want to offer the best experience possible.

You can even take these reviews and put them on your website to get even more value from them, which you can see at the bottom of this page from Wholesale Suite:

Image Source: Wholesale Suite

5. Influencer Collaborations

Partnering with influential individuals or content creators within your niche is a great way to promote your content, product, or service.

Influencers often command a large and engaged audience, and a recommendation or mention from a trusted voice can drive significant traffic and quickly build brand credibility.

To get started, identify influencers whose audience aligns with yours. Approach them with a clear proposal where you'll both benefit from collaborating. This could be in the form of a sponsored post, an honest product review, a joint webinar, or a guest appearance on their podcast.

In some cases, one-off influencer partnerships can turn into long-term arrangements where you work together to improve traffic and engagement with new projects.

6. Content Syndication

Content syndication involves republishing your existing valuable content on other, often larger, platforms or publications.

This strategy can expose your work to a much wider audience than your own website might currently reach, which will drive traffic back to your site and build brand authority.

When pursuing syndication, identify authoritative platforms in your niche that accept such content, such as Medium, LinkedIn Articles, or relevant industry-specific online magazines.

Once you've identified the platform, make sure to include a canonical link in your post that points back to the original article on your site. This tells search engines which version is original and helps avoid potential duplicate content issues.

My last piece of advice here is to always focus on quality platforms that will enhance your brand's reputation.

7. Create Link-Worthy Free Resources

Developing valuable resources that people in your industry would find genuinely useful, such as free e-books, comprehensive guides, practical templates, checklists, or unique online tools, is an excellent way to attract natural backlinks.

These high-quality, free tools are highly shareable and tend to be linked to by other websites and bloggers who find them valuable for their own audiences.

This strategy is a fantastic way to build authority and earn organic links over time. If you want to implement this yourself, identify a common pain point or a significant need within your target audience.

Then, create a high-value resource that effectively addresses it. Promote this resource prominently on your website, through your social media channels, and via outreach to relevant communities and influencers.

We've done this on one of our sites by creating a free headline analyzer for content marketers:

Image Source: OptinMonster

How to Track Your Off-Page SEO Wins

Measuring the impact of your off-page SEO is super important for understanding what's working and where you can improve. While some benefits are less tangible (like brand awareness), others can be tracked more easily.

Here are a few you should know:

Monitor Backlink Profile Growth - Use tools like Google Search Console to track the quality and total number of backlinks so you can see how many people are linking back to your brand.
Track Referral Traffic - Use Google Analytics to see how much traffic is coming to your site from other websites. This can help you understand the effectiveness of your linking and PR strategy.
Monitor Keyword Rankings - Track your rankings for target keywords in search engines. While many factors influence rankings, improvements after implementing off-page strategies can be a positive indicator.
Check Brand Mentions - Set up Google Alerts or use social listening tools to find and monitor mentions of your brand name online. This can help you understand brand awareness and sentiment and identify opportunities for engagement or link acquisition.
Analyze Social Media Engagement - Track likes, shares, comments, and reach on your social media posts, especially those promoting your content. Increased engagement can indirectly help you climb through the SERPs.
Website Authority Scores - While not direct Google metrics, tools often provide Domain Authority or Domain Rating scores. Monitor these for a general sense of your site's perceived authority, but don't rely on them solely.

Final Thoughts

Building a strong off-page SEO presence is not a one-time task but something you'll be working on for years to come. Even after 10+ years in the industry, I'm still learning new things every day.

This is, in part, because technology and algorithms are constantly evolving. With this in mind, it's crucial to stay adaptable and consistently work on creating valuable content and building genuine relationships online.

By using some of the strategies I've discussed today, you can significantly boost your website's visibility, attract more targeted traffic, and build authority in your industry.