10 'Must Follow' Off-page SEO Techniques For 2024

Table of Contents

Off-page SEO techniques, also known as off-site SEO techniques is another method to gather more web traffic and boost the ranking of your website in the SERPs (Search Engine Ranking Pages).

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Off-page SEO techniques are methods used to promote your website across various internet and social media channels. It is not concerned with the web design or the technical aspects of the website.

It takes a long time and considerable effort to get results out of using off-page SEO techniques than on-page SEO techniques. Consistent effort is required to see results over a period of time. Though on-page SEO seems more meaningful, Off-page SEO plays a vital role in relevance, trustworthiness, and authority.

Since Google uses multiple factors to rank websites, according to statistics, off-site SEO carries over half of all the ranking factors.

In this Off-Page SEO guide we have shared some of the best off-page SEO techniques for 2020;

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1.) Article-Submission in SEO

Article Submission is a very popular Off-Page SEO technique wherein you write an article related to your business and publish it on third-party websites. Article submission is employed as a powerful Off-Page SEO Optimisation technique to accomplish quality backlinks to your site or blog.

The main agenda behind article submission is to pull a large number of visitors and link to your site at a very low cost. To enable the effectiveness of this technique, please ensure that only relevant articles are submitted.

Most of the article submission sites allow the insertion of a link directly in your article or blog. This helps you market your goods and services for free.

The main benefits of Article submission in SEO are as follows :

Articles writing can help create backlinks to your blog or website
Submitting good quality articles can increase traffic to your website
It can also help Search Engines to easily find your website and rank it
It is a cost-effective way of website marketing.
An article which is content rich and relevant can help build the trust of potential customers who can be diverted to your website.

Some famous sites where articles can be submitted are as follows :

Some tips to write a good article :

· The article should be insightful and relevant.
· Remember to insert content relevant keywords in the article.
· Article should be short, crisp, and to the point.
· Make the article easy to read by using proper heading, sub-headings, bullet points,
and short sentences in simple language.
· An article should not be submitted in more than one directories as it may cause
duplicity.

2.) Blog Commenting

Blog comments are one of the simplest ways to make your blog interactive.

Blog commenting is an active interaction between blogs, bloggers, and blog readers through comments. It is a great way to express your thoughts and opinions about what you feel for a particular topic or a blog post. The visitor to your blog will leave their comments on your blog which could be an appreciation for your work, it could be criticism or ask questions. The blog author or other readers may reply to these comments.

Blog commenting can make your blog go viral. It fuels conversations on the blog leads to building a relationship between the user and the author. The more the conversation, the more the popularity of the blog.

Besides this, blog comments if used effectively can help you get backlinks on your website and to attract readers to your blog and make it more social.

Virtues of Blog Commenting

It is a good way to share knowledge and express thoughts
Helps blogs go viral
It fuels conversations
Makes blog popular
It is a useful off-site SEO tool
Helps increase Alexa ranking
Increases traffic to the website
Builds relationships between the blog author and the readers
Increases Brand Recognition – Answering questions or commenting on a blog can also drive traffic to your website and you can build a brand for yourself

Some tips for writing a good blog comment:

Greet the author/commentator with a friendly greeting and include their name for personalization.
Heap Sincere Compliments on the blogger and the content. You can actually mention the parts which you liked
Add value to the post by giving your perspective, personal experience or ask a question
The best comments make a promise at the end by telling the author that you will share the post on social media. And when you share the post do tag the blogger and let him know you followed through…

3.) Directory Submissions

Long Long Ago, before Google, people used web directories to search for information.
Directory submission is the practice of submitting your website URL and its details on the web in a directory under a particular category. Directory Submission is an effective Off-Site SEO technique to increase your link building.

You can choose from the various categories on a web directory, for listing your website. So, if your site was about Self Help, you could list your website under the category “Self Help”.

Different types of Directory Submissions are as follows:

Paid or Featured Web Listing: These are Directories sites that charge you for being listed. Listing Approval is quick. This will assist in getting backlinks from this type of submission.
Free or Regular Web Listing: This is a free Directory site. There are no charges to be paid for submission. Listing Approval may take time.
Reciprocal Regular Web Listing: Here, a reciprocal link to the directory site must be posted on your own site when you activate Directory Link, only then the Directory administrator will approve your link.

Why Directory submissions are an important Off-Page SEO technique?

Directory submission is an essential part of Off-page SEO optimization,
Internet users usually do not search these directories but they are surely accessed by search engines. These online directories serve as online citations.
They also bring in traffic and get good quality backlinks. Directory submissions also assist in pushing up your page rank by building authority backlinks. For new bloggers, it is important to do Directory Listing as you will see an upward trend in the rankings of your website.

Some of the best free directory sites are:

Entireweb.com
Viesearch.com
SoMuch.com
LinkCentre.com
A1WebDirectory.org
HighRankDirectory.com
Cipinet.com
SitesWebDirectory.com

Some tips for being careful

Donot submit your website to the wrong or not so relevant subcategory
Donot spam a directory.
Donot provide an incorrect physical address or blog stats in the directory listing.
Beware of sites that expect you to link back or put banners on your site. This may affect your SEO score negatively.

4.) Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the most price effective Off-Page SEO Technique. It is an easy and effective medium to let targeted audience know about your products, services and current offers. Emails can be used to send mailers, newsletters , sign up forms or feedback forms. Personalized and targeted messages can also be sent through email marketing.

Email marketing is a cost-effective, flexible, and fast way to market your products or services.

5.) Influencer Marketing

There are always industry leaders in your niche and you will see that they have a lot of followers who look for advice and recommendations from them.

It would be a great Off-Site SEO technique to reach out to the influencers in your industry. Do let them know about your products, services, and contests. You can also send free samples to try. Do encourage these people to share your content pieces with their followers.

Some influencer marketers will charge you for recommendations based on the number of followers that they have. These are strategic partnerships that are mutually beneficial. They will get you more exposure to the right audience.

6.) Forum Posting / Question And Answer Sites6

Whenever people have questions regarding off-page SEO techniques, they go to forums such as Quora and post questions.
Web forums are online bulletin boards where users post questions that they need answers from.
Some popular Q&A forums are Quora, Yahoo Answers, etc. It would be a good Off-Page SEO practice to try and answer questions on these web forums if you are a blogger or a subject matter expert.
If you are blogging for a company, it would be good to start a forum on the company website. The forums will gain customer credibility as the forum members recognize the company’s effort to reach out to the public.
The forum on your site will not only increase your web presence but also strengthen your online brand identity. It also will establish you as a credible and trusted source of information in your niche or industry.

Some tips for using web forums:

Do not forget to insert a link to your blog or profile in the answer. The links inserted need to be relevant to the topics else you will soon lose members’ trust.
If you do not have relevant links, simply don’t put it.

Many Plug-ins are available for WordPress to create these forums. Some popular ones being

DW Question & Answer
AnsPress
CM Answers
bbPress
BuddyPress
- Answers
Stack Exchange

In order to diversify your link profile, using Q&A sites as a method of building links would be a good off-page SEO technique. As an Off-page SEO tool, using these forums can be very effective. As a blogger, it is important to have an account on such sites. Good practice would be to go and answer questions on the subjects of your expertise and the topics. Also, don’t forget to leave your website link in the answer either in the middle or at the end of your article. Always remember to use Q&A sites with relatively high Alexa rankings.

7.) Guest Blogging

Guest Posting or Blogging essentially means publishing your article/blog on some other blogger’s website or on another company’s site.

Essential reasons why blog posting as off-page SEO tool helps :
-It helps build good relationships with other bloggers. Every blogger wants good content on his blog or site. So if you are creating good content, you could be invited to publish on another blogger’s site.

This also helps you partner with other bloggers and drive traffic to your own blog. It is also a good opportunity to make friends with other bloggers. Since it is the bloggers that drive maximum conversations on the internet through various social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, having blogger friends will increase your influence in the social media world.

The host blogger should include a link to your own blog. These backlinks will, over a period of time, make your blog valuable to search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing, thereby making your blog easily discoverable.

By posting your blog in a fellow blogger’s website/blog, you will get an opportunity to reach out to a newer audience and help connect with more people. If you add value to the host blogger’s site, you will soon gain the respect to the already established community. You will soon gain more readers, fans, and followers. You need to add value and wait patiently to get returns. If you act in an aggressive way, trying to sell your own products or services, you maybe gain a bad reputation.

Alternatively, you can also invite guest bloggers to write for you and increase readership for your own blog. Everyone likes a good read! It is a mutually beneficial relationship where SEO bloggers post on each other’s sites.

According to some of the search engine gurus, when it comes to SEO, posting guest blogs on other sites is five times more valuable than creating new content on your own site. (Please ensure there is a backlink.)
For A budding writer, guest blogging is a great first step to getting your writing published on news sites, magazines, and other publications.

Guest posting is one of the most effective off-site SEO techniques and by far the most crucial strategy for building your blog readership and platform.
Huge domains such as Wikipedia do wonders for your brand when gaining an inbound link from them.

Some tips for Guest Blogging :

Getting links in and from huge link aggregators such as Wikipedia is highly beneficial. Inbound links to your website from some reputed and trustworthy sites such as non-profits(.org) and education (.edu), or official (.gov) sites are extremely coveted and high-quality links. They also add authority to your page. A link analysis tool like Site Explorer will help you find out more about your Inbound links. You may be able to see what, from where, and what type of links you have from external sites.

8.) Press Release Submission

Press release submissions are articles written about new events, products, or services of the company and submitted to PR sites. This is a highly recommended off-page SEO optimization strategy for publicizing your events, products, or services on the web.
A press release should be keyword-optimized, have accurate facts and information to generate credibility generate interest in the readers. Furthermore, it should be used to share newsworthy content with targeted users.

Steps to submit Press Release/How to submit Press Release:

Find the press release sites.
Visit the site and provide the required details like username, password, and email id to create the account.
Verify the account.
Provide the headline, summary, keywords, contact information, and other details as required by the site for PR submission.
Now, you have to wait for the approval, once it is approved by the site, it will be published.
Some sites may ask you to buy a package for their services.

How to write a press release/guidelines to write a press release:

The headline should be concise, specific, and relevant. It should tell instantly what it is about, why the readers would be interested in reading this. You can also use a subheading below the headline if required.
It should consist of three to six paragraphs with all the important and relevant information that a reporter can use to write a story.
You can include a unique quote from the company director or industry expert. It allows you to get noticed by journalists.
The most important information should appear in the opening paragraph. Such as Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? The intent here is to capture attention and develop interest.
However, the contact details including the city, state, month, day, and year must appear before the opening sentence. They are important elements in a press release. You can add content information at the top left or right of the page.
In the second paragraph, you can provide crucial information to understand the story. Such as interesting facts, supporting information, quotations, etc.
In the last paragraph, you can provide the least Important Information such as general information, background information, about us statement, company description, etc.
Furthermore, it should be written as a news piece, avoid using words like our, we, etc. It should seem that it is written by an outside third party.
Also mention that if you want to release it immediately, and if not, mention the date when you want it to be released.
An optional boilerplate can be used at the bottom of a press release. It is a short paragraph that tells about the identity of a company and what it does.
It should be one page in length. There should be three hash symbols underneath the last line of your PR at the center of the page. Furthermore, grammar and spelling check is also required before you submit it to publish.

Some of the popular press release submission sites are listed below:

www.newpressrelease.com
www.briefingwire.com
www.bignews.biz
www.prlog.org
www.pressbox.co.uk

Press Release Submission Benefits:
o Improves link popularity: It is one of the quickest ways to build backlinks to your site.
o Boosts traffic and sales: Keyword optimization in the content of PR helps increase traffic and sales.
o Reduces marketing costs: It enables search engines to easily find your site; you don’t need to spend much on other online marketing activities.
o Online recognition: It helps you build online reputation and trust of the visitors.
o Long-term benefit: Online press releases have a long lifespan, so they can work for you for many years to come

9.) Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking services are centralized online services where users can store and share online links, or bookmarks, with other members of the community.

Users can search, manage, organize, and store useful web content on these sites. They can revisit the site again or share it with others. Many Social bookmarking sites also have a lot of conversations going on wherein where users not only share web content but join discussion forums based on their mutual interests

These sites usually provide a combination of organizational and social tools, allowing users to annotate and categorize their bookmarks as well as comment on and discuss topics with other interested users.

Most social bookmarking sites let you search through bookmarked links on subjects that range from shopping, technology, and politics to blogging, news, and sports. Most offer search tools where you can search through what other users have bookmarked by typing in your search term.

Some of the popular social bookmarking services are Evernote, Pocket, Digg, Pinterest, Mix, Scoop.it, and Medium, Trello, Reddit, and, Flipboard.

Some of the benefits of social bookmarking are:

Effective build your online presence – Adding social bookmarks to the web it helps search engines understand your site content better.
Faster Site Indexing – Social Bookmarking enables Google bots to quickly find, understand, and index your content. Also, the ranking of your website happens quickly if social bookmarks exist.
Backlinks – Content appearing on a bookmarking site, creates backlinks. These high-quality backlinks can help you in achieving page one rankings on search engines. Social bookmarks also establish you as a domain leader and improve search engine rankings.
Drive more traffic to your website – When your content appears on a social bookmarking site people follow the link to your site. If the information is engaging, it can lead to thousands of new visitors each month.
Social Signals – Google counts social bookmarks as social signals. They help search engines decide how popular your brand is with the public.
Backlinks, faster indexing, social signals, and traffic are great for SEO.

10.) Video Marketing

Video marketing is a great strategy for Off-Page SEO Optimisation as it can help your website outrank competitors online. Websites with video content are 50 times more likely to rank on the first page of Google’s search results. Website videos help improve search rankings. Different types of videos can make the website more attractive to the customer.

Ways in which video marketing improves SEO rankings

Videos enrich your SEO content
Video help to present information in an easy to understand and interesting way. For eg: Instead of having a user manual on how to use a mixer-grinder, a better way to present this would be a video. It could provide visual proof of how the product works. You can show people how excited you are about your product while educating them on its features and creating an everlasting impression in their minds.

Search engines like Google provide high ranking to content that is rich, informative, relevant, and answers queries.
So if your Video content is in-depth and quality content, it will help you get a better ranking versus other sites.

Videos improve user experience (UX) and time spent on your site
Websites with videos increase customer attention and retention on your website. Too much text on a site can create monotony. Adding videos can enhance the user experience
Since Relevant and Interesting videos will keep a customer on your website much longer, this will automatically boost your ranking.
Videos help you earn more backlinks
More than 90% of people share the videos they watch online. Video marketing leads to accumulating more quality backlinks to your site content. This in turn leads to a rise in the ranking of the website. In fact, 46% of a site’s rank is determined by links.

Some tips for implementing video in your SEO strategy.

Tailor video content to suit the audience
The content of the video should be tailored to attract and retain the targeted audience.
If it is meant for professionals, then the content, tone, and language should be formal and technical jargon can be used. If the video is meant for common people, then the language should be simple and technical terms must be explained in simple language.
- Add SEO keywords to your video titles and descriptions
  Keyword research is very useful when it comes to creating a title and description for your video. You can either consult a SEO Specialist or use the following sites for free:
  -Google’s Keyword Planner
  -KeywordsFX
  -Keywords Everywhere.

Keyword Tool can be used to find keywords to use for posting videos on YouTube. A good title would be the one that raises interest in your video.
Also for better results, it is important to use the keywords, in the main title and the description of the video.

Include video transcripts for SEO
Adding video transcripts will also give the search engines more information to contextualize the video. Search engines can’t “read” video content but the transcripts provide the text content needed for indexing and higher rankings.
Promote video content as part of your SEO strategy
Video content, when shared on social media or sent directly to subscribers via email campaigns, can also value add to your SEO strategy and boost traffic to your website.

Conclusion

In the nutshell, we can say that off-page SEO is more challenging than on-page SEO. It is an essential part to improve your online visibility. But there are several proven strategies you can use to earn links that will help you reach your SEO goals. There are may institutes such Henry Harvin which train you on Off-Page SEO techniques and Tools.