What Is Off-Page SEO?
Off-page SEO refers to the activities outside of a website that impact search engine rankings. Off-page SEO includes backlinks, brand mentions, social media shares, citations, editorial links, etc. Also known as off-site SEO.
Off-page SEO is important for organic rankings because search engine algorithms use off-site signals to help identify web pages that demonstrate expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness on a given topic. Google, in particular, uses two ranking algorithms called PageRank and TrustRank to establish the popularity, importance, and quality of a website based on the backlinks it receives.
SEO tool providers like Moz and Majestic have developed search engine metrics like Domain Authority and Page Authority (Moz) and Citation Flow and Trust Flow (Majestic) to help measure the off-page SEO signals that impact Google PageRank and TrustRank for a domain and its individual web pages.
Examples of off-page SEO activities website owners and link builders use to increase the authority and trust signals for a target site include:
- Creating link bait.
- Getting brand mentions.
- Guest posting.
- Building local citations.
- Conducting influencer outreach.
- Using broken link building.
- Content marketing.
- Posting links on forums.
- Using social media for backlinks.
- Blog commenting.
- Participating on question and answer sites.
- Getting interviewed.
- Using journalist outlets like HARO.
- Social bookmarking.
- Creating branded properties on third-party sites.
Visit the SEO Glossary
Go to the SEO Glossary to find more terms and definitions that relate to the field of search engine optimization.
The Editorial Staff at SEO Chatter is a team of search engine optimization and digital marketing experts led by Stephen Hockman with more than 15 years of experience in search engine marketing. We publish guides on the fundamentals of SEO for beginner marketers.
