According to Hubspot’s research, 75% of people do not scroll past the first page of the search results. With such a whopping number, it is not surprising why, even in 2020, every business or personal site owners are geared up to get their site on the first few pages of the search engine results pages (SERPs).
What are the three types of SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO) plays a huge part in improving a website’s search engine ranking. To some people, SEO is synonymous with keywords. However, it is important to focus on all three forms of SEO:
- On-Page SEO refers to the SEO activities done directly on your website. This focuses on crawl architecture, optimizing the website content with keywords, having a fast-loading site, having a responsive site, and focusing on the site structure.
- Off-page SEO refers to all the SEO activities done outside the website. This includes link building, social media marketing, and local SEO.
- Technical SEO refers to optimizing your site so that the search engines can access, crawl, and interpret your site.
8 Important Off-Page Ranking Factors for SEO in 2020
Content marketers and bloggers start with on-page SEO, but you should not stop there because Google also considers off-page ranking factors when ranking web pages. Both on-page and off-page SEO are key pieces of the jigsaw puzzle to rank in the SERPs. Let us look at the important off-page ranking factors for SEO in 2020.
Link Building
Link building is the core of off-page SEO. They are the votes that vouch your site has quality and relevant content. When many quality links point to your site, your site will be looked upon as a site with high value by Google. With more number of domains referring to your site, not only does your ranking improve but the organic search traffic also improves.
Whatever may be the source of the link—editorial link or link from an online directory—the authority of the linking page contributes greatly to SEO. A high authority site passes its link equity to the linking domain that increases the site’s domain authority (DA), a ranking score that predicts a website’s ability to rank in the SERPs.
Brand Mentions
Brand mentions are a great off-page ranking signal. Brand mentions, as the name suggests, happen when a website is mentioned in another site. They can be linked to the mentioned site or unlinked. Naturally, brand mentions happen when your post goes viral. Alternatively, you can do guest blogging or do a blogger outreach to get more brand mentions. Though Google values unlinked brand mentions as an off-ranking signal, linked brand mentions also serve as backlinks doubling the SEO impact. To convert unlinked mentions to linked mentions, you can reach out to the site that has mentioned your brand to link the brand’s name to your site.
Local Citations
Citation signals are one of the primary off-page SEO ranking factors according to Moz. Local citations done on local business directories are important for your local store to rank locally. They function as online mentions of the local business. Having a consistent name, address, and phone number (NAP) across directories allows Google to tie your online profile together.
Google My Business
Getting your business listed in Google My Business (GMB) is essential for ranking in local search results. The key is to maintain consistency across your other NAP citations. If the information is inconsistent, it can confuse Google and it might not think that your business is legitimate. If there are changes in the business details, update the changed information across local directories and GMB.
Reviews
According to Moz, reviews are one of the most important factors for ranking in the local search result. The higher the positive reviews, the more credible is your business. More brand mentions and social media tags can enhance your site’s ranking on Google Maps.
Leverage Social Media
In 2020, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn play a key role in your off-page SEO efforts. Search engine bots value social signals such as FB likes, Twitter followers or links to your site. On your site’s home page, you can add buttons to access your account on these social media platforms. You can ask your customers to like and share your site’s content.
Influencer Outreach
When you create fresh and relevant content, you can reach out to influencers who can share and link to your website. Not only are they a source of obtaining natural links, but when an influencer shares your link, other people will also be inclined to share it. Their followers will also start engaging with the content leading to more traffic to your site, which can help you rank better.
Guest Blogging
Guest posting on popular, relevant blogs remains a powerful off-page SEO ranking factor in 2020. Apart from being a way of getting natural links to your website, it can also help build authority to your site. However, it is important to write well-researched guest posts on high DA sites that are relevant to your niche.
Sometimes, a well-crafted webpage may not rank well because there was a dearth of focus on off-page ranking factors. Though off-page SEO may look daunting because you do not have complete control over it, supplementing on-page efforts with off-page SEO can give you an edge. This SEO case study can help you understand how off-page SEO factors like link building and local citation helped a food distributor website to outrank its competitors.
