Mixing the right ingredients for an off-page SEO strategy is the key to serious organic growth. It’s just as important as optimizing the individual pages of your site.
Why?
Because on-page SEO tells search engines what your site is about. But off-page signals, like backlinks and brand mentions, show that people want to see it in SERPs.
If you’re unsure what the “right ingredients” are, you’ve landed in the perfect spot.
In this article, I’ll give you a deep dive into strategies for off-page SEO that can help improve your website’s reputation, visibility, and influence.
What Is Off-Page SEO?
Off-page SEO includes the efforts taken outside of your website to improve its search engine rankings. It includes strategies like link building, social media engagement, and seeking out reviews.
In a nutshell, off-page SEO is everything you do off of your own pages to convince search engines your content is reliable and authoritative.
The five most critical off-page SEO factors include:
1. Backlinks
Backlinks are votes of confidence from other websites. When another site links to yours, it says, “Hey, this site has valuable information!”
Search engines see backlinks as endorsements of your site’s quality, relevancy, and authority.
However, as an SEO professional, you know that not all backlinks are created equal. That’s why a good backlink audit tool is always good to have.
Links from reputable, high-authority sites are most valuable. Links from lesser-known or low-quality sites are less helpful—and may be bad enough to disavow.
With your off-page SEO strategy, you won’t just be hoping to gain backlinks—you’ll aim for links from high-quality sites.
2. Brand Mentions
When other sites talk about your company or website in their content, that’s a brand mention. And whether mentions are linked or unlinked, they can contribute to your off-page SEO strategy.
When your brand gets acknowledged by another site, it indicates to search engines that your site is noteworthy and relevant. More mentions help you rank higher in the SERPs.
Leveraging these brand mentions can also be a valuable part of your link-building efforts, which we’ll cover later in the article. Turning unlinked brand mentions into backlinks is an excellent way to increase your site’s authority and visibility.
3. Social Media Presence
Social media links are typically “nofollow” and don’t directly contribute to SEO ranking. However, having a robust social media presence can indirectly influence your off-page SEO efforts. Active engagement on social media platforms can expand your brand’s reach and drive traffic your way.
If you need to work on growing your social media presence, Semrush’s Social Media Management Tools can simplify your campaigns.
If you hit the jackpot and your content goes viral on social media, your brand will get plenty of online mentions. You’ll attract more backlinks as more people share and talk about your content.
4. Third-Party Reviews
Positive reviews on third-party sites can boost your site’s reputation. And having a solid online reputation shows search engines that you’re reliable and trustworthy.
Reviews can also lead to user-generated content about your brand. Search engines then have more context for understanding the purpose of your site.
Encouraging customers to leave reviews can have a significant impact on your off-page SEO. Managing and responding to those reviews reinforces your efforts.
5. Local SEO
Local SEO is optimizing your online presence to attract visitors from local searches. This includes:
- Managing your business’s Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business)
- Ensuring your business information (NAP—Name, Address, Phone number) is consistent across different platforms
- Asking for reviews on local sites
These activities can help search engines determine your local relevance, which lets them know how to rank your site. Listing management from Semrush makes this process easy.
Why Is Off-Page SEO Important?
Off-page SEO is about building your site’s E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness) through backlinks, mentions, reviews, and recommendations.
Here are some of the top reasons off-page SEO is essential for your site.
Enhances the SEO Power of Your Website
Off-page SEO strategies help your site stand out in crowded online spaces. For example, if top-notch backlinks support your website, it has a better shot at popping up in search engine results.
Inspires Brand Searches
Off-page SEO techniques can spark interest and inspire people to search for your brand by name.
Here’s how it works:
When your site or brand gets a shoutout online, whether from an influencer, a high-profile blog, or a social media post, it stirs curiosity. And it can lead potential customers to search for the name of your website or company.
For example, Gear Junkie, an outdoor news and gear review site, included a mention of Bolton Valley Resort in a blog post (along with a link to the resort’s site).
This leads readers directly to the resort’s site and increases awareness.
Readers now know the brand name. When planning a trip to the area, some may search for it directly.
This uptick in searches signals that your brand is becoming more popular and relevant for your audience.
Leads to Direct, Targeted Traffic
The primary goal of off-page SEO is improving your search engine ranking. However, it serves another purpose: driving targeted traffic to your site.
Effective off-page SEO tactics can attract a highly targeted new audience through shared blog posts or reviews on niche sites. New visitors come to your site, genuinely interested in what you offer. This naturally leads to higher engagement and better conversion rates.
Boosts Website Authority
Off-page SEO plays a crucial role in enhancing your website’s authority. The goal of search engines is to provide their users with reliable, trustworthy sources of information.
Accumulating quality backlinks, positive reviews, and consistent brand mentions sends a strong signal: credibility and authority.
The result? A potential improvement in your search engine rankings.
Here, you can see home styling website, The Spruce, has impressive authority, supported by a high number of backlinks.
The strong backlink profile directly correlates with the site’s overall authority.
10 Off-Page SEO Techniques
Ready to start mixing up your off-page strategy?
Take a look at 10 off-page SEO techniques below and get started with the ones that make the most sense for your site.
1. Host Popular Online Giveaways
Hosting giveaways is straightforward: Offer your audience a valuable prize. In exchange, they promote your brand on social media platforms.
If you play your cards right, you win all the buzz and incoming links through content about the giveaway.
And here’s a step-by-step guide to running giveaways that contribute to your off-page SEO.
Step #1: Choose Your Prize
Pick your giveaway prize carefully. Do you want to attract potential customers who could eventually convert? Or is it okay if you get people seeking freebies? Evaluate whether your potential prize has broad appeal and whether it will still be relevant in the near future.
Choose a prize in the $150 to $300 range to generate maximum buzz for your contest.
Step #2: Figure Out What You Want in Return
Remember that giveaways are not entirely altruistic. Your participants need to do something in return for an entry to the contest.
This could be things like:
- Liking or forwarding a social media post
- Referring friends to your brand page
- Following you on a social platform
- Signing up for your email list
Determine what’s easy for them that also contributes to the growth of your site.
Step #3: Build Your Giveaway Machine
Several tools can help automate your giveaway process so you don’t need to manage everything manually. Rafflecopter and Second Street are popular giveaway management tools.
Build a dedicated contest entry page on your website with content for SEO to improve its rankings. I recommend a 30-day giveaway period to maintain user interest while still giving people enough time to enter.
Step #4: Promote Your Giveaway
Make a plan to promote your giveaway consistently (starting right from launch day), so you get maximum exposure.
Try these promotion techniques to draw attention to the contest:
- Collaborative giveaways, join forces with another brand that complements yours
- Content marketing (including blog posts or videos related to the contest)
- Personalized chatbot or Messenger marketing
- Community forums and social media groups
- Podcasts and live streams
- Social media advertising
- SMS push notifications
- Influencer partnerships
- Email marketing
Here, you can see how Portland Leather partnered with Random House for a book and bag giveaway.
Users need to follow both accounts, tag two friends, and like and comment on the post to enter. This helps generate buzz for the giveaway and helps each brand grow its following.
Remember to track your promotion’s performance across different platforms. This can help refine your strategy for future giveaways.
Step #5: Choose Your Winner
Announce your winner on the big day, and deliver their prize promptly.
Afterward, encourage the winner to post photos or videos of their prize on social media. Give them a custom, branded hashtag to use to help spread awareness further.
2. Create Content Based on Original Data
As marketers and content creators, we often use and share information and stats generated by others. However, creating content with our own original data has significant off-page SEO benefits.
Why? Because publishing content based on original data creates buzz, which leads to engagement and backlinks.
Use these steps to generate original data and craft online content around it:
- Outline the purpose and goals of your study. Whether you’re analyzing user behaviors on your website or assessing market trends, you need a clear vision. Decide what you hope to achieve with your data. If your data satisfies a search intent better than any competitor, you’ll get the best results.
- Collect your own data by conducting surveys, using analytics tools, or performing experiments. This step might be challenging, but it can pay big dividends.
- Analyze and interpret your data to draw conclusions. Use statistical analysis to find patterns, correlations, and insights.
- Craft your content around the data. Once you have original data and insights, weave it into compelling content. Remember, data alone can be monotonous. Your job is to turn it into a narrative your audience can understand and relate to.
- Visualize your data. Use charts, diagrams, or infographics to present your data in an easy-to-understand way.
For example, Andy Crestodina, from digital marketing agency Orbit Media, gathered original data to create an engaging article on web design standards.
His original research included reviewing web design standards from 500 websites.
The resulting blog post ranks number one for valuable keywords like “web design industry standards” and “web design standards.”
Compiling original data is more than just crunching numbers. It’s about telling a unique story that resonates with your readers and provides them with valuable insights they can’t find elsewhere.
“Our best strategy has been publishing original data and research for our clients. This type of content can rank directly for keywords like ‘industry + data’ or ‘industry + statistics’ and many journalists will cite you as a source, which can lead to high authority backlinks that would be expensive to build otherwise.”
– John Reinesch, Founder, Exponential Growth
3. Incentivize People to Leave Honest Reviews
Incentivizing reviews can promote engagement and improve your site’s E-E-A-T. Having a lot of reviews can significantly boost your site’s visibility and reputation.
But how can you ethically incentivize your customers to leave reviews? Here are a few ideas to consider:
- Make it easy: Leaving a review should be a seamless, simple process. Use plain language to explain how customers can share their experiences. Provide direct links to review pages with mobile-friendly, intuitive review forms.
- Request reviews: Politely ask your customers for reviews after they make a purchase. Reassure people that you’re not just asking for positive feedback—you want them to share their honest experiences. Include requests in your thank you emails and receipts, along with links.
- Respond to all feedback: Reviews are a two-way conversation, so acknowledge each review. Responding to reviews builds trust and shows customers you value their input. Be polite, professional, and solution-focused when handling negative reviews.
4. Host or Sponsor Events in your Niche
Hosting or sponsoring events within your niche or industry can contribute to your off-page SEO strategy. How?
Events can help you attract:
- Brand mentions
- Links to your event page
- Direct traffic
- PR coverage
- Collaborations with influencers and experts in your niche
Start by identifying your objectives. Do you want to drive brand awareness, generate backlinks, increase social media engagement, or build relationships? Clear goals will help you decide on your event’s theme, size, structure, and promotion strategy.
You might also have multiple goals, like building backlinks and increasing sales:
“One strategy that worked well for an accommodation site we worked with in the past was: We reached out to small festivals and concerts in each local city and did custom outreach to each one, offering to promote their event on our social media channels in exchange for a link.
This worked well as it gave concertgoers in each city a place to stay and it also offered free promotion; it was hard to say no. We secured over 200 high-quality referring domains in this campaign, which also generated a large amount of bookings for the client.”
– James Norquay, Director, Prosperity Media
Consider Your Audience
Who can bring the most value to you in terms of SEO? For example:
- Industry influencers who can create content about your event
- Attendees who are likely to share it within their networks
- Partners who might link to you on their websites
Create an engaging, SEO-optimized landing page for your event. Be sure to include key logistical details, speaker bios, FAQs, and other relevant information.
This page is an opportunity to attract organic traffic, too, so it should be well-optimized and mobile-friendly.
Inviting influencers or industry experts to participate in your event increases the likelihood of mentions, shares, and backlinks. Their endorsement could also lend your event credibility, driving more interest and attendance.
Use email marketing, social media, press releases, blog posts, and your network to spread the word about your event. Encourage your speakers, partners, and early registrants to share the event with their networks, too.
Event-related user-generated content (UGC) can be a treasure trove of organic backlinks and social shares. Encourage attendees to post about their experience, or even offer incentives like a contest for the best event summary post.
Follow up after the event to maximize your off-page SEO efforts and build more links. Share a roundup post, send a thank you email to attendees, and encourage people to share their feedback.
While your primary motivation might be off-page SEO, focus on providing real value to your attendees. That’s essential for getting the results you’re after—organic shares, discussion, and links.
5. Write Guest Posts
Writing and publishing guest posts is a time-tested link-building strategy. But it can also build your authority as a thought leader, grow your audience, and increase brand mentions. All of which support your overall off-page strategy.
Start by identifying suitable sites that accept guest contributions. You’ll want to target respected websites that have a substantial audience.
Find guest blogging opportunities by searching for your keyword on Google with operators like these:
- “your target keyword” + “this is a guest contribution”
- “your target keyword” + “this is a guest post by”
- “your target keyword” + “contributing author”
- “your target keyword” + “contributing writer”
- “your target keyword” + “guest column”
- “your target keyword” + “guest post”
Once you identify guest posting target sites, familiarize yourself with their content. That way, you can propose topics that align with their audience’s interests.
Lead with a Persuasive Pitch
Approach the site owners or editors with content ideas that offer genuine value. Your pitch needs to:
- Be well-written and original
- Highlight your unique perspective
- Offer potential benefits for their audience
If the host site allows it, incorporate a limited number of relevant links back to your website into your guest post. This could be to a specific blog post, a service page, or your homepage. The more natural the link placement, the better the user experience (and the more likely the host site will allow it).
Once the site publishes your post, monitor its performance. Look at metrics like referral traffic and social shares to measure the effectiveness of your guest posting strategy.
Use your performance data to fine-tune your guest posting strategy. Identify the topics, content types, and publishers that generate the most engagement. Then, target your efforts in those areas.
You can check out Semrush’s definitive guide to guest blogging for a deep dive into this strategy.
6. Build Relationships with Influencers
Relationships with influencers are an opportunity to extend your reach, amplify your content, and tap into new audiences.
The trick is to partner with influencers who meet two essential criteria:
- They’ve already cultivated large online followings
- They share your brand’s values and target audience
It’s not just about follower numbers; relevance and audience engagement are equally crucial.
One-off sponsorships may be the starting point. But you can leverage these into mutually beneficial relationships when you add value:
- Offer influencers exclusive early access to products
- Provide opportunities to co-create content
- Share their content with your audience
- Offer perks like discounts and freebies
With strong influencer relationships in place, you’ll have a wider network for all your off-page campaigns. They’re likely to help when you want a product review, event promotion, social media share, or backlink.
Their endorsement can also boost your site’s credibility. Followers trust influencers’ opinions, making it an easy leap to trusting your site.
Keep in mind that influencer marketing is not a one-size-fits-all approach. What works with one influencer or audience may not work with another. Monitor results—I use Semrush’s Influencer Analytics for this—and tweak your strategy when necessary.
7. Try Broken Link Building
Broken link building is a technique that involves finding dead links on other websites and offering your content as a replacement.
This helps the site owner fix an issue and, if the site is high-quality, earns you a valuable backlink.
To get started, identify sites relevant to your niche. Then, use a tool such as Ahrefs or Screaming Frog to crawl these sites for broken links.
After finding a dead link, reach out to the site owner with a personalized email, politely suggesting your content as a valuable replacement.
Broken Link Building Template
Hi [Site Owner’s Name],
I hope you’re doing well. While reading your article on [insert blog post topic and link], I noticed an external link is no longer active. This link to [dead link description] leads to a 404 error.
Since the content is highly relevant to [topic of the page], I wanted to suggest my resource as a replacement: [resource name and link]. This guide will be a helpful resource for your readers as it covers [benefits of your resource].
Thank you for your consideration. Feel free to reach out if you have any concerns.
Best regards,
[Your Name]
[Your Website]
This method requires some patience, but the payoff in high-authority backlinks can be substantial.
8. Engage in a Reciprocal Link Exchange
Reciprocal links simply mean that two sites each have a link pointing to the other. When it’s the result of an intentional exchange, it’s an effective off-page SEO strategy. It’s a way for both sites to gain visibility, authority, and a backlink.
Exchanging links is almost a compulsive habit for SEOs. It’s hard not to ask for a backlink when you see an opportunity.
But it’s important not to overdo it and risk violating Google’s Link Spam Policies. Remember that the best backlinks are from high-quality, authoritative sites. Any links you place on your site should be relevant, natural, and helpful to readers.
A three-way partnership involves coordinating with two other sites to link to each other in a structured loop. It’s an advanced method that can lead to high-quality backlinks.
“The most effective strategy I’ve used to acquire backlinks is ABC link exchange. This method involves a three-way partnership where each of the three websites links to the other, creating a strong, mutually beneficial linking structure. This approach has consistently shown a high success rate in gaining quality backlinks.”
– Zeeshan Yaseen, Rankviz
9. Search for Unlinked Brand Mentions
Journalists and media outlets are an ideal source of high-quality backlinks for your website. It can happen organically when your brand is mentioned in a story. However, if the mention doesn’t include a link to your website, reach out and politely ask for one.
Simply send a brief, professional message explaining how the link would benefit their readers. For example, linking could provide more context or access to relevant resources.
This small effort can squeeze even more SEO value out of the media coverage.
“Our client is a high-end fashion designer, and he was exhibiting at Lakme Fashion Week. His clothes and fashion line received coverage from all the well-known media outlets, which we were able to track using the Brand Mentions tool.
We compiled a list of websites that featured the story, identified their contact details, and reached out to them to request a link back to our client’s website. Thankfully, the majority of them accepted the request and added a link back.
This proactive approach has proven fruitful in boosting our client’s online presence and driving traffic to their website.”
– Boni Satani, Co-Founder, Zestard Technologies
10. Be a Source for Journalists
Another proactive way to earn backlinks from media and journalists is by positioning yourself as an expert source. This involves responding to requests for expert commentary or insights on specific topics.
When a journalist uses your quote in an article, it often leads to a high-quality backlink from an authoritative site. At the very least, you’ll get a brand mention when they credit you. And if you don’t get a link, remember to reach out and politely ask.
For example, this article on Chewy.com includes an expert quote from a veterinarian and a backlink to their website:
Until recently, HARO (Help a Reporter Out) was the go-to platform for this strategy. The platform is no longer active, but the approach remains highly effective.
Many HARO alternatives, such as Qwoted and Featured, offer similar opportunities to earn link-building media placements. You can still secure those valuable backlinks by responding to relevant journalist queries.
“We do highly targeted journalist outreach with a focus on our client’s expertise.
When using HARO, we got many unlinked mentions. My best method for reclaiming these was to check our inbox to see if the journalist who wrote the article had reached out with any questions or shared the URL. This gave us easy access to their inbox. We then reached out, thanking them for the inclusion in the article, and asked them to ask their editor to update our mention.
We’ve also created ‘statistics’ or ‘trends’ articles for the current year and got them to rank #1 in Google. Then, we wait for journalists to quote the article when writing about the niche.”
– Isaac Hammelburger, Founder, Search Pros
Best Tools to Help You with Off-Page SEO
| Tool | Description | Price |
| Semrush | Advanced link building tools including backlink analysis, outreach, and competitor link profiles. | Starts at $139.95/month |
| Ahrefs | Extensive backlink analysis, link building opportunities, and competitive link profiles. | Starts at $129/month |
| Linkody | Track and analyze backlinks with real-time notifications for new and lost links. | Starts at $14.90/month |
| BuzzStream | Link building outreach management tool for tracking communication with link prospects. | Starts at $24/month |
| Majestic | Backlink analysis tool with a vast link index for detailed link profiles and metrics. | Starts at $49.99/month |
| Moz | Track backlinks, analyze domain authority, and discover link-building opportunities by exploring competitor links. | Starts at $49/month |
While we have a full breakdown of link-building tools, here are a few must-have tools to execute the techniques we’ve covered in this article:
- Semrush: A comprehensive tool for backlink analysis, competitor research, and link-building. Semrush makes it easy to identify new backlink opportunities and disavow harmful ones.
- Moz: A versatile tool for tracking backlinks, conducting site audits, and analyzing domain authority. Moz’s “Link Explorer” feature helps you find link-building opportunities by showing who links to your competitors. It also provides valuable insights into the quality and relevance of backlinks, making it easier to refine your link-building strategy and improve your site’s authority.
- Ahrefs: Great for backlink audits, identifying broken links, and finding brand mentions. Ahrefs’ “Content Explorer” feature helps you discover content relevant to your industry. Use it to find guest posting and link-building opportunities.
- Majestic: A powerful tool that specializes in backlink data. Majestic’s “Trust Flow” and “Citation Flow” metrics help you evaluate the quality of backlinks. It helps identify strong link-building opportunities.
- Linkody: Tracks your links and provides detailed reports, helping ensure the quality and consistency of your link profile. It also notifies you if any backlinks are removed or lost.
- BuzzStream: An outreach and relationship management tool, BuzzStream helps you build connections with bloggers, influencers, and journalists. It streamlines your email outreach for link-building campaigns and keeps track of your communication history.
The Driving Force Behind Your Success in the SERPs
Off-page SEO goes beyond just building links. You’re weaving a network of connections that expands your online credibility. Those efforts can pay off for many years to come.
Did you know Semrush can help with both prospecting and building an authoritative backlink profile?
Get started today with powerful tools that supercharge your off-page strategy.