Off-page optimization
Off-Page Optimization is another important part of SEO. However, the off-page optimization can not be influenced as much as on-page optimization.
Off-page optimization is link-building. Link-building means increasing visitors to your website, that are directed to your site from another website (or referring site) via a link. This kind of link is called a back-link. For search engines links to your website are a strong indicator how relevant your website is or in other words they add to the quality of your website.
It is not important how many links lead to your site, it is more crucial what quality the website has that links to your pages, meaning its content should be related and appropriate to your content. Search engines recognize referring websites of low content and assumes that yours is of comparable low content.
The link thing
Use high quality websites as links to your website. Avoid back-links from pages with unclear or dubious content. This also includes sources where one can purchase back-links online. The latter are often of low quality, we do not recommend to use this as an option.
Concentrate on being linked to websites that match the topic of your pages!
As an example: it makes very little sense to link a hair-dresser saloon with a website for Michelin Tires; not even if you advertise for strong hair. It influences the ranking of the hair salon negatively, as the tire website has nothing in common with hair.
Also be careful with suggestions friends and co give you who might also have their websites. Linking each others websites will bring some traffic, but only have a positive effect on ranking results if the topic of the linked pages have things in common that is worth mentioning in their text.
The good news is, search engines know the amount of "bad" links is limited and relative. It is acceptable to have a few less-topic related links as long as there are also topic related links. There are the odd exceptions where Google penalized websites with 100% optimized back-links as it can see these as unnatural. To test how well your website is linked you can check your back-links; have a look here.
Remove links from lower quality sites when they contribute to increased visits or spamming on your site. Contact the website owner in such case to remove the link.
Link-building properly done
You know about the complications of link-building. Now, how can you properly apply them to your pages? A few steps in order of increasing difficulty are described below:
Is your website or name mentioned directly on another website? Ask the owner to place the link to your site.
- Are you working together with other companies? Ask them too to insert a link to your website.
- Are you using services like Webnode? Ask to write a review about the service, of course with a link to your site mentioned. Here are examples of our users.
- Are there websites that recommend services that you offer? Ask to be mentioned with a link to your website. Let's imagine your local city council has a website about specific services, for example hair-dressers in the town of Hull and you are a new hairdresser in this region, then you can ask the council to add you to the list with your website address.
- Is your competition mentioned in an online article or on another websites? Again this is an opportunity to ask to be mentioned (with a link of course).
- Can the content of your page add information to info sites, such as encyclopedias, like Wikihow.com? Then dont be shy and ask to write a small article.
The back-links bring the visitors to your pages, but the links that guide your visitors to other relevant websites are not to be ignored either. If used well, they connect similar related topics and bring you together with other website-or web-shop owners who might refer back to you. Find out more about outbound links in our blog.