What Is On-Page vs Off-Page SEO? [+ Infographic]

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the most powerful tools for generating more organic traffic online

A comprehensive, quality SEO strategy can help improve your website rankings, allowing you to get in front of your target audience.

But SEO is not just about optimizing your website, it’s also about increasing the overall authority of your domain. These two different strategies fall into two different categories of SEO: on-page SEO and off-page SEO.

Put simply, on-page SEO is about what your website is about, and off-page SEO refers to the authority of your site. Essentially, your on-page SEO determines WHAT you rank for, while your off-page SEO largely determines WHERE you fall in the search results.

Let’s take a closer look at these two crucial parts of SEO and how to optimize each.

What is On-Page SEO?

On-page SEO includes everything you do to improve the quality of your website. It’s the process of optimizing your website. This part of the overall process includes many sub-strategies including:

  • Page speed & responsiveness
  • Keyword optimization
  • Title tags
  • Meta descriptions
  • Site map / structure
  • User experience
  • Mobile responsive
  • URL structure
  • Internal links
  • Website content (blogs, web copy, images, infographics, videos, etc.)

Tips for Improving On-Page SEO

When it comes to on-page SEO, the best part is that it’s fully in your control. There are many key changes you can make to drastically improve your on-page SEO.

For one, you must understand your target market and target audience to determine the best keywords to use. Develop a buyer persona, and use that persona to come up with the phrases, questions, and words they use. This is a key starting point for developing your target keywords to build your content around.

You should also leverage keywords in the title tags and headings of your website pages. Keep title tags concise, up to 60 characters total. Try to include the keyword near the title and be careful not to keyword stuff (overuse them). Only use one H1 per page.

Ideally, your URLs should include the keywords. However, you don’t want to change all your existing URLs unless you will redirect them to new ones. This is part of the reason why understanding SEO best practices is crucial for the website building process.

When search engines comb through your website, they also look at images. Including keywords in the alt text of images helps search engines recognize them. The alt text should describe the images, including the relevant keywords, and mention a location if relevant.

Website performance is a huge aspect of on-page SEO. Search engines like Google look for websites that provide a good user experience, which means they are responsive and mobile-friendly. Monitor your site for performance and make necessary adjustments to improve its speed and mobile optimization.

What is Off-Page SEO?

Off-page SEO is not about what you do on your site. Instead, it’s focused on boosting the authority of your website. The primary method of doing this is acquiring backlinks from other credible sites. However, it also includes:

How to Improve Off-Page SEO

Search engines rank your domain authority, or how authoritative your site is compared to other similar sites. Of course, they want to show users authoritative sites. While great social media marketing and influencer campaigns can help drive organic traffic and boost authority, the primary off-site SEO strategy is backlinking.

Backlinks are when another site links back to your website. Backlinks operate like votes for your website. Generating more votes tells Google your website content is good and valid, which makes Google more likely to show it to others.

However, not all backlinks are good. The key is to generate backlinks for influential, authoritative websites.

So, how can you do this?

One of the most effective ways to generate quality backlinks is through guest blogging. Guest blogging is when you create content for another website. When done correctly, it can help you build brand awareness and generate powerful backlinks. One important tip for getting your guest blog accepted is to send over a completed blog in your proposal!

Furthermore, remember your goal when guest blogging. If you want to get people clicking back to your site, you need a well-crafted author bio. Depending on the rules of the website, you may also be able to include natural links throughout the content.

Aside from guest blogging, some other important tips for improving your off-page SEO include:

  • Create high-value, shareable content.
  • Promote your content on social media
  • Include links back to your site in influencer outreach emails and campaigns

Engage 2 Engage is Here to Help

When it comes down to it, on-page AND off-page SEO are vital for increasing your organic traffic. Understandably, learning all of the best practices and implementing them for both sides of the SEO coin can be a major challenge and overwhelm.

Engage 2 Engage is here to help you with various aspects of SEO, so you can grow your online visibility and presence.

Learn about our programs and how they can help you today!

Instagram
WhatsApp
LinkedIn
LinkedIn
Share

Learn how to

stay competitive

while marketing your brand and message…
when you don’t have the time, energy, or expertise!