Standing out with a website can be more effective by understanding and using off-site SEO strategies with a focus on website ranking and visibility. Businesses want their website to be near the top of a search for current and future customers. Understanding how to strengthen community presence and improve backlinks is crucial to optimize a website’s success and outperforming its competitors. For small and local businesses, there may be a greater benefit to seek local collaboration and partnerships.
What is Off-Site SEO?
In basic terms, off-site SEO is what happens off of the website page and still impacts the website positively. This refers to being able to successfully build links and show relevance, expertise, trustworthiness, and experience in the contents of the website. Engagement on social media and increasing backlinks are two ways to use off-site SEO strategies.
What Are Backlinks?
A backlink, simply defined, is a link from another website that points to yours. The more backlinks a website has, the better their visibility is when certain keywords matching the website are searched. The hyperlink around “backlink” in the beginning of a paragraph added another backlink for that website. A backlink is also considered a form of endorsement by a search engine since it is potentially referring a website visitor to that site–this aids in boosting that website SEO. Search engines boost website ranking with quality backlinks. The clickable part of the link is called the anchor text.
For more resources on backlinks and how to build them, these articles offer great insight:
- Moz’s SEO Learning Center: What Are Backlinks and Why Are They Important?
- This article from Moz explains what backlinks are, why they matter for SEO, and how they work.
- Hostinger: How to Get Backlinks: 12 Effective Strategies
- Hostinger’s tutorial covers 12 effective methods for generating high-quality backlinks.
- Bitcatcha: How To Get Backlinks: 6 Powerful Backlink Sources To Try Out
- This article provides beginner-friendly tips for obtaining backlinks and explains backlink strategies.
- Wix.com: Backlinks 101: What They Are and Why They Matter
- This is a resource for backlinks and their basics, scenarios and benefits, and what influences quality.
Small and Local Business Application:
Small and local businesses have opportunities for building backlinks that also build community connections and increase business success. One of these ways is to develop website content that applies for the local community to share on social media and with other local entities. These may become backlinks for relevant local websites. Website content can include blogging, event participation, community service and volunteering initiatives and reflections, partnering with influencers or community figures and documenting the experiences. Engagement with local media and the press may increase website traffic along with generating backlinks from those sources. It is important to use soft skills and coordinate these connections face to face when possible. These partnerships and relationships are local and likely long-term, and meaningful collaborations are a key to business success and positive public approval.