…the effectiveness and impact of implementing a business SEO strategy

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Off-Page SEO (Backlinks)

Off-page SEO relates mostly to backlinks – but what is a backlink? Backlinks are essentially the link from one webpage to another. You may have also heard them referred to as one-way links, incoming links, or inbound links.

Off-page SEO is mainly the act of getting as many reputable inbound links pointing towards your website as possible. But why? They hold a huge amount of importance in the world of SEO as, to web browsers, they are viewed as votes of confidence from other websites.

If a respected website thinks highly enough of your content that they want to reference it in their text, then search browsers have strong reason to believe that your content is trustworthy. The more backlinks you attain, the higher you’ll appear in the Google search results.

Backlinks and off-site SEO are a lot harder to control than on-site SEO. However, getting the right backlinks defines where you appear in search rankings, as Google has confirmed that it remains the second most important ranking factor in 2022.

There are many different backlink types that you’ll encounter, and getting the balance right is crucial.

Off-page SEO | Press release backlinks

Press release backlinks have long been a source of controversy in the world of search engine optimisation. This doubt is mainly due to the fact they were widely misused during the black hat era of SEO. A press release, in a nutshell, is the creation of an article detailing a new product, service, or feature of a business that gets sent for publication on a PR site.

This became a popular off-page SEO strategy when spam wasn’t as clamped down on by search engines as it is today. Webmasters started sending off poorly written and keyword-heavy press releases to newswire services, with backlinks awkwardly fitted throughout. Sometimes, press releases were being published that didn’t even announce anything new.

Once Google caught onto this, it rendered press release backlinks as being ‘black hat’ by making all associated backlinks ‘no-follow’ links. This meant that press release backlinks effectively stopped providing websites with authority and link power.

Although standard press releases no longer hold any SEO value, a well-written piece by a PR professional could create a considerable SEO outreach. A PR professional may be able to turn a press release into something newsworthy that a professional journalist may want to pick up.

If the story gets picked up by a journalist, they are likely to include a follow link in their article, which could feature on a prominent news site.

Therefore, although it requires a long-winded process, and there’s no guarantee of even attaining a backlink from it, carrying out press releases is still a valid off-page SEO approach.

Off-page SEO | Guest post backlinks

Guest post backlinks are one of the easiest backlink types to attain. It involves writing content for another website as a guest blogger, with a link to your website either at the start of the post (as part of an author bio) or placed throughout the copy.

The best place to embed backlinks in a guest post would be throughout the content itself. This way, you’ll be able to use targeted keywords as the anchor text.

To get the most out of a guest post, you have to put every bit of effort into making it a valued piece of content. Readers aren’t going to be interested in other things you’ve written if the guest post falls flat.

To find guest posting opportunities, you could simply search for ‘guest posting sites’ on Google. This will typically throw up the likes of Mashable and Hubspot, which are both valid guest posting opportunities.

Alternatively, whenever you happen upon a website you like, look for such phrases as ‘write for us’, ‘contribute’, or even ‘guest post’. This way, you could confidently reach out to the webmaster and request the opportunity to write for them.

What do we offer

Off-site SEO refers to optimizing elements outside of a website, such as backlinks, social media presence, and online reputation, to enhance the website’s search engine ranking. Building a strong backlink profile, promoting the website through social media and creating high-quality, relevant content can all positively impact a website’s off-site SEO and improve its search engine ranking. Additionally, monitoring the website’s online reputation and addressing any negative mentions can also enhance its off-site SEO.

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