If you aren’t sure about what SEO is and how it is going to help you, on-page SEO and off-page SEO sound like foreign terms.
You know that showing up on the first page of Google is important but how do you get there? How does on-page and off-page SEO get you there?
Continue reading this article and we will educate you on the differences between the two and why you need both of them for a successful SEO campaign.
What Is SEO?
Before we get into on-page SEO and off-page SEO, let’s give you a good understanding of what SEO is.
SEO stands for search engine optimization and is the act of optimizing your website’s pages or posts to show up at the top of the search engines.
SEO is made up of both on-page and off-page SEO and we’re going to get into both of these below.
On-Page SEO
The most important and essential parts of on-page SEO is keywords. Keywords are the terms people type into the search engines to find what you have to offer.
If you’re trying to rank as a Dentist in Philadelphia, PA, your keyword might be “dentist in Philadelphia” or some other variation of that term.
Once you know what keyword you’re going to target, you would put that keyword in the title of the post or page, in the meta title, meta description and sprinkle it throughout your content strategically.
Another on-page tactic is putting the keyword you’re targeting in the alt text of an image that you have on the page. Alt text is text that will show up in case the image on your page isn’t able to load. But the goal is to let Google know that your content is about that keyword.
You want to give Google and other search engines as many clues as possible to let them know what your content is about without being spammy.
Anything that you do within your website to make it easier for your website to rank in the search engines is considered on-page SEO.
Besides the above basics of on-page SEO, you have to think about your site’s overall content quality. If your content isn’t high-quality, search engines are going to opt to show other website’s content.
You also need to structure your content in a way that it is easy for search engines to figure out how everything relates within your website. The better you structure your content and the higher the quality of content, the better your on-page SEO is.
Off-Page SEO
Everything that takes place off your website to help your website rank is considered off-page SEO.
While it isn’t as important these days to get keywords with a certain anchor text pointing back to your site, it does still play a role.
Now more than the text that links back to your site, the quality of the link is the most important. You want to get links from sites that are reputable and have as high of a domain authority as possible.
While there is no proof that social signals make your website rank in the search engines, they do help in some way. They at least give hints to Google and other search engines that your website is popular.
Creating a diverse backlinks profile and making sure your content is getting shared on social networks is the best strategy when you’re trying to get rankings in the search engines.
Some of the most popular ways of creating powerful backlinks are through business directories, guest posting, and press releases. Stay away from spammy or questionable link building techniques since your site could get penalized.
On-Page & Off-Page SEO Works Together
Now that you understand more about on-page and off-page SEO, you likely see how these two work together.
If you have high-quality content that is link-worthy then people are going to pay more attention to it and may bookmark it on bookmarking sites. Bloggers are likely to link back to your website as a source when your website has content that is worth referencing.
Creating a site that has a good structure makes it easy for people to look through your content when they are visiting and makes it more likely for them to stay longer. When people stay on your site for a long period of time browsing, that shows the search engines that your site is helpful and can be a good signal for ranking.
If you don’t have your on-page game together, it’s going to be very difficult to get any results even when you’re doing a lot of work with your off-page efforts.
Making sure your content and site quality is at its best will allow you to get the results that you want faster than putting a thin website up and building a lot of backlinks to it. While that worked in the past, that no longer is a strategy that works now nor will it ever work again in the future.
Taking Your SEO Game to the Next Level
Now that you understand on-page SEO and off-page SEO, you have the ability to start working your way to the top of the search engine rankings.
Do you feel like it’s too much to take on by yourself? Do you need help climbing to the top of the search engines?
Contact us today with any questions you have about SEO or to get started with our services. We would love to help you achieve your search engine ranking goals.
