On-page and Off-page SEO. What’s the Difference?
The entire activity of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a seesaw. The fulcrum is your SEO strategy, and you must balance it with on-page SEO and off-page SEO to make sure you don’t go down or get left
hanging in the air.
On-page and off-page SEO is carried out to optimize a website and increase its authority so that it ranks high in the search engines – the ultimate goal of every SEO campaign.
The thing about them is that they both go hand in hand.
Try writing quality content on your website, adding compelling visuals and graphics, using high-ranking keywords, and not do link building for it. You will see zero progress. Simple! No one of the two aspects can be ignored at the expense of the other.
“What you rank for is largely determined by on-page factors, while how high you rank in the search results is largely determined by off-page factors.”
On-page SEO
On-page, SEO is everything you do on your webpages to make them rank higher. It ranges from your website’s technical aspects to the quality of your content and the overall look and feel of your website.
For on-page SEO, you’re the king of your own realm. You can make improvements as you like. Everything is in your control.
On-page SEO checklist
Title tags allow search engines to understand what the given page is about. They are one of the most important on-page factors for SEO. The best practice is to use only one lt title tag on a page. Adding a keyword in the title tag is also recommended.
The limit of title tags should be 70 characters, including spaces. If any longer, they will appear on the SERP with ellipses.
Meta descriptions
Meta descriptions are the two lines that appear immediately under the title tag on the SERP. They tell the content they will find on that webpage.
An ideal meta description should be between 135 to 260 characters. Any longer, it will be shortened by the search engine. If there is no meta description, Google will create on itself. Therefore, you should
create your own meta and add the most important detail to convince users to click.
URL Structure
Your page’s URL should be as short as possible. It makes it easier for users to remember it. Also, add the keyword in the URL to improve the rankings. URLs shouldn’t be changed unless you’re applying a redirection on it.
Fix headings
Headings make it easier for the readers to skim through the content and don’t get overwhelmed by all the information. An ideal content should have a clear title, followed by various headings – h1, h2, h3.
One page should only have one h1, and all the other headings should be h2 or h3. Headings also allow users to feature in rich snippets on the SERP.
Fast page load speed
Fast page load time helps massively in improving the website’s ranking. Google aims to provide the users with the best possible results, and that too swiftly. That’s why page load time is one of the 200 rankings factors that Google sees when determining a page’s rankings.
Internal Linking
Link building doesn’t only mean linking to other websites. Having internally linked pages on your website enables visitors to navigate through the website edify. It also helps the search engines in crawling data.
Internal linking should be done on relevant anchor text which is the clickable text in a hyperlink. The best practice is to keep the anchor text the same as the page it is linking to.
The importance of on-page SEO is such that almost half of the 2000 ranking factors determined by Google belong to on-page changes and modifications.
All in all, on-page SEO ensures that your site is understandable to both your customers and search engine robots.
Off-page SEO
Off-page SEO is about improving the perception of your website in the world of the internet. It is basically aimed at making your website look more authoritative so that the search engines value it.
Off-page SEO includes everything from link building, mentions, reviews, social promotions, listings, ads, etc.
Off-page SEO checklist
Backlinks
Backlinks from the backbone of off-page SEO. The reason for getting backlinks is that it increases the authority of your website. If more sites link to you, Google will consider your website authoritative.
There are many techniques applied to get backlinks. They are:
Guest Blogging
Local listings
Guesting on a podcast
Hosting events
Influencer marketing
Press Releases
When getting backlinks, it is important to consider the anchor text. Like internal linking, anchor text should be relevant to external links as well. Getting links from a high domain authority website also works wonders.
Domain authority means how authoritative your site is, according to search engines. It considers various factors and then scores every site on a scale of 0 to 100, with a hundred given to the highest authority website.
Some of the factors that impact domain authority are:
Your link profile
Overall website traffic
Relevancy to the search query
Visitor experience
Guest Posts
Guest postings on prominent websites in your business niche can also get you valuable backlinks. Once you have identified a website, write a compelling e-mail to outreach them and pitch your ideas.
Make sure your blog post is informative and adds value to the user experience. Only then can it increase the authority of your website.
Social media
Although, Google has said that the number of social media hits won’t be a determining factor when it comes to ranking pages in SERP. However, social sharing is important in today’s day, and age as more than half of the world’s population is there.
Social shares might not impact your rankings, but they can get your brand the visibility and recognition it deserves.
Marketing
Marketing allows your content to reach even beyond your audience. It is also handy for brands that have a limited social following.
Influence marketing has become quite rife nowadays. Most brands engage influencers to promote their products. However, this won’t impact your ranking; you will still get some much-needed eyeballs.
Final word
Both on-page SEO and off-page SEO go hand in hand when it comes to improving your website.
On-page SEO might involve more factors, but off-page SEO is vital to give a good name to your website.
Any SEO strategy that finds a balance between both of them will succeed.
On-page SEO gives you the freedom to try whatever you like on your website.
However, the off-page
SEO factors bring me and repute to your website. So, use both, and wait for results to deliver themselves.
As the (not so) popular saying goes:
“All the top-ranked pages in the SERP weren’t built in one day.”
Author Bio
Erica Silva is a blogger who loves to discover and explore the world around her. She writes on everything from marketing to technology. She enjoys sharing her discoveries and experiences with readers and believes her blogs can make the world a better place.
Find her on Twitter: @ericadsilva1
