Would you launch your brand into space to boost website traffic?

Well, you don’t have to… but it would get people talking about you, wouldn’t it!? I mean… it worked for Elon. 

Today we’re talking about how we can get others talking about and signposting to your website to increase traffic.

Yep, that’s right, we’re covering off-page SEO in this week’s episode of GIANT Wednesday.

Hi, I’m Justine from Sleeping Giant Media and I’m here today to talk to you about off-page SEO, what it is, what’s important to know, and how you can do it well.

If you like what I have to say in today’s video then make sure to subscribe to our channel where we release digital marketing skills-based videos every week! 

So, today we’re talking about the things you can do to make the most out of what happens outside of your website in order to boost your SEO activity, otherwise known as off-page SEO.

This stuff is important because whilst we don’t know the full algorithmic workings for how search engines rank sites, we do know that factors like relevance, authority and trust are super important.

Off-page SEO elements can help to build these areas, and give you access to signals that boost authority and build trust in the eyes of both the search engines and us mere mortals.

There’s a common feeling that off-page SEO is hard work because a lot of the time it’s out of your control – and in that sense, it’s true. 

But that’s why it’s such an important ranking factor! If something’s harder to get, then it’s harder to manipulate, and ultimately that makes it a more reliable source to search engines when it’s trying to work out how to place websites in the rankings.

Off-page SEO includes things like social media, link building, and local SEO – the things that can help generate referral traffic back to your site.

It helps to bring those potential customers and visitors to your site, where your on-page SEO work can then take over and make sure they have an awesome digital experience. 

Works together nicely, doesn’t it?

One of the major players in off-page SEO is links.

This is quite simply a link to your site that sits on someone else’s. But, as with all things in digital marketing, relevancy is key.

Having links from high-quality sites to yours is a trust signal for search engines, proving to them you’re trusted by others and therefore they can trust you too. 

You want to focus on obtaining high equity links that come from authoritative sites and are relevant to your brand.

Is there a leader in your industry, someone everyone looks up to and trusts? Try and work with them to get links to your site – whether that’s through a blog post, a directory or something else equally valuable.

These can either develop naturally as these companies find you themselves, or you can get in touch to explain who you are and what you do, seeing if you can find some neutral ground to make some collaborative content.

Whilst links are essentially the backbone of off-page SEO, there are other things to consider too – from your social media presence to guest blogging opportunities, to really any other way that can help to create a buzz around your brand.

When another brand mentions you online, whether they link to you or not, is a great way to go about this. 

Factor ways into your marketing activity that can help you to increase the number of brand mentions you’re getting. This could be in other people’s content, on social media channels or forums.

Things like user-generated content and collaborations are a great example to get brand mentions – maybe you could do some blogger outreach, looking to either guest-blog or have guest writers for your own in order to extend your reach.

Try not to think of this as a selling tactic, but rather an opportunity to increase your audience’s affinity to your brand. This will set you on the right path for successful off-page SEO.

Keep in mind that your offline marketing activity may inadvertently help to boost your off-page SEO efforts too! 

If you’re planning on hosting an event, running a pop-up, initiating a marketing stunt or any other kind of activity… make it something people will want to talk about, and then you’ve got yourself some brand mentions. 

An example of such is Tesla… back in 2018 when they launched a car into space, they then saw a dramatic spike in published articles mentioning the car brand and linking to the Tesla site.

Whilst you might not be in a position to launch your product into space, you get the idea, and if you can launch things into space, give us a call. (*whispered* Luke really wants to go to the moon.)

So, that was a whistle-stop tour of off-page SEO – essentially, things you can do outside of your immediate website to drive traffic there.

Get people talking about you in one way or another, and if they provide a direct link to you, then even better.