6 off page search engine optimization techniques + 1 for brand recognition
6 off page search engine optimization techniques + 1 for brand recognition
In my last post in the SEO series, I wrote about keywords and how strongly they can play a role in your website or blog's search engine optimization. In this post, I'm going to talk about what you can do to improve your brand's SEO that don't happen on your website or on your blog. This is referred to as off-page SEO, and it can play a role in where your content shows up in search engine ranking pages, and how many people recognize your brand.
Related: Basics of Search Engine Optimization
There are several components of off-page SEO and brand recognition building, and the following list is in no way exhaustive.
Social Media: Create and actively use the social media that your target audience uses. Be sure to regularly update with on-brand information; also, join groups where your audience is, answer questions and provide value. It's better to grow your brand by being helpful and valuable than by constantly promoting your own work, or your sales and specials.
Focus on link building from sites that are relevant to your business. This means that if your company sells dog-related products, as an example, a link from an animal shelter would likely be seen as higher quality than, say, a link from an office automation company. It's important to make sure that the sites linking to you would be relevant to your target audience.
Consider the broken link building strategy. If you've gone to a website to read someone's blog post and stayed on the page to find other resources, there's a chance that you've occasionally run into a broken link. This creates an opportunity. You can approach the website owner and let them know about the broken link. Show them some of the content you've created, and that you can provide similar information that their customers might be interested in.
related: how to quickly build up a blog audience
Create highly shareable content: The whole point of content creation and publishing is, in the grand scheme of things, to let people know you exist. Do your research. Create content that is easily readable and that provides information your target audience is looking for.
Create info graphics that help your readers and promote your website: Infographics are a great way to bring organic traffic to your website, as long as there is useful information in the piece. SEO expert Neil Patel wrote in a blog post on his own website that he's found infographics get more backlinks than blog posts.
Consider your brand perspective: The strategy you use for building recognition of your brand should make sense when someone thinks of your brand. Be choosy about who you seek links from, where you guest post, and how you promote your business.
Step off the Internet and be visible in public: This one is way, way off the page, and is a personal favorite. It doesn't create backlinks to your site, but it does increase people's awareness of your brand. I'm talking about going out into the world to show off your brand. For example, sticking with the pet product company, it might make sense to participate in animal-friendly public events and bring promotional materials that include your branding (including your website address) that people can take with them when they leave.
At the heart of it, off-page SEO techniques (and on-page too) are all about growing your brand's recognition, showing the value that you offer. These techniques are meant to help people and search engines to recognize that your brand has value. But, always remember to write for humans, not the search engine bots that crawl your page for ranking information. At Writing Unfiltered, authenticity and helpfulness are at the core of my content writing strategies for businesses and organizations, but content can only go so far. If you're tactful and helpful in your online interactions, particularly in social media, it goes a long way toward proving that your brand could be of use to a visitor seeking what you have to offer.
RELATED: THE TOP PLATFORM BEGINERS NEED FOR THEIT BLOG
Big thank you to our guest blogger
April Bamburg
April Bamburg founder of writingunfiltered.com, a writing and SEO expert and author of Copy In The Raw. Featured in Statesmen, Herald Net and the Vancouver Business Journal.
