Off-Page Optimization is a technique that can bring your online website/product/service higher in search engines. This optimization is performed on a different website other than yours, it means everything is done off your website/webpage. There are several ways to do Off-Page Optimization, In this post we will provide all of these in detail.Another thing which is worth mentioning is the nature of how search engine works today. Search engine like Google, Yahoo and Bing constantly change, modify their search algorithms and hence affecting the on-page and off-page optimization. Also Off-Page optimization is done after doing On-Page optimization, so if you haven’t learned about On-Page SEO, then do it right now
Now, let’s start by learning basics of Off-Page Optimization, what they are and how they work.
Backlinks
The most heard term in SEO is Backlinks and the most common question that people ask about Backlinks are – What are Backlinks? Why Backlinks are Important? How to Get Backlinks? Difference Between Dofollow and Nofollow Backlinks.
What are Backlinks? & Why Backlinks are Important?
If any website (other than yours) links back to your website then it is called as a Backlink. Few years back Google introduced a term PageRank which was a mathematical formula to evaluate website rank in search results.
The formula was simple and it calculates the number of backlink to a website and gives it a particular rank in search engine. But getting backlink is not enough and another term that was introduced by SEOs like us came into existence, that is Quality Backlink. The more profound your backlink is, the higher PageRank you will obtain in search engines.
Backlinks are also termed as Incoming Links or Inbound Links or Inward Links.
How to Get Backlinks?
The Internet we know rests on content (text, images, videos). A search engine helps in finding valuable content that people are searching for. This never ending queries from people is the prime reason search engines are so successful.
Webmasters (like me) provide content and search engine ranks it. All of this is presented in a manner that people searching for content can find answers satisfactorily. A Content can be good or bad or satisfactory, if people find your content good they may link to your website, as people tend to link a website that has useful content for its visitors.
This is one way website can get a backlink knowingly or unknowingly.
Apart from this simple and straightforward way there are many other ways to get backlinks like:
Directory Submissions:
Directory submission today are almost dead, but still there are few Directories that can give you a quality backlink. Directories like – DMOZ and Yahoo are the most popular directories on Internet right now.
Article Writing and Submissions – There are several popular Article submission directories that allow you to submit content. Many of the Article submission websites syndicate their content.
Search Engine Submission:
Every search engine has a submit option and you can get listed for free. Few examples of Search engines are Google, Yahoo, Bing, Alexa, AOL, Duckduckgo, etc.
Press Release Writing and Submissions:
For any business or severe provider, Press release writing and submission is a good technique to get backlinks. Some Google news take content from PR websites and post their content as it is. Making your website listed in Google News.
Blog Posting and Comment writing:
Blogging is the most popular and powerful way to promote a website/company on the Internet. By creating lots of unique content convey your message to your customers/visitors. You can promote your blog by commenting on other blogs in similar niche. By commenting on other websites and leaving a link can help search engine crawlers to crawl to your website (if its a DoFollow blog).
If you dont write content and dont have the ability to write content, then you can hire a guest blogger to write precise content for you.
Classified Posting:
Classified sites like Craigslist, Quickr, OLX, Open PR will again list your service or business by which you can get backlinks and some amount to traffic.
Forum Posting:
Similar to blog posting, you can also start a forum or discuss topics on pre-existing forums online. That way links in your signature can be crawled and hence a backlink can be created.
Business Listing – Both local listing and Yellow pages listing can help you get few more backlinks. You can submit your website to Yahoo Local, Yellow Pages, Google Local, Google Maps, etc.
Social Bookmarking:
Another powerful and popular method of getting free backlinks are getting links social bookmarking sites from Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Delicious, etc. These social bookmarking sites have categorisation that is immensely important while submitting your content.
Social Networking:
Web 2.0 the participatory web is a way to connect with your friends, share things with each other and build your online reputation (of your website/company). Website like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram are examples of Social media sites. Participate actively and extend your network.
Difference Between Dofollow and Nofollow Backlinks.
There are two types of backlinks: dofollow & rel=nofollow. rel is a HTML tag that can have values like nofollow, author, prev, next, etc. There is no tag such as dofollow, so if a link is without a nofollow tag, its consider as a dofollow link.
Nofollow tag will give a signal to search engine spiders/crawlers to notfollow the link. And Dofollow link will tell spiders to follow the link. So from search engine perspective Dofollow links can give you SEO boost and higher rankings.
Nofollow link does not harm or gain search engine rankings but you can get referral traffic and may a user that came from a nofollow link becomes your loyal reader. So, in my opinion both Dofollow and Nofollow links are important. A good website should have a mix of both.