To ensure your website ranks at the top of the search engine pages (SERPs) for searches relevant to your business, a winning SEO strategy is crucial. Part of creating an effective strategy involves two key areas: on-page and off-page SEO. Wondering what the difference is between these two areas?
What is the difference between on-page and off-page SEO?
On-page SEO refers to the optimisable aspects that you can control (e.g. content, keywords, meta data, etc.). These things define to search engines what your website and each individual page is about. On-page SEO will largely determine what your website ranks for.
Off-page SEO refers to the strategic factors being used to promote your website (e.g. local SEO, social media, link building, etc.). These things define to search engines how much authority your website has. Off-page SEO is largely responsible for determining how highly you rank in search engines.
On-page SEO
As your SEO partners, on-page SEO is one of the elements of your website we will manage to ensure you rank for your key search terms. Here are just some of the factors we take into consideration when optimising your on-page SEO.
1. Title tags and meta descriptions
Title tags are the HTML tags that define the title of each page of your website. Similarly, meta descriptions are the HTML tags that describe what each page is about. We follow best practises to ensure your title tags and meta descriptions are formatted in the best way to boost your rankings in search and increase your click-through rate.
2. Content
Useful, well-written and well-structured content throughout your website is essential to ensuring your on-page SEO is strong. We create an SEO strategy in line with your business’s unique goals, and craft the content needed to hit the keywords your audience are search for.
Optimising this content also allows Google to use your content for its AI Overview feature, which is becoming more and more prevalent. (Further Reading: SEO for AI, welcome to Search EVERYWHERE Optimisation.).
3. Internal links and site structure
Creating internal links throughout your pages to relevant content in other areas of your website is both helpful to visitors, and establishes your site’s authority to search engines. The design and site structure of your website is also of paramount importance to ensure any users can navigate your website easily and find the information they need to convert.
Off-page SEO
For digital marketing agencies like us, off-page SEO is where our strategic mindset really comes into play. We use a range of tactics to get your website noticed by search engines.
1. Google My Business
Utilising Google My Business (GMB) to its full extent is vital to off-page SEO. Ensuring your GMB information is up to date and accurate will provide this information directly to Google, and those people searching for your business. It’s also important for your ranking in local SEO.
We also look at Bing Places for Business, the Bing equivalent of GMB, as there are potential visitors to your website who don’t use Google for search.
2. Backlinks
Backlinks are links from other websites that go back to any page on your website. Having a high quantity of good quality backlinks is an essential factor for off-page SEO. It is an important statement to search engines that demonstrates the content of your website holds value – and therefore should rank highly in search.
3. Social media
Although social media doesn’t directly affect how well your website ranks, having a social media profile that people can find and engage with will still help people find your website who might not otherwise be able too. Google does index pages on all the major social media platforms, so having a presence on these sites helps control your brand’s authority in SERPs.
