On-page and off-page optimization are two of the most weighted factors in the field of search engine optimization. Though these factors are a hot topic for debate among marketers, the truth is both are vital to the success of online businesses. As the world of search engine optimization continues to evolve with the advent of social media, it is important to understand the relevance of these two factors in order to get more web traffic for your business.
Search engines at their core are answer machines. When someone performs an online search, the search engine peruses billions of interconnected documents while simultaneously serving two functions: returning results that are relevant to the searcher’s query and ranking those results according to the host website’s information. On-page and off-page search engine optimization helps your website get found by search engines when someone searches using particular keywords or phrases that are relevant to your site. Both activities work towards increasing your website’s popularity and relevance in query results, but their methods are different.
On-Page SEO is internal and refers to how well your website’s content is presented to search engines. On-page optimization involves structuring your website or web pages in such a manner that it is easily found by search engines for a given set of keywords or key phrases. Consider your content. Each piece of content should be created keeping the focus primarily around a single keyword or phrase. This word or phrase should be mentioned several times so that you maintain a keyword density of about 3-5 percent per industry standard.
It is important to understand online limits. If you notice in a Google query that some results might have their titles chopped off, it’s because the title tag is too long. Google has limited page titles to 70 characters, so it’s extremely important that your title tags are keyword-specific and concise. Meta-data is also important. Meta-data is a summarization of the content of a particular webpage. Meta-data descriptions must be created within a limit of 155-160 characters. Meta description works as an ad copy for the search results which influences readers to click on a particular link. Good meta-data descriptions accommodate your website’s primary keywords.
As a final on-page SEO strategy, interlinking your web pages to other similar pages on your websites provides a context to the search engine and to readers as well. Some of the most lucrative practices include placing links in the main content of every page, using paragraph links, using breadcrumb navigation on every page and avoiding multiple links to the same page from a single page.
Off-page SEO is external and refers to your webpage’s overall “authority” on the web determined by what others say about your webpage. By its nature, off-page SEO is a long-term process and takes significantly longer to improve because it is based off of reputation. Off page SEO include earning backlinks on your page to authority sites in your market. Getting a good number of links from multiple authority figures in your industry is the key. Buying backlinks from unrelated domains won’t earn you positive search engine results and in certain cases may even penalize you.
Social engagement using social metrics is an increasing trend among online marketers. Google now gives prominence to social footprints around your content. This could include the number of people tweeting, liking your content on Facebook, or voting via Google+. Your social footprint is directly correlated with your SEO rankings. Keeping this in mind, you should be sure to promote your content through multiple social media platforms to obtain some traction.
For a long term successful SEO strategy, you will need to be mindful of your website’s structure as well as build your online reputation by earning backlinks and creating a community around your content. Ultimately, it comes down to creating unique, informative content that people want to read and share.
Need help optimizing search engine results for your business? Integrated Advertising is a full-service agency based in Jacksonville, FL., known for its expertise in strategic planning and negotiating, its award-winning commercial production, and promotional and event management, Visit http://www.intadvertising.com/ or call (904) 296-2585 for more information.
Sources:
https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo/how-search-engines-operate https://www.betaout.com/blog/on-page-vs-off-page-optimization-whats-the-diffrence/
