9 Off-Site SEO Strategies that Will Stand the Test of Time

There are various best practices when it comes to SEO strategies; sometimes, it even depends on the industry you are in. However, because search engines like Google are ever-evolving, a lot of those best practices can be changed.

Do not worry about some of the techniques you have already employed on your website; they more or less still work depending on the kind of site and the kind of audience you have. However, here we will discuss the tried and tested off-site SEO strategies that will consistently help you gain that organic traffic.

1. It is not about the number of links; it is the quality

As much as it is important to have as many backlinks as possible, it would be useless to have if the majority of those come from websites that do not have significant authority to help you rank.

You need to link to websites with significant authority, and quality links that would show Google and the people that you are a quality website as well.

A simple way to do this is to use a tool like ahrefs and see what your competitor’s backlinks are coming from. This gives you a better understanding of where to go when looking for links versus spraying and praying. Similarly, creating long-form content gives you a statistically higher chance of creating more backlinks without outreach.

2. Engage in social media

Many marketers will tell you that this is the age of social media, and if you are still not tapping into its massive potential, you are completely missing out. The usual suspects are Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, but depending on your website, you can always add Pinterest and other social media sites into the mix.

People want their content accessible, and what is more convenient than social media? Plus, if it is shared enough, they will get to see it often.

3. Blog about something audiences can relate to

Remember that you are not just creating content to sell whatever it is you have on your website; you should also be able to give your audience a reason to come back for more. You can achieve this by writing quality content.

Make a more concerted effort to write more personable content and maybe inject a little of the product or service you are selling, a How-to guide, or address a community's concern and give relevant answers.

An easy way to do this is to go to BuzzSumo and type in what your blog is all about. In this case, I used SEO as my target topic.

From here, I can filter the information and see specifically what has been shared the most in the past 24 hours, weeks, months, six months, and years. And the best part is I can create content that has a similar shareability factor to exponentially grow my traffic much quicker than just picking topics that I think may do well.

Also, if you are using content marketing for your business, the premium version pays for itself because you have the ability to export all the results and see a more refined granular view of what is happening relating to the content that your competitors are posting.

4. Target long-tail keywords

Marketers focusing mainly on head terms are missing out on a lot. While they normally have high search volumes, you will have to face stiff competition from much more authoritative sites with lots of budgets to conduct a much more sophisticated SEO campaign than you.

Instead of fighting a losing battle, target long-tail keywords instead. While they do not generate as many search queries, they have higher CTR and are much easier to rank for, given the limited competition.

5. Do not just focus on Google

While Google might be the authority search site, it does not mean that you should ignore other search engines. Remember that other people might prefer Bing or Yahoo, and other countries have their search engines. So try to diversify your SEO efforts and learn about the SEO techniques you can employ to rank on other search engines.

6. Consider looking for dead links

Dead links are those individual web pages or websites that have become permanently unavailable. The reason you might want to tap into this is for you to create content that has now become unavailable on the Internet. In this way, you are replacing the lost content and are now redirecting the traffic that query used to have to your website.

If you want, you can even replace those dead links on your site, which Brian Dean from Backlinko was able to explain further.

I have even used this strategy as a way to add value to influencers in the SEO space. You can easily do this by downloading a google chrome extension called the broken link checker. This is an easy and affordable way to quickly analyze an entire web page and see the links.

You can even go to reputable websites and pitch why a publication should put your link instead of the older link.

Here is an example of an email I sent to Entrepreneur.com where I noticed broken backlinks and content I wrote that could replace what they already have:

Dear Editor,

I absolutely loved your post on content marketing hacks for 2016. In fact, I even shared it with my network and email list. But unfortunately, 2 of the most important links were broken in the article.

I wrote a similar article that is a life that encompasses the most recent content marketing hacks, and I would love it if you could replace that link with the link I sent.

Thanks,

Charlie

Most of the time, you will get an overwhelming response, and the editor will put in your link, provided it’s a well-thought-out article and relevant link.

7. Internal linking

This is just linking internal pages within your content on the website wherever you think it is needed. The Google algorithm puts weight on this too, so it can increase your link popularity.

All you need to do is do a quick google search for the content you are looking for

8. Blog commenting

Google cracked down on blog comments that use target keywords as their name. At the same time, it is no longer as effective as it once was before; crafting a blog comment that balances providing value to readers and passing link juice to your pages is still possible.

9. Answering Q&A sites

Some people think discussion boards are dead, but if the amount of queries being sent to Quora or blogging sites like WordPress is any proof, it is pretty much alive. Post a discussion on a board that is related to your site, or maybe post them on social bookmarking sites like Reddit, and then you can put a link to your website in your account signature. If you give relevant enough answers, they will take a look at your site.

Conclusion

These age-old SEO tactics are still widely used because they work. By implementing these tactics into a workable SEO strategy for your site, you can expect to increase backlinks and visitors to your site.

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