Onsite Vs. Offsite Search Engine Optimization – What’s The Right Mix?

Onsite and offsite SEO are important tools to any inbound marketing campaign. Both of these are effective separately, but to get the most out of SEO, you should use onsite and offsite together.

Onsite SEO

A crucial piece to onsite SEO is keywords. If you use the wrong keywords, you run the risk of driving the wrong people to your website. You might be optimizing your website based on keywords you think people are searching, but those keywords might not be the ones people are actually using. The best way to get the right keywords is by using keyword tools. Google provides a basic one. If you want more complete results, use marketing software like HubSpot, Marketo or Eloqua.

After finding the right keywords, apply your keyword research to your optimization efforts. To do this, identify the relevant keywords for each page of your site and then weigh search volume vs. competition/difficulty. Once you do this, create your content around those keywords. Remember to use your keywords appropriately throughout your website. You should use keywords in every title and headline of those pages. Also use them in every meta tag, meta description, image tag and URL for those pages.

After you do this initial onsite optimization, there are a few things you can do to improve your optimization. Readjust your keyword strategy. Are there any new keywords you can add to your site? Are there any keywords that aren’t effective anymore? Look at your strategy and adjust it to bring continued optimization.

Offsite SEO

Offsite SEO is a little more difficult. It also requires ongoing effort. The majority of search engines are looking for other sites to link to your site, which indicates good content. It used to be the case that having more websites that wanted to link back to your website meant your site had good content. However, this is no longer the situation due to black-hat backlink tactics. Now, search engines look for respectable websites that want to link with your website. You might be asking why this is important. The answer is that the more you’re connected to other respectable sites, the more optimization you have.

Two ways to create respectable backlinks are through press releases and guest blogging. When you create a press release, make sure it’s search engine optimized and has relevant links that lead back to your website. Then distribute it through an electronic wire service. Business Wire and PR Newswire are sites that will distribute your press releases to all news outlets.

The second thing you can do to create respectable backlinks is to guest blog. Reach out to blogs that target your potential customers. If you’re not sure what those blogs are, type “guest blogs” and your industry into a search engine. There should be several results that you can pick from. Reach out to those sites and offer to write a regular blog post. When you’re blogging, make sure to have links that lead back to your website.

The important thing to remember with offsite SEO is to do it frequently. You won’t get anywhere if you don’t distribute press releases and guest blogs often. Also, always add links that lead back to your website in your press releases and guest blog posts.

The combination of onsite and offsite SEO makes your website – and, therefore, your company – more visible to potential customers.

Start Today Tip – One important way to further maximize onsite SEO is by adding pages to your website. To do this, create a blog. This gives you a new searchable page. With each searchable page that has the proper keywords, you’re going to increase your search optimization.

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