Now Required: Offsite Search Engine Optimization
Offsite search engine optimization is important. It can boost your website’s rankings but, unfortunately, is often overlooked.
Offsite optimization focuses on building external relationships with other websites and making sure the search engines visit your site frequently. The most common offsite SEO tactics are link building and having your site listed on Directories.
Link building refers to having other websites link to your site, preferable because they believe it has valuable content. The Internet has thousands upon thousands of directories. There are directories that focus just on tools, others focus on food, and some attempt to be the mother-of-all directories, they try to organize the entire Internet. Getting your site listed on their directory is often no more complicated than filling out an online form and submitting it to the directory. Typically the process takes a few days before you are notified that your website has been accepted and will be part of the directory’s listings.
Too many organizations still believe that all they need is a website. The whole are and science of search engine optimization is foreign to them. The reality is that without offsite SEO, Google and other major search engines are almost blind to their website. It’s only after years of slow traffic and no sales leads occur that they realize they may need to hire an SEO expert.
Businesses that employ search engine optimization tactics are thriving because they are building offsite relationships, they’re literally networking through their site. One study suggested that 80% of websites do not have a detailed offsite SEO strategy. So not only are they not ranking well, they’re losing traffic and are being destroyed by the sites that are smart enough to exploit the power of offsite SEO.
Fortunately there are a number of SEO services that can promote your site and build its search engine rankings considerably. It’s an efficient and convenient way to earn a return on your website investment.
The benefits of offsite SEO are clear. However, there are risks as well. When outsourcing offline SEO be sure your consultant knows not to do every available tactic too quickly or artificially. The search engines can detect “black-hat” tactics such as keyword stuffing or being listed on 1,000 directories in five days and these, artificial, tactic can result in your site being delisted. Delisting can take years to reverse.
With billions of webpages on the Internet, it’s no longer a case of simply uploading a webpage and waiting for the search engines to index it. While you will be indexed, it’s essential to engage in search engine optimization so you can be ranked quickly.
There’s a ton of free information available on SEO tactics, both online and offline. If you have the time and skill to master the tactics then this is probably something you can do yourself. Who knows, it might even be fun.
If you don’t have the time or skill to become an SEO expert, please check out our site (www.aligned-marketing.com) and be sure to contact us about scheduling a free website evaluation.