SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is essential for anyone wanting to climb search engine rankings. SEO is crucial for your business as it can help you stand out against your competition. But if you’re new to the digital marketing world, you may be wondering about the two main types of SEO: On-Site and Off-Site and the differences between them. So what is the difference between on-site and off-site SEO?
The difference between on-site and off-site SEO is that on-site is completely within your control but off-site is not. On-site SEO refers to the optimisation of your website through keywords, quality content, title tags, H1s, meta descriptions and more. Off-site SEO refers to the efforts on other platforms to refer back to your content such as backlinks, digital PR and local SEO.
Read on to learn more about the differences between on-site and off-site SEO with Wildcat Digital.
When you are implementing an SEO strategy, it’s important to recognise what type of SEO you need to reach your goals. The difference between on-site and off-site is that on-site SEO is the process of directly optimising your website for your users. It’s all about implementing strategies on your website that will help to build your domain authority and rank higher over time.
Off-site SEO are techniques implemented away from your website to build SEO. Off-site SEO is all about working with other websites and forms of media to build your brand, encourage backlinks, and get ahead of your competitors.
On-site SEO is everything that you can directly do to your website to optimise it. On-site SEO is completely within your control and it’s what you implement on your site to make it the most optimal. By using on-site SEO, you can make your website more appealing to both your clientele and search engines. Some of the core on-site SEO practices include:
Keywords are a crucial element of on-site SEO. They indicate how your page is currently ranking and what you need to target. Keyword difficulty can help you to determine what keywords are best suited to the content you are producing.
Writing unique content can help you stand out and is a key element to on-page SEO. It can help you gain quality backlinks, improve media exposure and develop your E-E-A-T.
Title tags are important for SEO, they are what Google uses to display what’s on your site. If you make them compelling and relevant you are more likely to gain organic traffic. They are a key ranking factor and can help you to appear higher on search engines by targeting your keywords.
Meta descriptions can encourage users to click through to your site, creating organic traffic. By including your target keywords, you can better match users’ search intent and stand out against competitors.
H1 tags are important for SEO as they give search engines an indication of the content on your page. They clearly define what your content is and improve how users read your website.
Content marketing is the process of sharing your content both on your own site and across different platforms. A great way of implementing this is through blogs which can help to build your domain authority, gain organic traffic and, ultimately, get you noticed.
Linking your pages together, referred to as internal linking, helps search engines understand how your site is structured and what pages are the most important. It also builds authority and increases your ranking.
Off-site SEO is the process of applying tactics off of your website to help boost overall SEO. The impact of off-site SEO is getting users and search engines to see your content as trustworthy and building a positive reputation. Some of these tactics include:
Backlinks are one of the most important off-site SEO techniques. Your backlink profile signals to Google and other search engines that you are an authoritative source and can increase your domain authority. In turn, this can boost rankings, traffic and more.
Digital PR is a key off-site SEO strategy. The results of digital PR indicate to users that other websites and media channels trust your content. You can promote yourself, drive traffic to your website and encourage conversion rates.
With local SEO, you can optimise your presence for users in your local area – ideal if your business has a physical location. Using tools such as Google Business Profile, you can increase your visibility for local searches and rank in a high-value position. Learn more about ranking locally with our post ‘How Can I Rank Better In My Local Area?’
Another off-page technique is reviews on platforms such as Google Business Profile or Trustpilot. These are great in themselves as they help boost your site’s SEO, but can also be added to your website via a plug in or embed code.
Visible, real reviews show that you value your customer’s feedback. This can build trust with your users and highlight E-E-A-T.
By guest posting on other people’s sites, you can get your brand in front of a different audience. This can lead to backlinks, increasing the traffic to your site and gaining a new audience.
Learn more about the different elements of SEO in our post ‘What are the Different Types of SEO Services? Your Complete Guide’.
When it comes to on-site and off-site SEO, you have to use both to your advantage. By optimising your site with on-site SEO, you can appear higher on Google through your chosen keywords, title tags, H1s and internal links. This, in time, helps to build your E-E-A-T and domain authority to help you rank higher on search engines. However, there are no guarantees that it will work, or that it will work quickly.
If you focus too much on just on-site SEO, you miss out on a world of opportunities to work with other brands and develop your audience. Likewise, if you focus only on off-page SEO you’ll be limiting your site’s potential. It’s important to focus on both types to create the best experience for your users.
On-page and off-page SEO work together to boost your SEO. It’s important to use both techniques together for an effective marketing strategy. By creating high-quality content with well-chosen keywords, you can encourage quality backlinks. For digital PR, quality content can help but you need to make an effort to gain promotion.
This will help you to appear higher on Google and other search engines, increase click-through rates and generate revenue for your website. Clients are more likely to engage with your content when it’s been trusted by authoritative sites.
If you want to start with SEO but don’t know how to begin, why not get in contact with one of our SEO experts here at Wildcat Digital? We are an award-winning digital marketing agency designed to help you with your SEO needs. To arrange your free consultation, contact us today.
Alternatively, if you have any SEO-related questions why not check out our Knowledge Base content hub?
Our SEO specialists are here to help you punch above your weight online.
