On Page vs. Off Page SEO

Marketing theorists ten, fifteen, and even twenty years ago were obsessed with the concept of branding. However, it’s a term that’s losing traction in the modern marketplace. Marketers used to believe that if you could simply brand something well enough — if you could distinguish your product, service, or company well enough — that you would be able to create a kind of niche appeal even in highly competitive markets. Of course, branding, in this sense, only works if you’re the only one doing it. Once everyone starts vying for the niche, nothing is unique. So how do we win in the current market?



Believe it or not, relationships are key. As the average buyer gets younger and younger, a heavier emphasis is place on the human element of purchase decisions. And in a world dominated by internet consumption, we’re just too inundated by advertising and digital market presence to be easily swayed toward something with which we have no relationship. The modern digital marketer is having to work overtime to compete, and that’s why relationships are so powerful.



Think of it this way: are you more likely to purchase a product or service from a brand you saw on a Google ad or from a company your friend recommended? That’s the power of relationship.



So, the question is, how do you create and maintain meaningful relationships in the world of digital marketing? To understand this, it’s invaluable to understand how SEO works as well as the difference between the two.



Search Engine Optimization

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SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and consists of all the techniques and tools one could use to bolster their website in search rankings. When Google’s algorithm and other search engines process a search, they’re looking for three primary things: visibility, relevance, and authority.



Visibility is as simple as it sounds; is your site in working order? Is it live? If it can be found and presented to an end user, it is visible.



Relevance answers the question, “How relevant is the information on this website to the keywords searched by the end user?” Using industry keywords in your content writing is profoundly important, as it helps search algorithms identify relevance between your site and what was searched.



Authority is a consideration of how reliable the information on your site really is. Algorithms analyze authority by finding out how popular your site is on the web. If your site has been linked to by other websites, posted on social media, or quoted often, then your site is authoritative.



On Page SEO

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On page SEO refers to anything you can do on your own website to bolster your search engine rankings. It includes things like content writing for keywords, improving page speed, using h2 tags in your content, using alt image descriptions and html tags, as well as several other techniques, and the essential purpose of on page SEO is to create relevance. For example, let’s say I own a barbershop. If someone searches “barbershops near me,” and my website lists the keyword barbershop, details my services, and uses descriptive pictures with appropriate tags, my site will be appealing to the algorithm as a relevant search engine result to present to the end user. That’s how on page SEO works.



Off Page SEO

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Off page SEO is slightly trickier and includes things like backlinks — links to your site from other sites. To have good off page SEO, it is vital to have reliable, relevant information that would be helpful to other sites. This means that it’s important not to just have information on your site about your product or services and company, but it’s also crucial to offer useful information that may help form relationships with other entities.



One way to do this is simply by reaching out. Mutual support between websites can be the beginning of mutually beneficial relationships that get you tons of backlinks and more “street cred” on the internet. For instance, if you are in the restoration industry, you could seek referrals from local insurance companies and ask them if they’d be willing to post an article about your services.



Another element of off-page SEO is reviews. Reviews are a powerful way to show the internet that your company is consistently doing meaningful work that could be valuable to the end user. It’s not vital to get a perfect five stars from every single review (although you do want a good rating), but Google places a higher premium on how consistently you’re getting reviews. Again, a good way to obtain reviews is simply to reach out to satisfied customers and ask if they’d be willing to write one.



While on page SEO bolsters relevance, credibility is built through off page SEO.



So, why does all this matter?

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The short answer is this: each piece is necessary for a powerful digital presence. The market in which we live is increasingly noisy, and your company deserves to be seen in the chaos. On page and off page SEO, while targeting different aspects of your websites credibility, are both crucial components in your company’s digital strategy. At Tier Level, we work hard to ensure that your website is fully optimized for a meaningful digital impact, ensuring that your Google listings and website are well-written and utilized. But don’t forget the power of relationships in your digital strategy.

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