We’ve all heard of on-page vs off-page SEO, otherwise referred to as on-site and off-site SEO, but do you need to use both strategies to improve your SEO performance? In this article, we’ll explain what on-page and off-page SEO are, their main differences, and why it’s important to ensure that you use both in your SEO strategy.
What Is On-Page SEO?
On-page SEO is the optimisation of elements of your website. These elements include:
- Keywords
- Content quality
- Meta-data
- Header tags
- URL structure
- Internal linking
By ensuring that your website is optimised for on-page SEO, you can improve your chances of ranking higher in the search results.
What Is Off-Page SEO?
Whilst on-page SEO is everything that you can control on your site, off-page SEO focuses on tactics to attract links to your site. By linking directly to your site, off-page SEO can be extremely useful in enhancing your site’s visibility and authority.
Note: It is recommended to never pay for links as these can be considered low-quality and can harm the reputation of your site.
What Is The Difference Between On-Page vs Off-Page SEO?
Although on-page and off-page SEO both fall under the umbrella of SEO, their implementation, control and impact vastly differ.
Implementation & Control
On-page SEO is extremely easy to implement and manage. They are elements that can be managed and changed in one centralised location through the backend of your website.
On the other hand, off-page SEO is much more challenging and time-consuming to implement and control. Off-page SEO requires some form of manual outreach to get your website mentioned in as many relevant places as possible. This could include directories, blog articles, news publications and more.
At Proof3, our team of SEO specialists can help with your on-page SEO, as well as help with elements of your off-page SEO. For example, using various backlink analysis platforms like SEMrush and SE Ranking, we can identify if any online sources have mentioned your brand name, without adding an external link. Reaching out to these sources is one of the easiest ways to try to secure a backlink; they’re likely already familiar with your website and are more likely to agree to link to your site.
We can also analyse any of your competitors’ backlink profiles to understand where they got their links from and what type of content is getting the most links in your industry. We can then use these insights to expand on your content planning and outreach strategies.
Impact
Optimising for on-page elements of your website can significantly impact your website’s performance. Ultimately, optimising for relevant keywords on your page helps searchers and search engines understand what your content will be about. Using a proper hierarchical heading structure also helps improve readability for users and helps search engines rank your content accordingly.
As we can’t easily control off-page SEO, it’s important to monitor elements like backlinks. Off-page SEO is a ranking factor and helps establish your site’s authority and credibility, so it’s extremely important to ensure links are from high-quality, relevant sources.
Suppose you run a water cleaning business, for example. Getting a backlink from a local council would be more relevant and hold more value than getting a backlink from a parenting blog.
At Proof3, we can help you identify relevant, high-quality vs. non-relevant, low-quality links to give your site the best chance of ranking. Once we know which URLs aren’t beneficial for your site, we will suggest updating your disavow file to tell search engines to ignore low-quality links.
Common Challenges In On-Page vs Off-Page SEO
Like with anything, on-page and off-page SEO can come with its challenges. Below, we’ve added a breakdown of the most common issues and the solutions to overcome these issues.
Challenge | Solution |
Acquiring high-quality backlinks from authoritative and relevant resources. | Build industry relationships and create valuable content that people want to link to. |
Maintaining your brand reputation. | Monitor brand mentions, engage with your audience and correct inaccuracies. |
Stay ahead of your competitors’ SEO strategies. | Perform regular SEO audits and competitor research. |
Falling behind due to algorithm changes. | Ensure that you’re up-to-date with algorithm changes, updating your strategy accordingly. |
Although these are just some of the SEO issues that you could face, there are many more challenges that can come with SEO. By working with our team of SEO specialists, we will stay up-to-date with the latest SEO changes, ensuring that your SEO strategy addresses the potential challenges that come with SEO.
Can I Focus On Just One Type of SEO?
Generally, it’s not recommended to solely focus on one type of SEO. Using both types of SEO helps with E-E-A-T; it helps to build factors like the authority and trustworthiness of the site. This is because you are creating valuable content that people naturally want to link to.
Search engines also use on-page and off-page factors as a way to rank your content, so SEO is most effective when you use a combination of both on-page and off-page strategies.
Ready to take your eCommerce website to the next level?
Ultimately, using on-page and off-page SEO together is a surefire way to make the most out of your overall SEO strategy. However, it’s important to ensure that you are using them effectively to get the most out of your marketing efforts.
At Proof3, our team of SEO specialists are on hand to help with various elements of your marketing strategy to improve your website’s performance. If you’d like to learn more about how we can help, drop us a line.
About the author
Lucie Ogé
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