Off Page SEO Audit: A Comprehensive Guide to Success

An off page SEO audit is a thorough examination of a website's online presence beyond its own content. This includes analyzing external factors that can impact search engine rankings.

To begin an off page SEO audit, identify the website's target audience and their online behavior. This will help you understand what external factors are most relevant to their search queries.

A comprehensive off page SEO audit involves examining backlinks, social media presence, and online reviews. Each of these areas can have a significant impact on a website's search engine rankings.

By focusing on these external factors, you can improve a website's online visibility and drive more traffic to its pages.

Off-page SEO matters because it helps search engines see your site as reputable, which can lead to better visibility in search results.

Think of off-page SEO as building your site's reputation, and factors like backlinks, reviews, and recommendations play a major role in this process.

One of the key concepts to focus on is E-E-A-T, which stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness – a framework used by Google's Quality Raters to evaluate search results.

Off-page SEO is essential for your site's ability to rank, and it's a major factor in Google's algorithm.

Backlinks are a crucial part of off-page SEO, and our 2020 search engine ranking factors study found a clear correlation between total backlinks and Google rankings.

Google still uses PageRank, and links are considered the most important off-page SEO signal.

Online reviews and mentions on authority news sites and Wikipedia are also important off-site SEO signals, and are used in Google's Reputation Research.

Reputation Research helps Google figure out whether or not a site can be trusted, and it's a key part of off-page SEO.

Off-page SEO techniques can help boost your site's authority and organic search traffic. Building backlinks is a crucial aspect of off-page SEO.

Backlinks are outside links to your site, created by people who find your content relevant and useful. You can also create backlinks yourself by posting content that links back to your site via social media profiles and directories.

Guest posting is a strategic off-page SEO technique that involves contributing high-quality content to other authoritative websites in your industry. This approach helps build backlinks, expands your reach to new audiences, and enhances your brand authority.

To maximize the benefits of guest posting, target reputable sites that align with your brand's values and audience. Crafting engaging and informative articles that resonate with the host site's readership can lead to increased visibility and credibility.

Guest posts can lead to unlinked brand mentions, which may not be as powerful as a backlink but still help. Building high-quality backlinks from your guest posts can also help your rankings, but in small doses.

Here are some search operators you can use to find guest blogging opportunities:

To create interesting and relevant content that people would want to link to, focus on providing genuinely valuable information. Consistently publishing high-quality content is key to attracting high-quality backlinks.

Brand mentions are instances where your brand is mentioned on another website or platform, without necessarily including a link back to your website. These can include mentions in news articles, blog posts, social media posts, and other types of online content.

You can find unlinked brand mentions using the Brand Monitoring app, which allows you to set up monitoring for your brand name and filter for references to you without backlinks. The easiest way to do this is to go to your “Mentions” report and filter for references to you without backlinks, as well as news sites and blogs, and mentions made in the last 30 days.

In some cases, publishers will be willing to add a link if you ask nicely enough, so it's worth reaching out to them. You can also filter for articles with positive sentiment to increase the chances of success.

Brand Signals are what Google uses to figure out if your site is a legit brand, and they can be boosted by getting brand mentions on authority sites. For example, I got mentioned in The Globe and Mail, which is a huge newspaper in Canada, and even though it was an unlinked mention, it probably still helped my off-page SEO.

To get brand mentions on authority sites, you can email back and forth with the reporter a few times and do a 45-minute interview over the phone, like I did. This can help increase your brand awareness and build your brand credibility.

Here are a few ways that brand mentions can impact off-page SEO:

To do brand mentions, you can monitor your brand mentions using tools like Google Alerts, Mention, or Hootsuite Insights, and engage with the people or websites that mention your brand by thanking them for the mention.

Digital marketing and PR are essential components of an off-page SEO audit. Content marketing is an important off-page SEO technique that involves creating and distributing high-quality content to attract and engage your target audience.

Publishing great content is an effective way to earn backlinks, gain media attention, and show E-E-A-T. This can be done by creating valuable content that captures the attention of media outlets and influencers in your industry.

Digital PR involves using PR techniques to gain backlinks and is now the link-building tactic of choice for many SEOs. It's a great way to earn authoritative links at scale and increase brand awareness and branded searches.

A great PR campaign can also put your business in front of your target audience, drive referral traffic, and show E-E-A-T. To succeed in digital PR, it's essential to craft compelling stories and pitches that capture the attention of media outlets.

Here are some key benefits of digital marketing and PR:

Digital PR is a dynamic off-page SEO strategy that focuses on gaining exposure and backlinks through online public relations efforts. This involves creating and distributing press releases, engaging with journalists, and securing coverage in reputable publications.

Social media platforms can play a significant role in off-page SEO, as they can help you build brand awareness, drive traffic to your website, and earn backlinks from authoritative websites.

Local SEO and Presence is crucial for businesses that operate in a specific geographic location. It's essential to claim your business listing on various platforms to manage your online presence.

Google My Business is the most important local listing platform, and it's free to use. You can manage your online presence on Google, including Google Search and Google Maps. Yelp is another popular directory that allows users to find and review local businesses, and it offers free and paid options for businesses to manage their listing.

Optimizing your local listings is key to improving your business's online visibility. This includes providing accurate and complete information about your business, including your address, phone number, hours of operation, website URL, and photos. You should also include relevant keywords and write a compelling business description.

Here are some popular local listing platforms:

By creating and optimizing your local listings, you can improve your business's online visibility, attract more customers, and improve your search engine ranking.

Reviews and Reputation are crucial for building trust with potential customers and improving your online presence. Reviews can persuade others to trust your business and are one of the most important factors Google takes into account when evaluating your site's reputability.

Google recommends replying to all reviews, good and bad, to show that you value your customers' business and feedback. You can quickly find and reply to reviews with Review Management (part of Listing Management).

To build trust, kindly ask all customers to leave reviews, and don't accept or offer money in exchange for reviews. Kindly ask all customers to leave reviewsBuild trust by responding to all reviewsDon't accept (or offer) money in exchange for reviews

Google's Quality Rater guidelines put a lot of emphasis on online reviews, which can affect your site's E-A-T in the eyes of Google. Reviews also affect your site's visibility in search results, especially for local businesses.

If you don't run a business that people review, Google relies on awards you've won and how other experts in your field feel about your website. For example, awards like being listed as the #3 SEO blog by Semrush can help improve your site's E-A-T.

Building a strong online reputation is essential for your business, and it's easier to prevent a Ripoff Report than to fix one. To build trust and name recognition, work on making your social media profiles more prominent and active, and don't be afraid to reach out to new people, especially influencers.

Google Business Profile (GBP) is a free business listing tool that helps you influence how your business shows up in Google. Optimizing your Google Business Profile is a key off-page SEO tactic that can increase your site's visibility in high-value positions on Google's search results pages.

To optimize your Google Business Profile, be meticulous with your contact information, respond to all reviews, and publish posts regularly, including photos and videos. Here are some Google Business Profile tips: Be meticulous with your contact informationRespond to all reviewsPublish posts regularly (including photos and videos)

To check your backlinks for free, try Link Explorer, Moz's free backlink checker, and get key insights for all your link building needs.

Link Explorer is a powerful tool that can help you check a site's influence with ease. You can try it for free and get key insights for all your link building needs.

Checking your backlinks regularly can help you identify areas for improvement in your link building strategy.

Building a strong backlink profile can significantly improve your website's search engine rankings. Backlinks are a crucial part of off-page SEO.

To build a strong backlink profile, you need to focus on effective backlinking strategies. One of these strategies is to identify and target high-quality websites that are relevant to your niche.

A strong backlink profile can improve your website's credibility and authority in the eyes of search engines. This can lead to better search engine rankings and more organic traffic.

Some effective backlinking strategies you can use include guest blogging and creating high-quality content that other websites will want to link to.

Daniel went from DA0 to DA48 in 90 days with just one link-building strategy. This shows that significant improvements in domain authority can be achieved with targeted efforts.

Josh and Ash built high-quality links using creative approaches, such as sending targeted broken link building emails. They even landed decent links by leveraging their site's similarity to Google Correlate.

Daniel Daines-Hutt, the founder of Amp My Content, initially considered guest posting for his agency site, but then discovered a more scalable way to build links. He used insanely targeted email outreach to get on 60 podcasts in 90 days.

Daniel's pitches were personalized, which made people happy to have him come on their shows. He started racking up backlinks, which helped his new site get early SEO traction.

Daniel's domain authority went from zero to DA48 in just 3 months. This is a remarkable achievement, especially considering his agency was still getting off the ground.