What is On-site and Off-site SEO and How to Improve It
As we previously discussed, having relevant content that answers the questions people are asking is a key building block. Some shop owners think having a website with content is enough. Still, to maximize your online marketing efforts, you must also use your off-site SEO methods. Having a site that portrays a whole picture of your business and the brand you represent on and off the page is important. You need to engage within your community and show you are your brand's SME (Subject Matter Expert). Click here to watch the webinar!
On-site and Off-site SEO—What is It?
Regarding on-site SEO, it’s a simple question. Does your website provide a good user experience? On-site SEO is what it exactly says it is. It is everything you do on your website to optimize for search engines and real-world users. It includes the content you are putting on your site, how it is structured and the tagging on your site. If your website is eye-catching, easy to navigate, has clear calls to action, and answers users’ questions with high-quality content, then you’ve created a fantastic website that search engines will promote.
Off-site or off-page SEO is everything you do off your website to build your brand and online presence. Off-site includes what we do for our branding outside our website and what occurs naturally. Suppose there is a news article about something your shop is doing in the community. In that case, it can show engagement, even if there’s no link to your website. Search engines will see your brand mentioned, which will count toward your SEO status.
How to Improve It
There are many options for shop owners to choose from when trying to improve off-site SEO. Brand building is the key to success, and there are certain aspects to focus on to maximize your SEO and business.
One vital action is citation building and management. Your citations are found in online directories and include all your pertinent business information like name, address, phone number, business hours, and website. Think of it like this. There are many different “phone books” found online that are directories. Your entry in those directories is your citations. You want to ensure that your contact information is listed correctly, no matter which “phone book” a customer refers to. This consistency is suitable for both the user experience and search engines.
Get people engaged with your brand on social mediaplatforms. Engagement enables you to build your brand not only on that platform, but that success will also translate to search engines. Social media is another place where users can learn more about who you are and your services. You can also include forums and other user groups in this category. For example, you could be a BMW specialist active on a BMW forum.
Your Google My Business listing is essential to your online success as a local business. In many instances, your GMB is the first thing people interact with when they engage with your brand, whether they Google you by name or discover your brand when searching for a local service such as “brake repair near me.” You want to make sure your GMB information (name, address, phone) is accurate and that you’re building your review count and score there. Your review score on GMB is a ranking factor in local results and influences peoples’ buying decisions. If a product or service has a poor review score, we have this natural hesitancy about spending money on it. The opposite is true if the score is overall positive. The same thing goes for your GMB. Work on acquiring positive reviews, and reward yourself with increased local visibility and a higher conversion rate.
Community engagement is also a form of off-site SEO. When involved in your community, your brand spreads by word-of-mouth and naturally translates into more online mentions. An example of community involvement may be an event a local news outlet covers that spread throughout social media, on forums or other groups.
Link building and backlinks are essential parts of off-site SEO. Link building can be through citation management, but the best link building occurs naturally. Let’s use community involvement as an example. If another website was to talk about your event, discuss your brand, who and what you do, and then link back to your website- that’s an example of a backlink. The more of these you build to your website over time, the more backlinks you have or “referrals” from other places. When these come from other high-quality sites, search engines like Google reward you with more authority and visibility.
Autoshop Solutions is an automotive digital marketing agency specializing in websites and internet marketing solutions. Want to learn more about our services? Or watch this blog in action, please click here!
NOTE: This blog is the second in a two-part series on What Shop Owners Need to Know About SEO. This series focuses on why SEO is important to your marketing and how to improve on-site and off-site SEO.
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