Off-page SEO

Off-page SEO explained

Off-page SEO covers signals that come from outside your own website. The biggest is links from other sites, but it also includes brand mentions, reviews, citations in directories and your general reputation. These signals help search engines judge how trusted and well known a business is.

How it affects trust

Two plumbers with equally good websites won't rank equally if one is mentioned by the local paper, listed by its trade body and reviewed by hundreds of customers. Off-page signals are the online version of reputation. For local businesses, reviews and citations matter a lot. Google says prominence is one of the main local ranking factors.

Risky habits

• Buying links or joining link schemes, which breach Google's spam policies.
• Chasing quantity over relevance. One link from a respected local site beats dozens from unrelated directories.
• Ignoring reviews, which affect both rankings and whether people choose you.
• Forgetting that off-page work rests on having something worth linking to.

A realistic example

A garden designer wins a medal at a regional show. The show's website links to her, a local magazine features the garden and she adds the story to her own site. None of it was bought. It came from doing notable work and making sure people could write about it.

How to review yours

Search Console's Links report lists the sites that link to you most. Check whether your trade body, suppliers and local organisations are there. Then search for your business name without your domain to find mentions, reviews and listings. Make sure the details in them are accurate and current.

Related link terms

• Backlink: A link from another website to yours; a classic off-page signal.
• Digital PR: PR campaigns designed to earn coverage and links from real publications.
• Citation: A mention of your business NAP on another site or directory.
• Link building: Earning or acquiring backlinks: quality and relevance matter.