An off-page SEO checklist is a comprehensive summary of the activities you can take to improve your off-page SEO standing and climb search engine rankings faster.
Here I offer you a summary so that you can see precisely what it takes to boost your website's authority and visibility.
What you will learn
- What is off-page SEO and how it works
- How to assess and improve your site's off-page performance
- Which tools you can use to streamline the process
What is off-page SEO?
Off-page SEO refers to the strategies and actions taken outside of your website to improve its authority and search engine rankings.
It involves building relationships and signals that demonstrate your site's credibility and relevance to search engines.
Unlike on-page SEO, which achieves this through keywords, meta optimization, and internal linking (among other tactics), off-page SEO focuses on signals outside of your website, such as:
- Backlinks
- Brand mentions
- Citations
By optimizing these signals, you can show search engines that both users and other websites endorse your pages as high-quality outlets, which will make them favored by search algorithms.
However, influencing off-page SEO factors isn't as easy as tweaking your own website, which is why many marketers consider this task daunting. If you're among them, fear not—we'll show you exactly what to do.
Off-page SEO checklist
You can use the following checklist as an actionable roadmap you can follow to uplevel your off-page SEO standing.
I'll cover all the key strategies you should implement alongside specific tips and steps for each.
1. Audit your backlinks
Each website has a backlink profile made up of external links pointing to its pages.
This is an essential aspect of off-page SEO, and many experts agree that backlinks can make or break your website's performance.
With this in mind, your first off-page SEO task should be to assess your website's backlinks. You can do this in a few simple steps using Google Search Console (GSC). Here's how:
- Open GSC and choose your property (website)
- Click Links > External links
- Go to Top linked pages
You'll see a list of links much like this one:
GSC can also show you which websites are linking to yours alongside useful information like the number of pages leading to your site.
This information is useful for two reasons:
- You can see whether your backlink profile is made up of high-quality links from reputable websites (which is crucial to successful off-page SEO).
- You can identify the pages with the fewest backlinks and prioritize them in your link-building strategy.
When you go to Top linked pages, you can scroll down to identify those that deserve the most attention. You can then move on to the next stage—strengthening the page's backlinks.
2. Outreach for relevant backlinks
There are many ways to acquire high-quality backlinks and boost your website's authority. Here are the most effective ones:
Guest posting—You can find various websites in your niche that accept guest posts and let you link to your pages.
Reclaiming broken links—A broken link may be a result of moving your website content around. You can reclaim the link by asking the external website's owner to include the new URL.
Skyscraper technique—An effective way to get backlinks is to see which of your competitor's pages get the most of them, create a better equivalent page, and then encourage other websites to link to your page instead.
Claiming unlinked brand mentions—Some websites might mention your business without linking to it, in which case you can reach out and ask for a link.
Creating clickable assets—Whitepapers, free tools, infographics, and many other content types can draw in natural backlinks by providing value to users.
Providing expert advice—Offering unique insights, perspectives, and research can position you as an authority and encourage others to link to your pages as references.
You can get backlinks naturally, but the process can take a while. So take an active approach and outright ask for them.
Here's an example of a guest posting pitch we received for the Surfer blog:
If you plan on creating shareable/clickable assets, think about what users and other websites in your niche can find the most valuable.
A perfect example is Bankrate's mortgage calculator—it has a whopping 36,000 backlinks from 3,000 unique websites.
Of course, your assets can be something much simpler like a well-thought-out infographic with useful statistics and insights.
As long as you provide enough value, you can expect backlinks to start rolling in.
3. Link to your most important pages
So we've established that backlinks are essential to effective off-page SEO—but did you know that internal links matter as well?
By using internal links strategically, you can leverage highly linked pages to boost the authority and traffic of others.
To understand how this happens, you need to familiarize yourself with link equity, also known as link juice.
When you link a well-performing page to a page with less traffic and authority, link equity gets passed on to boost the performance of the linked page.
You can leverage this strategy using GSC.
- Go to External links > Top linked pages to identify the pages with the highest number of backlinks. These are your highly-linked pages.
- Identify other pages on your site that you want to boost in authority and traffic. These could be new pages, pages with good content but low traffic, or pages with conversion opportunities.
- Within the highly linked pages, add relevant internal links to these target pages. Ensure that the anchor text is descriptive and includes relevant keywords.
You can also use third-party tools like Screaming Frog to assess your website's internal linking structure and find linking opportunities. Whichever way you go about it, focus on the following when linking your pages:
- Relevance—Only link to pages that are topically or contextually relevant to the source page.
- Anchor text—Make sure your anchor text accurately describes the target page's content.
4. Create a Wikipedia page
If you don't have a Wikipedia page for your business, you should create one sooner rather than later. Google uses Wikipedia as a reliable and frequently updated source of information to confirm an entity's data and establish its authority.
Specifically, Wikipedia is one of the many sources informing Google's Knowledge Graph—a massive database that the search engine uses to serve so-called rich results.
They show up in the form of panels or boxes alongside organic results and can do wonders for your site's visibility. Here's an example of a rich result:
Creating a Wikipedia page is free, and the platform offers a detailed guide on how to do it.
When your page is live, Google's algorithm can start pulling data from it, increasing your website's authority and chances of getting a rich result.
5. Land Google's Knowledge Panel
Speaking of rich results, there's a special type of result that many consider the pinnacle of authority—a Knowledge Panel. It's a concise summary of the searched topic or entity displayed on the right side of the search results page, like so:
As you can see, the Knowledge Panel includes information from Wikipedia alongside other details Google could verify from its Knowledge Graph sources.
Knowledge Panels are generated automatically, so there's no direct way to land one. Instead, you can get it as a result of various successful tactics, such as:
- Having plenty of authoritative links to your pages from other sites with high credibility.
- Making sure your About or equivalent page is informative and accurately represents your business.
- Creating a large network of sources (podcasts, local news, etc.)
With the above in mind, it's clear that getting a Knowledge Panel doesn't happen overnight. Still, the effort is more than worth it, as all of the above initiatives also improve many additional off-page SEO signals.
6. Examine your competitors' links
Competitor backlink analysis is one of the key off-page SEO fundamentals you'll want to master. It helps you unlock new backlinking opportunities by discovering websites willing to send users your way.
Analyzing a competitor's backlink profile isn't too difficult—let's use an example to outline the process.
Suppose you were in the plumbing industry and wanted to attract backlinks from reputable websites. Your first task would be to find the best-performing competitors for specific keywords.
If you don't have any keywords in mind, you can use tools like Google Keyword Planner to perform keyword research, starting with something as basic as "plumbing." You can see the results in the following image:
Take any keyword from the list and Google it. We'll use "water heater replacement" as an example. When you Google the keyword, you'll see that the first result is an article from The Spruce.
As the best-ranking piece, this would be your main competitor, so you'd want to examine its backlink profile.
You can do this with a tool like Ahrefs Backlink Checker. Paste the article's URL, and the tool will show you the number of backlinks and unique linking websites.
As you scroll through the list, you'll see various websites from which you can acquire a backlink, as well.
If you already have an article targeting the given keyword, you can review and tweak it to make sure it's better than the competitor's. If you don't, you can write a solid piece that will offer more value and compel the site owner to give you a link.
7. Optimize your Google Business Profile
If you own a business with a physical location, focusing on local SEO should be one of your top priorities. In other words, you need to create a Google Business Profile (GBP) page and make sure it accurately represents your business.
Right off the bat, it should be said that the link to your site on the GBP page doesn't count as a backlink.
Still, a GBP page brings various benefits, most notably increased organic traffic as a result of better exposure. If well-optimized, your page will appear in the Google Map Pack, where it will be prominently displayed in search results.
The Map Pack only displays three local businesses by default, and you'll want to secure those prime spots. Here's how:
- Make sure to fill out all the necessary details (name, address, contact information, and working hours).
- Write a detailed description of your services and include the relevant keywords - without stuffing the description with them as Google might penalize you for it.
- Add compelling images and videos.
- Add a Q&A section that allows customers to engage with you.
- Gather customer reviews.
A particularly important aspect of GBP optimization is reputation management.
Specifically, you should encourage reviews because doing so helps Google understand users' experiences with you. If they're positive, you're more likely to appear in the Map Pack.
Make sure to also respond to all reviews—especially the negative ones.
This way, you can build transparency and trust with your audience, so both customers and search engines will see you in a more positive light.
8. Earn brand mentions
Even though Google's John Mueller confirmed that unlinked brand mentions weren't an SEO ranking factor, they can still indirectly benefit your off-page SEO strategy.
Mentions across the web boost your website's visibility, encouraging users to search for it online.
Not only does this help you generate more organic traffic, but it also contributes to your authority in Google's eyes.
There are many ways to earn brand mentions—here are some of the most effective ones:
Newsletter partnerships—Collaborating with other brands in your niche on newsletters lets you tap into new audiences and expand your reach without too much effort.
Podcasts and webinars—Being a guest on podcasts and webinars is an excellent way to build authority and get brand mentions from authoritative sources.
User-generated content (UGC)—UGC is an excellent way to get lots of exposure and mentions quickly. You can run contests, challenges, and similar campaigns to encourage users to create content with your products or services.
Press releases—Sharing your achievements through press releases gives you significant exposure through media outlets. You can create press releases for new products, funding milestones, and similar newsworthy events.
Influencer collaborations—Influencer marketing has always been one of the most effective ways to spread the word about a brand. Find influencers in your niche, and see if there's an opportunity for collaboration or a paid partnership.
When you start getting brand mentions, you can track them with tools like Mention and Convosight. Such tools scour the web and social media platforms for any mentions of the provided keywords, so they can show you what others are saying about your brand.
You'll most likely find many positive mentions, so make sure to explore any opportunities for partnerships. At the very least, you can find partners who can give you proper backlinks.
9. Create local citations
Local citations are mentions of your business and its contact information around the web. Google uses them to verify your business details, so having various citations can boost your website's domain authority.
The easiest way to create local citations is to get listed in business directories.
You can find plenty of general ones like Yelp and Foursquare, which give your business and brand additional exposure on top of helping with local citations.
Ideally, you'll also get your business listed in industry-specific directories, which is especially important if you run a local business.
For example, if you search for dentists in San Diego, you'll see that PatientConnect365 offers such a directory.
Local citations are often called NAP citations because this acronym stands for the key information they should include—name, address, and phone number.
Your citations must be consistent across different websites and directories, or Google's algorithms may not be able to verify your business' credibility.
That's why it might be a good idea to use a dedicated tool to build and manage local citations. A good example is Brightlocal's Citation Builder, which helps identify and fix any inconsistencies.
10. Establish a social media presence
Being active on social media is essential to increasing brand exposure and expanding your audience.
While doing so doesn't directly impact off-page SEO, it unlocks numerous opportunities to boost your brand's and website's authority.
For example, social media links don't count as backlinks, but a solid social presence can encourage others to write about you on their websites and give you a proper link.
You can also form many partnerships with influencers and other businesses from your niche, which can give you plenty of traffic that Google will see as a signal of relevance and credibility.
When developing your social media strategy, follow these tips to get it right from the get-go:
Understand your audience—You need to know which social platforms your audience uses the most so that you can choose the right ones. It's also important to know what type of content they enjoy the most so that you can match their needs.
Create platform-specific content—Each content type works best on a specific platform. For example, you can publish long-form content on YouTube and short-form content on TikTok and Instagram Reels.
Ensure two-way communication—While social media can be a marketing tool, you shouldn't forget about the social aspect. Engage with your audience by responding to comments, creating interactive content, and encouraging conversations.
11. Engage in forums and communities
No matter what niche you're in, you can find various forums and communities your audience frequents to discuss all sorts of topics.
Joining the conversation and providing valuable insights can do wonders for your reputation and off-page SEO.
If you decide to do so, make sure to focus on genuine discussions over promotion. While it's okay to add a link to your website when it makes sense, overdoing it can be seen as spam.
A perfect example of how you should approach forums is this Reddit post by StudioBinder:
As you can see, the post encourages conversation without directly promoting the brand. While there's a link to StudioBinder's YouTube video, it's not forced or out of place. Take the same approach, and act as if you were posting from your personal account.
If you do it right, your engagement in forums and communities can send many positive signals to Google's algorithms, giving you quite some off-page SEO points.
12. Optimize on-page SEO
Now that we've covered the key off-page SEO aspects, we need to mention on-page SEO as the other side of the coin.
Taking all of the above steps won't matter much if your website doesn't follow the necessary on-page SEO guidelines.
Specifically, you need to focus on the following:
Keywords— Make sure to target keywords with a high search volume without excessive competition (especially if your website is new). Aim for specific, long-tail keywords until you're ready to tackle the more general ones.
Page design—Each page on your website needs to provide an enjoyable user experience. Focus on page speed and responsiveness, as well as content structure to ensure readability.
Metadata—Each page should have a meta title and meta description that concisely and accurately represents its content. Meta titles should be up to 60 characters long, while meta descriptions should fit into 140–160 characters, including spaces.
Images—Use lightweight images to avoid slowing down your pages, and make sure each page has well-optimized alt text.
By combining the right on-page SEO practices with solid off-page optimization, you'll check all the boxes necessary for ranking high in SERPs.
You can also use tools such as Surfer's Content Editor to optimize your content. In the Content Editor you can see which keywords to include in your content and how often.
There you can also see how to best structure your page to ensure a great user experience.
You may manually apply these changes to your content, or use the Auto Optimize feature which does it for you.
5 off-page SEO tools you should check out
Besides the tools we've mentioned throughout this guide, you can use the following platforms to streamline your off-page SEO workflows:
1. Surfer
While Surfer is well-known for its on-page SEO capabilities, it can also assist your off-page SEO efforts.
Specifically, you can use Surfer's Audit to identify improvements in your:
- Page structure
- Page speed
- Metadata
- Keyword optimization
- Internal links
And of course, all your on-page SEO efforts will indirectly affect your off-page SEO as well.
2. BuzzStream
BuzzStream is a handy tool focused mainly on outreach and relationship management. It offers various useful features, such as:
- Email outreach
- Automated follow-ups
- Link-building management
You can track your outreach campaigns and communications, manage contacts, and analyze the performance of your campaigns through the platform's detailed reporting and analytics.
BuzzStream's CRM capabilities also help maintain and nurture relationships with influencers and site owners, making it easier to secure valuable backlinks and improve search engine rankings.
3. Linkparser
Linkparser is a Chrome extension that analyzes web pages for link-related data. It can extract and categorize all links on a page, highlighting nofollow, external, and internal links alongside the anchor text of specific links.
A particularly useful feature is broken-link identification. You can see if any external links on a website are broken and ask the site owner to replace them with links to your website.
The extension is easy to use and comes with a simple interface. When you enable it, you'll see a window with color-coded links of different types, as well as link attributes that help you review link structures easily.
4. SimilarSites
SimilarSites does precisely what the name implies—it helps you find websites resembling the one you search for. You'll see a long list of websites, which you can use to uncover link building or guest posting opportunities.
You also get some basic insights, like the number of monthly visits and overall rank within the website's category, which you can use to determine a site's authority and potential.
SimilarSites offers a web app, as well as a Chrome extension that makes it easy to find websites without jumping between tabs. You can do it directly from the website you're currently visiting, which further simplifies your research efforts.
5. Majestic
If you're looking for a comprehensive tool designed specifically for backlink analysis, Majestic can be a solid option. It offers numerous insights into a website's backlink profile, such as:
- Backlink history that shows link growth over time
- Flow metrics that offer details about the quality and quantity of a website's backlinks
- A link graph for easy backlink visualization
Majestic also lets you assess a website's topical authority from the linking perspective. It analyzes both internal links and backlinks, showing you how many topic-specific domains and URLs link to a website. You can also see those domains and URLs, which lets you pursue backlinks from authoritative sources.
Key takeaways
- Off-page SEO refers to the strategies and actions taken outside of your website to improve its authority and search engine rankings.
- Regularly assess your backlink profile using tools like Google Search Console to ensure you have high-quality links from reputable websites.
- Use strategies like guest posting, reclaiming broken links, and the skyscraper technique to acquire valuable backlinks.
- Leverage internal links to pass link equity from highly linked pages to those needing a boost in authority and traffic.
- Establish a Wikipedia page for your business to increase your authority and visibility in search results.
- Aim to get a Knowledge Panel by building authoritative links and ensuring your business information is well-represented online.
- Study your competitors' backlink profiles and uncover new linking opportunities.
- Ensure your GBP is complete and accurate to improve local SEO and increase organic traffic.
- Utilize newsletters, podcasts, UGC, press releases, and influencer collaborations to boost your brand's visibility and authority.
- Get listed in business directories and ensure your NAP information is consistent across the web.
- Engage with your audience on social media and forums to expand your reach and encourage backlinks from authoritative sources.
- Ensure your website follows on-page SEO best practices, including keyword targeting, page design
Conclusion
Mastering off-page SEO is crucial for enhancing your website's authority and search engine rankings.
By auditing your backlinks, engaging in strategic outreach, optimizing your Google Business Profile, and leveraging social media, you can significantly boost your online presence.
Remember, off-page SEO works hand-in-hand with on-page SEO, so ensure both are optimized to achieve the best results.
Implement these strategies consistently, and you'll see your website climb the search engine rankings, attracting more traffic and establishing your brand's credibility.
