Off-Page SEO: 5 Effective Tactics B2B Companies Can Employ Today
Off-page SEO represents the flip side of on-page SEO. Basically, off-page SEO takes care of those tactics that you can employ external to your website. You will find many articles and books that explain how to do SEO on and off the page. However, this article focuses solely on B2B companies.
Popular off-page SEO tips mention social media, social bookmarking, and other tactics that pertain more to business-to-consumer (B2C) businesses – for businesses that sell to other businesses (B2B), some of those tips they just don’t apply.
Also, I guess you’ve done the basics. Submitted your website URL to search engines like Google. And it has already been sent to directories. With that said, here are five effective tactics B2B companies should employ to improve their search engine rankings.
Off-page SEO tactic n. # 1: blog comments and forum posts
Blogging is probably the most effective way to improve your off-page SEO. It is interactive. It is updated frequently. And it is fast. That translates into effectiveness. Specifically, B2B companies that blog generate 67% more leads than companies that blog.
Forum posting also helps improve your overall SEO by creating inbound links to your website. Google evaluates your website, in part, based on the number of “quality” links from other sites. As you comment on the forums, your presence there will generate links as you become a trusted contributor. This takes more time, but is worth the investment.
Off-page SEO tactic n. # 2: content sharing
About a year ago, content marketing created quite a stir in marketing circles. Today, content marketing is more than just a buzz. It is part of conventional marketing. Content marketing includes article marketing, web content, white papers, case studies, etc. So how does that affect off-page SEO?
It’s one thing to create content, it’s another to curate and share it. Share content using these three methods: (1) Social media like LinkedIn; (two) Video – You Tube, in particular, and (3) Presentations like SlideShare. Highly consumable and shareable content drives traffic to your site quickly.
Off-page SEO tactic n. 3: link building
Link building sounds more technical than it is. Here, too, you should emphasize quality rather than quantity. Google assigns the page rank based on authority. So if you have external links that link to your website, Google recognizes it and gives you a higher page rank. But how do you get links from authorized sites?
The answer is to create relevant and useful content. Nothing attracts viewers to a website than unique content. It can be text, audio or video. But original and highly shareable content will increase the number of inbound links.
Off-page SEO tactic n. 4: submit articles and press releases
Article marketing and press releases are two proven tactics to improve your page SEO ranking. They take longer, as you develop a reputation and a following, but they are effective. You get inbound links by posting your articles and press releases on other article syndication sites. You’ll see an increase in traffic and qualified leads over time as you build your brand.
Off-Page SEO Tactic # 5 – Yellow Pages
Don’t overlook the yellow pages. This is clearly “off the page” and “old school”, but it works. The yellow pages help promote your business locally. And you can list your business for free, which makes it an inexpensive way to build your business. The modern versions are Google Maps and Yahoo Localworks. Take advantage of these online and offline methods to improve your SEO position.
Off-page tactics that work for B2B companies
The five off-page methods explained above represent tactics that B2B companies can employ today. They are not technical and they are not expensive. However, in most cases, they take time. The results speak for themselves, as long as you implement them diligently.
Focusing on these five methods allows you to improve your SEO rankings without feeling overwhelmed when learning about social media tactics aimed at B2C businesses.