Businesses employ many methods to market their website and increase site visitors, the first of which is SEO. Search engines drive more than 50% of web traffic, so developing a robust SEO strategy is essential to developing a solid online presence.
There are several ways to promote your business through SEO, primarily on and off-page SEO. This article will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both on-page and off-page SEO to determine which method is suitable for your business.
Keep reading to learn more. Otherwise, check out Idea Maker’s guide to getting started with SEO.
Why SEO Is Important?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of positioning your website to rank highly on search engine results pages (SERPs) by fine-tuning a variety of key elements. SEO scores are based on several factors outlined by search engines like Google. These include keyword density, relevance, and external factors, such as the number of backlinks to the page in question.
Ranking highly on search engine results pages is crucial for maximum online exposure. Over 67% of web traffic goes to the top five search results. This means you must ensure that your website fits the criteria set out by Google and other search engines.
How Do Search Engines Rank Websites?
To determine the quality, usefulness, and authority of a web page, Google uses web crawlers that scan and index pages. Google then ranks the website, determining its position on SERPs using an algorithm containing over 210 factors. These include both on-page and off-page aspects.
What Is On-Page SEO?
On-page SEO focuses on optimizing elements such as product descriptions and blog posts found directly within your website. This is typically achieved by using specific keywords relevant to user search queries. For example, to optimize a dental practice website, including high-volume search terms such as ‘dental care’ or ‘tooth whitening’ in a blog post would allow Google to connect the website with interested web users.
On-Page Ranking Factors
As previously mentioned, Google ranks websites by several on-page SEO factors. These include:
- Keyword Usage: Are the keywords in your website’s copy relevant to user search queries? Google aims to match users with the right websites, and keywords enable it to understand content relevancy.
- Content Uniqueness: How original is your web content? The Google algorithm does not like duplicate content and will penalize a website if it has too much replication.
- Content Usefulness: How valuable is your content to the end-user? Google detects this by monitoring how long a person stays on a webpage and how much they interact.
- Internal Links: Does your website include proper internal linking? By anchoring various internal links within blog posts and site copy, you help search engines understand the structure of your website.
What is Off-Page SEO?
Off-page SEO is the process of employing strategies outside of your website. This is typically achieved through building backlinks and a high-quality catalog of guest posts. For example, a software development company could write an article on how to hire a remote developer and then submit it to an external blog.
Off-Page Ranking Factors
Along with on-page elements, Google also ranks websites based on off-page SEO factors. These include:
- Domain Authority: Do competitors and other online pages consistently reference your website? This contributes to your site’s authority ranking.
- Competitor Authority: How highly regarded is your competitor’s website? If your competitor’s site is referenced more than your own website, their site will likely outrank yours.
- Backlink Quality: Do the websites linking back to yours have high authority? Google does not look kindly upon obviously spammy backlinking sites, so it is essential to ensure they follow good practices.
- Guest Post Relevancy: Is the guest post site to which you’re submitting relevant to your industry? If you’re running a software development company, you shouldn’t be guest posting on a site geared towards hospitality.
Advantages of On-Page SEO Strategy
Performed correctly, on-page SEO is an effective way to drive organic traffic to your business’s website. Here are several advantages of employing an on-page SEO strategy.
Boost Organic Traffic
By optimizing your website content for search engines, on-page SEO allows you to rank higher on the search engine results page. As a result, your website becomes visible to more web users and potential customers. If your meta descriptions and title tag are correctly positioned, this will encourage users to visit your site.
As your CTR grows, your website’s SEO score will increase. This means that your website’s overall SERP rank will improve, and more traffic will be generated.
Improved Local Search
When a web user searches for local companies, on-page SEO can be used to increase your website’s visibility. This is done by including relevant keywords and information such as your business’s location and industry.
For example, with a properly optimized website, any California-based developers will appear when an individual searches ‘software developers, California.’ Improving your website’s visibility in local search results is an excellent way to connect with nearby clients with a genuine interest in your product.
Advanced Crawl Rate
Crawl rate is the time it takes for Google to scan and index your website pages. Though crawl rate does not factor into SERPs ranking directly, your site needs to be crawled efficiently to achieve a swift ranking. While your web pages remain un-crawled, they cannot be ranked, meaning you miss out on potential traffic.
Well-executed on-page SEO makes the crawling process smooth, as the required information is readily available for Google bots. On-page practices such as inserting correct metadata and regularly updating content contribute to a webpage’s crawl rate.
Disadvantages of On-Page SEO
Good on-page SEO is an effective method many businesses use to improve their online presence but it’s not without problems. Here are just a few disadvantages of on-page SEO.
Google Penalities
If a website has engaged in black-hat on-page SEO tactics, such as keyword stuffing and suspicious linking, Google will relegate the site’s rank. Though the solution may sound as simple as avoiding black-hat techniques, it’s easy to engage in such tactics inadvertently. For example, in some cases it’s necessary to repeat a keyword when creating content but Google may identify this as keyword stuffing, despite the context.
The best way to avoid these issues is to hire a professional SEO marketing company, like Idea Maker. Our experts have the experience and resources to help your website rank higher without using black-hat techniques.
High Competition Rates
With over 1.7 billion websites in existence today, many of which operate in the same industry, SEO competition is high. As more competing websites target high-volume keywords, the keyword difficulty rises. This means that it’s challenging to rank your website for high-volume keywords and phrases.
The catch-22, however, is that low-difficulty keywords often have a low search volume, meaning targeting them is less likely to be fruitful. As a result, it is tough to beat competitor rankings without a robust SEO strategy or professional knowledge.
Advantages of Off-Page SEO Strategy
Good off-page SEO strategies are just as effective as on-page and come with just as many benefits. Here are several advantages of employing an off-page strategy.
Increased Domain Authority
By utilizing an off-page SEO strategy, businesses can increase their website’s domain authority. As backlinks and guest posts accumulate, Google will see that your page is a consistently referenced source of information. As a result, the algorithm will identify your website as having high authority and usefulness.
As previously discussed, when ranking a website, Google considers domain authority. This means that as your site is recognized as authoritative, it will achieve better search engine rankings, resulting in more visitors to your website.
Extended Reach
Off-page SEO heavily relies upon link building, which is done through guest posting on other websites and linking to your website on social media. Link building is an excellent way to build an online presence beyond your existing following, extending your reach.
Your SEO scores will increase as your domain becomes more widespread across the internet, giving your website greater visibility online. What’s more, a solid link building strategy opens your business up to cross-pollination of clients through guest post readers and social media users following anchored links.
Enjoy the Success of Others
Because off-page optimization largely relies on collaboration with other websites, such as blogs and forums, it allows you to enjoy the marketing campaigns of those sites. If your content is posted on a website with consistent marketing efforts, your website will indirectly gain greater exposure through backlinks.
Google considers the authority of the websites that feature your backlinks. As these websites grow, so will the competitiveness of your website and SERP ranking. Guest blogging on high-quality, active sites is an effective way to increase organic traffic.
Disadvantages of Off-Page SEO
Despite these powerful benefits of off-page SEO tactics, as with all marketing strategies, there are several disadvantages. Here are just a few drawbacks to off-page SEO.
Attracting the Wrong Audience
When you post an article to a guest site, you share an audience with the domain holder. In some cases, this can lead the wrong types of customers to your website as they have no genuine interest in your business. This is because guest posting does not allow you direct control over audience targeting.
So, although you may reach a broad audience and gain many additional visitors, they are often disinterested. This means off-page SEO work can sometimes be in vain.
Low-Quality Backlinks
When submitting a post to a guest site, it’s challenging to determine the quality of the website without professional tools. As a result, many businesses post to low-authority sites, leading to sub-standard backlinks. This comes with two significant issues.
First, it means your website will not achieve a high traffic volume through backlinks. Second, Google may identify your backlinks as suspicious and penalize your website.
Which Method Is Right for You?
As discussed above, both on and off-page SEO strategies have advantages and drawbacks. So, which SEO method is suitable for your business? The truth is, an effective website SEO marketing campaign will include elements of both on and off-page SEO.
Employing only one technique will result in a less effective campaign, as the two rely on each other for the best results. However, running a comprehensive SEO campaign is challenging without the proper resources and marketing knowledge. That’s where Idea Maker comes in.
Expert SEO Solutions from Idea Maker
At Idea Maker, we have a team of expert SEO professionals dedicated to running a successful campaign for your business. We have years of experience in marketing and web development, meaning we can create technically orientated promotions that provide effective results. Schedule a free consultation with us today to learn more.
