When Singapore business owners think about SEO, they typically put much of their focus and attention on on-page aspects such as keyword selection. But how much thought have you given to SEO factors that are off-page? For the most part, on-page optimisation can be done at one time. Off-page optimisation, however, is on-going because it requires that you constantly build links to your site. And there are a number of involved in how well you rank. Let’s discuss these factors. But first, let’s talk about Google PageRank.
Google PageRank
If you want to make sure that you fully understand off-page ranking, you must first have an understanding of Google PageRank. PageRank is what Google uses to measure your site. Websites that have higher PageRank are considered to be more important than those with lower PageRank. This is why high PageRank sites have a much better chance of outranking others in Google’s search results.
Luckily, there are tools available to help you check this measurement. When checking, you’ll notice that different pages on your site will show different rankings. And this is something that you need to pay attention to when you’re building your links.
Off-Page Ranking Factors
When ranking a webpage, Google’s algorithm evaluates hundreds of factors–both on-page and off-page. What adds to the complexity of SEO is that although there are many factors involved, Google gives more weight to some than others. The good news is, if you know which ranking factors are the most important, you can focus your energy on these and give your rankings a huge boost. Below are the most important off-page SEO ranking factors for Google.
Number of Inbound Links
When it comes to off-page SEO, there is hardly anything more important than the number of inbound links that your site has. In other words, how many web pages are pointing to yours? Why is this so important? Well, when a website hyperlinks to a page on your site, it counts as a vote. The more links that are pointing to your website, the more votes you have. And the more votes you have, the better you look in the eyes of Google and other search engines.
In order to find out which sites are linking to yours, you can use a tool such as Ahrefs. Keep in mind that most of your links need to come from domains that are unique. This means it’s better to have a handful of links from a variety of sites than 100 links from just one site. You should also be mindful of the number of links that you create on your own site. The links in your footer, navigation, and sidebar don’t just appear once, as you would assume, they appear as many times as the number of pages that they can be seen on. This means that you can have thousands of links to one page. And this can have an effect on your unique domains. So be careful of this.
Anchor Text to Certain Pages
Another important aspect of off-page SEO ranking factors is your anchor text. Whenever someone created a link, the text that appears as a hyperlink is referred to as your anchor text. It’s best to create anchor text that uses your keywords. This gives Google a better idea of what your page is about and it will know which keywords to rank your site for.
For example, if your page is called “Home Improvement Tips,” the links you get should ideally point back to your page using the anchor text “best home improvement tips.” So try to use generic anchor text such as “click here” or read more” as little as possible.
Just remember that you won’t always have the option of choosing the anchor text. But don’t worry because there is still value in the link, especially if it offers quality information. Also, never go overboard when it comes to keywords and your anchor text. Sure, keywords matter, but you should never repeatedly stick the same set of phrases and terms into your link because it can appear suspicious.
So vary the anchor text. Make sure that your text appears as natural as possible. A good rule is to only place your keywords in about 15 to 20 percent of your anchor text. In between these times, you can use your URL, brand name, generic CTAs, long tail keywords, or your name when creating comment links.
Link Quality
Believe it or not, not every link will hold the same value or weight. And in the case of off-page SEO, quality matters. It’s best to earn links from websites that are well-established. Choose sites that are considered to be an authority in your particular industry. Their links are more trusted in the eyes of Google. The are several places that you can get quality links from such as high PR sites and .edu or .gov sites.
If you are not quite sure about which sites would be considered to be authority sites, then you could always take a look at Google’s search results. Search for your keywords or those that are related. The authority sites tend to take up more real estate and are featured more often in the SERPs. Look for sites that have been established for quite some time.
When you couple this particular strategy with creating excellent anchor text, then it can really send your rankings soarings. Remember, it’s very easy to earn links from low quality sites. They are a dime a dozen. It’s more worthwhile, however, to pay attention to credibility.
Link Building Speed
When considering off-page SEO ranking factors, you should also keep in mind the speed with which you build your links. At what rate is your site able to build links? It’s easy to assume that the faster you build links, the faster you will be able to achieve a higher ranking. In actuality, this could not be further from the truth.
Here’s the thing: when you build links too quickly, it tends to look unnatural. All Google sees is that your website suddenly has a large number of links pointing to it and appear to be very suspicious. And this is something that can easily result in your being penalised by Google. This is especially the case if your site is relatively new. Older sites may not be affected, but if you’re just starting out you should avoid this.
Google is smart and it can tell when something is natural and when it’s not. Let’s say that you build thousands of low-quality links in just one day and your site is not even a month old. This will get the search engine’s attention but not in a good way. So your link building should be steady but focused on delivering quality. If you’re not using an automated tool to generate your links, then your site should be fine.
Conclusion
As you can see, there is much more to SEO than on-page optimisation. A successful digital marketing strategy also requires off-page SEO. And there are several factors that Google uses in order to determine your ranking. The key is to understand the power of PageRank and which factors Google values the most. By knowing the factors that hold the most weight, you can ensure that you get the most out of your optimisation.
