If you have a website or operate a business online, the chances are that you have heard the term, “SEO†or search engine optimisation. SEO is the process of making your website appealing and visible to search engines by optimising images and content. However, you might not be aware that there are two different types of SEO, namely on-site and off-site.Â
When you are creating an SEO strategy you will need to include both onsite SEO and offsite SEO, but this can be difficult to understand if you are not sure of what these aspects are. Both are equally as important for SEO success but they focus on different aspects of optimisation.Â
Is this all getting a little confusing? Below we dive a little deeper into the differences between on-site and off-site SEO.Â
What Is Onsite SEO?
Onsite SEO pertains to all aspects of your website and is the process of making your website search engine friendly. In simple terms, this means that elements of your website are adjusted so that search engines can crawl the website and are able to understand the content you have as well as the structure of your website.Â
There are several aspects that make up successful onsite SEO rankings, all of which must be improved and monitored on a regular basis to maintain your ranking.Â
- Keywords: These should be related to your business and industry for optimal onsite results
- Content: This can be anything from a blog post to a video describing your products or services
- Titles: The H1 and H2 (header) titles in your content and the title tags for your content should contain relevant keywords
- Load Speed: This is the speed at which the pages of your website loads, which should be checked on a regular basis
- Inbound Links: An inbound link is a link pointing from another website to yours, also known as a backlink
- Alt-text: Alt-text is the text or name of an image that tells the search engine what the image is for better indexing
By optimising these aspects and ensuring that they are updated regularly, your onsite SEO will improve and your website’s ranking and online visibility.Â
What Is Offsite SEO?
While onsite SEO should always be the first step you take for improving your search engine optimisation efforts, offsite SEO is equally as important and should be a major part of any digital marketing strategy. Offsite SEO refers to actions that you take to promote your website on the internet, other than advertising. Backlinking and social media marketing are two examples of popular offsite SEO.Â
There are many different methods of performing offsite SEO, some of which will perform better than others.Â
- Guest Blogging: Guest blogging simply means that you write a blog about a topic that is relevant to your business and ask another website to share this on their site
- Social Media Marketing:Social media marketing is highly popular and involves creating and curating content on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram
- Review Marketing: This is the process of using reviews from consumers to improve your online presence, such as encouraging reviews on online retailers
- Sharable Content: Creating sharable content means that you create content that is relevant and informative, encouraging consumers to share it
Offsite SEO is a little more difficult to get right but it is no less important than offsite SEO, especially if your goal is to improve your brand’s or business’s online visibility.Â
Which Is More Important?
Now that you understand the differences between onsite and offsite SEO, you are probably wondering which one is more important. In reality, the answer is that you need both. Without a proper SEO strategy in place, you might find that your website and business are not appearing in search engine page results.Â
If you have just launched your website, you should focus the majority of your efforts on onsite SEO, to begin with, so that your website will appear when keywords and your business name. Once you have improved your onsite optimisation, you can move on to creating an offsite strategy.Â
Your offsite should complement your onsite efforts, as this will ensure cohesion of your brand and improve customer experience. Your content should be relevant to your brand, helping to educate and entertain consumers.Â
Combining both onsite and offsite SEO, rather than focusing on one or the other, is an ideal method for ensuring that your website (and business) is always visible to consumers. If you are not sure where to begin, speak to NetMechanic today to find out how we can help you. Â
