Difference Between On-Page versus Off-Page SEO

Depending upon who you talk to you will find that there is a true divide when it comes to on-page versus off-page search engine optimization (SEO). We are one's where we actually fall right squarely in the middle and we feel that both are equally important to your overall search engine strategy if you want to reach page one results on the search engines.

On-Page SEO

On-Page SEO is a science of balancing your site design, with content, and the overall ease of use within your website. It is commonly said that if you do on-page SEO you are 70% there to being fully SEO optimized. This is where people believe on-page SEO is the most critical aspect of search engine optimization. We disagree as if you worry solely about on-page SEO you end up with the equivalent of a "C". That is not a shabby grade but why not take that extra effort and get an "A" and rock your SEO? The sites that do both are the ones that routinely show up on page 1 of the search engine result pages or SERP.

The best part to us regarding on-page SEO is that it is 100% in your control. Some of the core aspects of on-page SEO consists of:

• Title Tags
• Page Descriptions
• Keywords
• Headings (H1 in particular)
• Metadata
• Structured Data
• Site Architecture, URL, or Site Structure
• Alternate Text for Images
• Page Speed
• Site Security or SSL
• Page Content
• Frequency of Page Updates (Blogs are great for frequent updates)
• Linking to other pages internally
• Site Maps
• Use of rel="canonical"
• Use of rel="nofollow" on links
• Robots.txt file
• Quality HTML and CSS Code

Off-Page SEO

Off-Page SEO focuses on actual trust when it comes to your website and the pages within your website. Off-page SEO are all elements that are off of your website that work to get people to visit your website. Off-page SEO has nothing to do with the content of your website, although that is extremely important. Rather you need to focus on building quality links to drive more traffic to your site. With off-page SEO there are several factors that can influence your ranking and they are:

• "Page Authority" or PA
• "Domain Authority" or DA
• Quality inbound links to your site from credible sources (referred to as backlinks)
• Social media pages that link back to your site
• Video from sources like Vimeo and YouTube
• Forum postings that link back
• Directory submissions
• Blogging on external sites that link back to your site (this is where the rise of guest posting truly came to life)

Conclusion

You can see from above doing just one of the items can only get you so far. Doing both will give you not only the best results but also give you the best chance of being on page one for the keyword phrases that you want to be found under within the search engines. Expect to spend 1-4 hours per month to properly keep your information updated for a website that is 15-pages or less to the latest search engine standards. Also you should spend 1-8 hours per month (minimum) to stay on top of the latest search engine best practices so that you do only the recommended techniques.

If you find that you want to spend your time running and growing your business rather than living and updating your online employee (e.g. your website) we have maintenance packages strictly for SEO that are at a price point every growing small business can afford. Other packages are available that build on the SEO package for only a few dollars more to also include your social media sites as part of handling, promoting and curating content. You can see all of the options for our maintenance packages here. If you would like to discuss you can reach us at 219-229-1633, email at sales@FawkesDM.com, or through our online contact form here.