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What is the difference between On-page SEO and Off-page SEO?
What is the difference between On-page SEO and Off-page SEO?

Learn what is On-page SEO and what is Off-Page SEO and how both can help boost your rankings.

John avatar
Written by John
Updated over 6 months ago

Search engine optimization (SEO) is not just one umbrella that covers all activities to optimize your website for search engines. SEO can actually be divided into two different categories: on-page SEO and off-page SEO. Even though there is a big difference between the two, both are actually crucial for a successful SEO strategy. So what is the difference between on-page SEO and off-page SEO?

1. What is On-page SEO?

Let’s start with on-page SEO. On-page SEO, also known as on-site SEO, refers to all activities that are done within your website to improve its position in search engines. These are factors that you can control on your own website. Big factors that can be directly changed in your website are your keywords, title tags, headings, URL structure, Alt text for images, page content, deep links and meta description.

2. What is Off-page SEO?

Off-page SEO on the other hand refers to page ranking factors that occur outside of your website, like backlinks. Off-page SEO focuses on increasing the authority of your domain. The biggest off-page SEO factor is the number and especially the quality of the backlinks you have. If you want to know more about how to get the best backlinks, please click here.

Even though the quantity of backlinks is still important, the quality of the backlinks remains the most important. Buying a whole bunch of backlinks is therefore a bad idea as Google penalizes websites that buy links to try to manipulate page rankings. Don’t forget that working on your local SEO and creating profiles for your company in online directories like Google Business Profile is a great way to get quality backlinks to improve your domain authority and visibility.

The activities on your social media platforms also fall under off-page SEO. It does not directly affect the ranking of your website in search engines, but social media posts that generate a lot of clicks will give a boost to your internet traffic. If you want to know how to create an effective Facebook strategy, check this article.

3. Which one is more important, On-page or Off-page SEO?

Understanding the difference between on-page and off-page SEO is crucial for improving your website's search engine rankings. When it comes to SEO, it is not about choosing between off-page and on-page SEO. Off-page SEO and on-page SEO complement each other to improve your search engine rankings,

By establishing a strong on-page SEO foundation and complementing it with effective off-page strategies, you can significantly enhance your site's rankings and overall online presence.

Feel free to get in touch with our support if you have questions or if you need help. We would be happy to help!

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