Once upon a time I was a very naive, "go with the flow trust everyone" type of a kid. Nowadays I'm quite weary and sceptical towards everything people tell me which is quite hard for me especially being the free spirited Pisces I am. This is called Adapting.
I have also had to apply this adaptation process towards SEO because with Google you either adapt or the success of your online marketing could be compromised quite severely and swiftly. Long gone are the days when all you had to do was link exchange with a handful of highly authoritative sites with the exact key phrase you were targeting and voila, almost like magic there you were sitting pretty on top of the search engines. If you did that now, as in all of your backlinks possessing the same anchor text, your site wouldn't rank very high and you might even face the possibility of being penalized. Therefore the Offsite SEO of a site should appear as natural as possible with a large variation of anchor text backlinks. This is called Googladapting.
In my opinion SEO consists of Onsite SEO (30% of the overall score) which relates mostly to the site content, code and Meta data and Off-site SEO (70% of the overall score) which is all about the Backlinks and Social Media Promotion. Over recent month's in order to improve the Offsite SEO of a campaign and ensure high organic rankings, I have come across a list of offsite essentials for 2013 which I will share with you now:
Social Media:
Google is becoming more and more Social conscious every day that goes by. Maybe it's an attempt to rival Facebook, maybe it's an attempt to take over the world but if the people are happy that a certain site is ranked top for a certain keyword then the big G is happy too. Consequently in order to increase SEO rankings you have to increase the Social numbers and in order to do this, the following actions need to be addressed and applied:
- Facebook, Twitter and Google+1 should be the core platforms focused on.
- Users / Members should be invited and incentivized to Facebook / tweet about their experience with their site / product.
- All Fans should be treated like VIP's. Events, prizes and vouchers should be offered.
- Fan's passions (within your niche) need to be explored.
- The fans need a quick and easy platform to engage and express their desires. Simple /closed questions should be asked.
- Fans need to be told what to do next. 'Like this post', 'Tell us about your experience' or 'Share this with your friends' result in higher likes, comments and shares.
- Exclusive access should be given to the fans. They liked / follow a brand mainly to get access to exclusive content, promotions and deals.
- 'Fan of the Week' or Brand Ambassadors should be featured on Social pages
- Active Invitations to fans for their opinions on relevant topics are needed.
- Your brand needs to be humanized, people get excited to see a human face behind an institution, a behind the scenes. The fans should see the real people behind the company.
Directory Submission
Submitting your site to online directories has always been and still remains one of the best ways to gain strong backlinks to a site. However personally I feel that only the following directories are worth paying for and maybe a few specific ones in each targeted niche: Dmoz (free), Yahoo, Botw, Business, Ezilon, Goguides, Alive, Dir Journal, Skaffe, stpt, Joeant and Hotvsnot.
Guest Blog Posting
There is a large collection of blogs that are looking for guest bloggers and that will be more than happy to link to any site that you associate with. This is also a great way to form relationships within the SEO industry and we all know it's not about what you know but who you know instead.
Testimonials
Test products, tools and services either related to SEO or your niche and write a review. If it is a positive review send it over to the owner of these products or provider of these services and ask them to put it live on their site along with a link back to your site. If it is a negative review keep it to yourself.
Forum Posting
This method is not only great for SEO but also great for traffic to the site and a real bonding with users. The forums you post on should be related to the topic of your site and you should always be courteous and polite despite whatever negative feedback you may receive. Do not ever have a heated discussion online with any negative users.
Link Trades (Via Articles)
Link trades have always been the cornerstone of SEO. Nowadays it's preferable to trade links embedded deep within articles with anchor text that is related to the topic of the post. A blog on your site is the best way to accomplish this and it will help you boost up the internal pages / links of your site.
In conclusion, social media, directory submission and article links either through guest posts, testimonials or link trades is the way to go for SEO. So if you like the Idea of Googladaption then follow the above 2013 Off-site SEO essentials ladies and gentlemen and watch your rankings soar.
If you liked this post, you might also enjoy Your Link Building Blueprint for 2013
I’m just beginning to realize the importance of guest posting. I’ve found that it’s actually quite fun and it’s such a great way to gain new relationships.
Nice post! It’s true that the SEO world is not the same as before. Google is being strict on anything and that of natural SEO stuff are most likely to be recognized. Because of that, we should adapt on what Google wants us to do as well as look for better ways to be recognized. And that is where your post is very helpful. Thanks for sharing this useful post.
Interesting tips, thank you. I have two questions.
1. How do we know if the paid directory listings give back links?
2. How often should I resubmit to dmoz to get my business listed (weekly, biweekly etc.) Thanks.
I agree with you except when you talk about social media. In my honest opinione, social metrics are not a ranking factor at all: they can be easily manipulated and Google knows that!
Thanks for the lovely feedback all and for expressing your views.
@Danilo , I felt the same way as you but when Google tried to buy facebook and failed, when they tried google buzz and failed, they got a chip on their shoulder that now they are trying to get revenge by incorporating google +1 and general social media into the whole SEO process.
@Maureen , There is no gurantee that paid directory listings will list your site, but put it this way I have submitted to various directories 100+ times and I have always had my site listed. very rarely not on the topic page i originally asked for but always listed, especially the ones i mentioned.
About Dmoz, I send it once and then don’t even bother anymore because either they will accept it straight away or they never will, good luck with that.
@Farrell , My pleasure 🙂
@Jenn , It is a lot of fun and very useful, add me on linkedin guys and thanks again.