Matthew Widdop
Matty is a Digital SEO Executive at Intelligency, helping our clients to improve their digital performance. Matty is currently studying for his Level 3 Multi-Channel Marketer apprenticeship and has completed a Sport Journalism Degree at the University of Huddersfield.
SEO is the process of optimising your website to improve online performance. SEO has multiple different branches that make up a holistic online strategy. In this article, we will go through what is the difference between on-page and off-page SEO, the key strategies that separate them and how they work together.
On-Page SEO
On-page SEO is using techniques to improve SEO performance directly on your webpage. This helps not only users but also search engines to understand your content better, so you can rank higher and gain more visibility online. Some of the key principles of on-page SEO include;
Content – One of the first places to start when optimising on-page SEO is with the content. There are certain SEO principles that should be followed, including using keywords to target specific audiences, structuring your content clearly with headings and making sure your content is both helpful and original so that it gives your audience a fresh perspective; this means not using AI-generated or regurgitated content.
HTML – Another way on-page SEO can be improved is by improving the code of a site. Most sites use HTML as the main bulk of their code, and using page builders and various plug-ins, this code can often become bloated and make it hard for search engines to read the code on your site, slowing it down.
Internal Linking – By adding links into your content from other pages on your site, you are creating an internal link map which allows search engines to access different areas of your site, but also shows it which pieces of content are connected and which ones are the most important for users.
Schema Markup – Structured data that you can add to the code of your website. It tells search engines exactly what type of content is displayed on your webpage to help your rankings become more targeted.
Off Page SEO
Off-page SEO refers to techniques you can use to improve your website’s performance off your own site. One of the main strategies for improving off-page SEO is earning backlinks. Backlinks are links from other websites to your own. Gaining backlinks from sites that do well on search engines and have authority shows search engines that your website is legitimate and trustworthy, so you want to earn as many high-quality links as you can. You can do this by creating high-quality content but also engaging in digital PR and reaching out to strong-performing brands to try and earn backlinks.
For local businesses, setting up a Google My Business profile is also another way to improve digital performance by making yourself more visible on search engines and collecting customer reviews, which show your business in a positive light. Similarly, posting on social media can build up a customer base and a positive sentiment online, improving traffic to your website.
Using only on-page or off-page SEO strategies will not be enough to compete in today’s digital era; you need a well-rounded SEO plan that includes combining both techniques to maximise online scope and performance.
