What is offpage optimization?

Offpage optimization, also called offsite optimization (offsite = outside), is one of the two building blocks of search engine optimization (SEO). Where onpage or onsite optimization (onsite = inside) covers what happens on the website itself, offpage optimization covers every measure outside your website that influences its ranking in general search engines. Offpage optimization is critical to the success of your onpage work.

What is the goal of offpage optimization?

The goal of offpage optimization is to present your website as trustworthy and as relevant as possible, to human visitors as well as to search engine algorithms. That is how it earns a better position in organic search (ranking optimization). It happens through links to your page from credible people, websites or portals (backlinks).

How do I optimize my website?

Link building: this is where you raise the number of references pointing to your website over the long term. Two example methods of link building are guest articles (ideally on influential websites or portals, including a link to your own site) and press work (high quality backlinks earned from newspapers and large magazines). Backlinks are one of the most heavily weighted ranking factors in organic search, so they should not be neglected. Broadly speaking, every link building measure leads to your content being shared on more websites, which widens your reach.

Offpage signals are earned, not set, so they belong to continuous SEO support rather than to a one-off project. The counterpart is onpage work, where you decide everything yourself, from the text and the loading time to your internal links. Our full SEO glossary explains the terms that connect to this one.