3 Places for Offsite SEO

Subject Matter Expert Sites

One way to practice external SEO is to create content for a subject matter expert site, and link back to your site to improve your rankings and visibility. These could be Q&A sites that allow subject matter experts in a field to post answers to consumers’ questions, or it could be an industry site that publishes user-generated content designed to be read by others in the field.

There are rumors that soon, Google will have a tool to make content even more valuable: the so-called “AuthorRank,” which would give individual rankings to authors who create content and link it to their Google+ accounts. That has yet to be confirmed, but it wouldn’t hurt to start creating offsite content on subject matter expert sites now. If AuthorRank ever materializes, says Matt Polsky of SocialTimes, “It means the demise of the anonymous content writer and the rise of the subject matter expert.”

Press Releases

Press releases aren’t just an old SEO tactic; they’re just an old tactic, period. But that doesn’t mean we should discount their value. The tried-and-true practice of writing a press release, linking some anchor text back to your site, and then waiting for the syndication to begin is something that should be done in moderation – but even after Panda and Penguin, many good SEO companies are still doing it.

As we said, moderation is key. Google’s Matt Cutts made the statement last year that he “wouldn’t expect links from press release websites to benefit your rankings,” and spamming out press releases is certainly not going to help you in a post-Penguin world. But some white hat SEO companies report that their clients’ rankings have risen because of high quality, keyword rich press releases distributed over newswires. So it seems that writing some well-placed releases is a valid form of offsite SEO.

Offsite Blogs

Creating a blog that is hosted apart from your primary website, also known as an external blog, is a good way to generate links back to your main site. Some experts recommend that you wait to start an external blog until your primary blog is already built up, though, so that it will be authoritative enough to link back to. You can also use the offsite blog as a secondary domain for your brand, which can broaden your SEO profile.

Onsite versus Offsite SEO

Offsite SEO is a valuable practice to add to your SEO toolbox. Of course, it should never overshadow the importance of optimizing your primary website (onsite SEO). To speak with a Los Angeles SEO company that understands both, you may wish to contact the SEO professionals at Crest Media.