Published:
by Wayne Smith
No indexed website is an island, backlinks are a major factor for search ranking. Algorithmically, backlinks can be seen as votes or endorsements of content. This crowdsourced voting mechanism for discovering resources or linkbait content does not fully encapsulate the complexity of SEO.
Disclaimer
Off-page SEO refers to the activities you do outside of the website to improve the single KPI of search engine ranking. It is generally backlinking, it amplifies on-page SEO and builds a reputation for a website or an online presence.
Limiting digital marketing to the single KPI of ranking overlooks other factors important to digital marketing. Click-through rates and conversion rates are not controlled by ranking. A single KPI can also introduce a Goodhart's law problem, of measuring success based on ranking position not return on investment.
Off-page Keywords; Search Ranking
Keywords in the link's anchor can shape or add importance to a term or topic that exists on the page.
Since 2007, link bombs anchor text have not added new keyword relevance to a target page if the keyword is absent from its content. Instead, anchor text amplifies or improves rankings based on the existing relevance of the on-page content.
Topical relevance (anchor keywords) from off-page links however do improve the relevant ranking or create ranking for a relevant keyword. In some cases, pages exist in search do not include a specific keyword but are topically related. This has been true since BERT began looking at query intent.
Solution Smith
Solution Smith emphasizes the need for design to match search intent, Full-stack SEO, and considers all KPIs used for digital marketing, which includes off-page SEO.
Minimum viable on-page SEO
The minimum on-page SEO vary by content type and search intent. Videos can rank well with minimal text (under 400 words) if optimized with metadata and engagement signals, but rankings decline if the video is removed. Similarly, online applications, images, and downloadable resources can rank with an optimized title, headline, and brief summary. Additional factors like structured data, backlinks, and user interaction often enhance visibility and rankings
The minimum viable above-the-fold content could be considered:
- A title tag with the desired keywords, topic, or entity
- A headline tag includes the keywords, topic, or entity
- A summary text block with the keywords, topic, or entity
- Followed by some type of page content.
Minimum viable backlink, and Second-tier links
The page, which supplies the link, needs to be indexed and needs to have links pointing towards the page, which can include internal links.
Social Media
Many social media pages lack second-tier links, and their internal linking structure is often activity-based. Without second-tier backlinks, engagement on a social media platform becomes essential for these links to hold value. Additionally, many social media sites contain a large number of pages with little to no activity or backlink SEO optimization, resulting in them not being indexed or served in search results.
Reputation Management (Second-tier link buidling)
Apart from an online presence, link building when the on-page relevancy is to the brand name or other keyword, for an external site. It can be used for reputation management.
One goal of reputation management is to fill the first page of the search with results, which have a favorable opinion about the brand. But this can be done when the pages with the favorable opinion also have a minimum viable on-page relevancy for the brand name.
Many business website directories have on-page viability for the brand and minimum viable backlinks to appear in the search for the brand. A reciprocal link can add authority to these pages that can improve their ranking and can help with reputation management for the brand.
Second-tier backlinks to sites favorable to the brand can also improve the page's ranking and the quality of the link. Many social media platforms allow backlinks from the profile page to other social media platforms.
PageRank a Zero Sum Game and Other Link Myths
Many people don't understand the math PageRank uses, and some see PageRank as a zero-sum game. Imagine link patterns leading to an infinite PageRank scenario or PageRank requires a link from a whitelisted site where all PR flows from.
PageRank is dynamic, not a fixed-sum system. As Google discovers new pages and links (Value Ui), PageRank is redistributed across the web, similar to how new economic values are generated in an expanding economy
It should be noted that the PageRank algorithm, as patented, does not distinguish between internal and external linking. Current algorithms have evolved significantly beyond the original PageRank model
Link Neighborhoods or Online Communities
Site groupings or topical content can be seen for topics of sites. They are not unlike backlinks in social media between like-minded accounts.
- Software developer sites tend to build links with sites that share source code, share specifications, or platform sites.
- Game sites are often interlinked with software distribution sites and game engine sites. Some game sites cross over into the neighborhood of software developers.
- Photographers build links between sites that allow them to publish photographs.
- Content marketing / Guest Blogging: Content creators often use guest blogging to create backlinks to their sites.
- Influencers, tend building links Web 2.0 streaming media services and make collaboration appearances on other channels.
- Brick-and-mortar businesses often add their business to web directories..
- Travel and Tourism Clients are looking for events, points of interest, and photographs. Two of these have online communities.
Audience Reach for Marketing
Even when creating a profile on a Web 2.0 site offered no direct SEO benefits, it would still enhance brand awareness by exposing the website to a broader audience. Goodhart's Law warns against the mistake of optimizing solely for rankings, as this overlooks the advantages of brand marketing.
Branding is essential: Strong brand awareness drives navigational searches, which, in turn, improve search rankings. The key performance indicator (KPI) for brand awareness on Web 2.0 platforms is audience reach, followed by engagement. Audience reach works synergistically with backlinking to strengthen a brand’s online presence.
Private Blog Networks
One's own neighborhood of sites. However, link farms often employ private blog networks.
Bad Neighborhoods
Link farms, which existed only to link to other sites, are problematic for link-based algorithms and may be excluded from the search index. Some sites also sell backlinks and exist only as a pay-to-play directory adding no unique content.
It is advisable not to build links to spammy, malicious, or bad neighborhoods. Linking to spam, malicious sites, bad neighborhoods, broken or 404 pages, decreases the value of the page with the link.
Some believe Google's disavow file was created specifically to aid Google in finding bad neighborhoods. Google no longer recommends its usage and is near retirement.
Web 2.0 communities and crowd-sourcing backlink SEO
Web 2.0 sites essentially crowd-source their SEO when they allow people to post a user profile and encourage people to use their profile to establish an online presence.
Posts with links essentially provide search engines with crowd-sourced endorsements of online resources, and moderation ensures quality by removing spam, which is why backlinks are an SEO factor.
Since 2024, Google has been promoting user-generated content sites in their index.
Attribute rel="ugc" and rel="nofollow"
Google suggests using rel= "ugc" as an attribute for user-generated content on a web 2.0 site. rel="nofollow" was used before Google announced support for rel="ugc".
The rel="nofollow" attribute was introduced in 2005 to combat spam, and it was widely understood that Google would not count these links for ranking purposes. However, in 2020, Google clarified that nofollow links would be treated as "hints," meaning they are not guaranteed to influence rankings; And, Google may choose to consider them if deemed relevant.
It should be noted that no link is guaranteed to influence rankings. Google considers relevant backlinks for ranking purposes.
Solution Smith
Given the nature of SEO and reasons why links are an SEO factor. Solution Smith does not recommend people write off rel="nofollow" backlinks -- Instead recommends focusing on relevant backlinks.