With many businesses still not able to operate amidst the COVID-19 crisis in WashingtonDC, many wise business owners understandthat to thrive in a post-pandemic world, moving one’s business to digital platforms is key. Digital is truly the future, and the way to take advantage of it is with a high-ranking, search engine optimized website.
As a whole, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) refers to the practices that serve a website by increasing its rankings for various keywords on coveted search engines like Google.
If you’re into the world of SEO, you’ve likely come across the terms on and off-page SEO. Many business owners in Washington are confused about the key differences between these two types of SEO and how to figure out which one is most important for them to tackle.
To set the foundation, let’s start by defining the key differences between these two and how SEO services in Washington DC can help you make the most of them.
What is the difference between On and Off-Page SEO?
On-page SEO refers to all of the tasks you can perform on your website to promote it. This includes tasks like adding meta descriptions and tags, researching and using the right keywords for your business in your web content, and releasing search engine optimized blog posts, etc.
Off-page SEO, on the other hand, refers to every task you can perform to enhance your website’s rankings from outside of your website. Another way to say outside your website would be off your web page. Therefore, Off-page SEO includes activities like setting up high-quality backlinks on appropriate third-party websites, having guest posts published on another site’s blog, social signals, and more.
Which Is More Important?
To answer this question, it’s important that you understand the Yin and Yang relationship that on and off-page SEO have with each other.
On-Page SEO determines what your site ranks for at the end of the day. This statement means when you optimize on your website itself, you pick the appropriate keywords you want to rank for and include them on your website; you add the meta descriptions that come up when people see your site’s name in Google, etc. These are the foundational steps because even if a really big website suddenly links to your website, if your home base is in pathetic shape, your new visitors will bounce fast.
So while on-pageSEO determines what your website ranks for, off-pageSEO determines how high your website ranks for the terms you’ve implemented as part of your on-pageSEO.
Therefore, if your on-pageSEO is lacking, even the best backlink can’t bring life to your website.
What Are the Key Practices Of On-Page SEO?
While there are many on-pageSEO practices out there, here are the most important you can focus on with the help of SEO services in Washington DC.
Keyword Usage
Your core foundation will always be your target keywords. These keywords act as the bricks to your website’s building because they make up each piece of content you create or have created for your website to rank on Google. They also naturally serve to let Google know what keywords you’re trying to rank for.
Meta Tags and Descriptions
Meta tags and descriptions are what people who search for your business will see in Google and other search engines. You want to update these using a tool like the YoastSEO tool (if your site is WordPress-based) or directly through your website’s source code. It’s essential to write good descriptions here because they act as a billboard for your website’s pages on Google.
URL Structure
Have you ever seen a really convoluted, dare we say, hideous URL?
It’s best to customize your URLs for each web page on your website for two salient reasons. Firstly, you can update your URLs to include your target keywords, which helps your SEO efforts immensely. Secondly, custom URLs are more visually appealing to a user as opposed to clunky, complicated, and downright ugly URLs.
What Are the Key Practices of Off-Page SEO?
Similar to On-Page SEO, there are many practices that you should eventually nail to absolutely skyrocket your authority to its fullest potential, but here are the key areas you need to keep a focus on.
Win BacklinksNaturally
Your website will naturally win backlinks as a result of high-quality content marketing. So when your website pumps out amazing, insightful blogs that serve to teach your audience something useful and solve their pain points, other blogs in your niche will organically link to your site as a source of information.
This natural backlinking improves your site’s reputation and increases its authority on the internet.
Actively Collaborate To Build Backlinks
One can collaborate to build backlinks actively as well but bear in mind that it’s definitely a time-consuming activity. That’s why professional backlink building service work to provide professional assistance to businesses in Washington DC.
One way to build a backlink is by organizing a guest posting opportunity for your website. Someone representing your website would create helpful, relevant content for a third-party website that would link back to your website.
This practice is helpful if one collaborates with a high Domain Authority website because not only does it improve your website’s rankings, but it also provides you with a solid referral traffic source.
Conclusion
There you have it, DC-ers. Now you have a better understanding of how to navigate your on and off-page practices as easily as you canWashington DC’s famous Foggy Bottom train station. Remember – your on-page SEO determines what you rank for, while off-page SEO determines how high you rank for it.
As a business owner in Washington DC who realizes the importance of on-page and off-page SEO, enlisting the services of a premium SEO company in Washington DC will help you focus on your business operations while experts handle lead generation and ranking for your website.
Guest article written by: Joseph Dyson is a senior account manager at Search Berg—a digital marketing company. He specializes in offering SEO services in Washington DC. Over the years, he has helped several businesses skyrocket their rankings and conversions by implementing actionable SEO strategies.