Most website owners focus on optimizing content within their domain, neglecting off-site activities. While such a strategy is not bad in the short term, if we think about long-term business promotion, we should also include off-site content optimization in our plan.
Off-site optimization work is all activities that help in positioning our website, but are carried out on other websites (other than the promoted domain). Such content can therefore be a post on Facebook, a photo on Instagram, an article on a company blog. Operating under a different address than the promoted website, a user comment on an opinion portal, a sponsored post, a press release or an article on an independent portal. There are many more, but generally, if we promote the address domain.pl, then all texts placed under the address domain.pl and in its directories will be on-site activities, and everything that will be published on other domains, e.g. domain2.com, domain3.pl/blog/, domain4.com.pl/article.html, etc., are defined as off-site activities, i.e. content outside the website.
As I mentioned at the beginning, if we care about long-term website promotion, then we will certainly focus on the more important aspects of content optimization on it. However, if we have a long-term strategy planned, it should also include off-site work.
The first reason why it is worth optimizing content outside the promoted domain is the diversification of Google search results. If we browse the search results, we will notice that they contain even several types of pages, i.e. manufacturer's websites, auctions and advertisements, shops or articles with advice or reviews. If we want to reach a larger number of recipients, the goal should be to place information directing to our website on websites of a different type than the website itself. It is worth ensuring that these pages appear in the top 10 or have a chance to do so. Many well-known brands use this strategy, placing, for example, the main brand domain, their online shop, blog, guide, social media profiles, etc. in the top 10. In this way, they can occupy several positions in the top 10, gaining additional traffic for a given query. Of course, this traffic is distributed over many domains, but if the user enters a guide, reads an entry with the solution they were looking for, where there is a link to the needed product on the manufacturer's main page, there is a good chance that they will also familiarize themselves with it, and then start looking for this product. It is possible that the next step will be to visit the manufacturer's online shop and make a purchase. In this case, optimizing content outside the website will bring the expected effect.
Since this form of promotion works for the largest companies, it is worth using it even at the beginning of the business. Many different websites with information about our brand help build the brand and increase customer trust. Nobody writes about a small and unknown company, but if many sources publish information about its activities, it may be perceived by the user as much more popular, and therefore trustworthy.
Opinions and reviews of other users can also influence success. If we have one website that praises our products, it may be an insufficient source for users to make a purchase decision. However, if they find information about the same products on social media, on several different customer review websites, price comparison websites, blogs, thematic portals writing articles from our industry, most customers may be influenced by them when making purchases.
Another reason to conduct optimization work outside the website is to gain traffic and link sources. If advice, blog posts, user opinions, etc. published on other domains contain links to our services or products, they can be a source of valuable traffic and help in building the link profile of the domain. This can increase sales through our website, but also helps to achieve better positions in Google search results for our website.
Optimizing content outside our website is not an easy task. Apart from our social media profiles, external blog and other websites, we will not have a direct impact on the content placed on other websites.
However, if we have such an opportunity, we must ensure that the content is created for the user we want to reach. We should try to predict what keywords they will enter in the search engine and use them in the text, meta tags, image names, headers, etc. It is also worth creating content in such a way as to encourage users to go to our main domain, which we promote, so that they can take advantage of the offer placed there. Own blog, guide, etc.
When creating blog posts, it is worth including links to the described services or products. However, we should pay attention not to overdo it with the number of references. In the case where the article will contain numerous links to our website, but the subpages to which the references will lead will not be related to the post, users will not click on subsequent links after entering a few links, and in extreme cases, they will even leave our website and become interested in another search result. If the post concerns one product or service, it is worth placing only a few references in it. They can take various forms, e.g. one at the beginning of the post with content, where the clickable expression will be the keyword, the second in the middle of the photo description, which in the name and alt parameter will have the keyword, and the third link at the end of the article can take the form of a button or even the clickable URL address itself to the subpage of the offer.
Additionally, since on our own blogs we have full ability to optimize all elements, it is necessary to take care of placing keywords in the page title (title), description for search engines (meta description), headers and content.
When optimizing content outside the site, we cannot omit such a powerful and helpful marketing tool as social media. Therefore, if we place posts on our profiles regarding offer services or products, they should be labeled with appropriate titles, descriptions and hashtags containing keywords, according to which the user is to find them. It is also worth adding a link to the related subpage on the promoted domain in them. It is also worth choosing the right social media for our business. If the group of customers we want to reach uses Facebook and Instagram, then let's focus on these portals, if they prefer X (Twitter), Youtube, or other services, then off-site activities should be adapted to the group of potential customers.
From the range of activities that we can perform on influencers' websites, suggesting the exact content of the post is out of the question, because most of these people try to be independent and do not agree to publish a text that is not their own or with which they do not agree. Instead of trying to tell the influencer what to write, we should focus on indicating to them the keywords that they should use in their article, drawing attention to the features that distinguish our product or service, and providing the address of our website to which the links should lead. It is also worth sending graphics that have been pre-optimized by us, e.g. in terms of a name containing keywords. Influencers are, in the vast majority, very professional people who know their profession very well and are open to suggestions and help. After all, they also care that users willingly visit their websites and read the posts published there, so they will willingly saturate descriptions and meta-tags with keywords.
Websites of this type can play a significant role in the customer's decision whether to buy a given product or use the offer of our company. Negative opinions for most users will be information that it is not worth using the offer, while a large number of positive reviews can contribute to an increase in sales. It is therefore worth encouraging our customers to post opinions about our company on websites such as Google Maps, Clutch.co, business directories such as YellowPages.com, adding comments under posts on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X (Twitter), and on price comparison websites such as Google Shopping or idealo.co.uk. If our group of customers is small, we can ask our friends who use our services or products offered by us for help.
Optimizing content outside the website is therefore very helpful in promoting it and should not be feared. By taking care of off-site activities, we do not create competition that will hinder the success of our website. The purpose of such activities is quite the opposite. With their help, we can only increase the number of paths that users can take to reach our website and make a purchase or achieve another goal that we have set for ourselves. Regardless of whether it is to promote our brand, increase traffic or sales, optimizing content outside the website is one of the activities that can significantly facilitate the implementation of our plan.
