What is off-page SEO?

What is off-page SEO? It's the work done outside your own website to show Google that your business is real, trusted and worth ranking: links from other websites, mentions of your business, reviews, and consistent listings in directories and on your Google Business Profile.

Off page SEO vs on-page SEO

• On-page SEO: your page titles, headings, content, speed and structure. You control it directly. See what is on-page SEO.
• Off-page SEO: links, mentions, reviews and listings on other sites. You can influence it, but you don't control it.

Both matter. A great website with no outside trust struggles to rank, and so does a well-known business with a weak website.

What counts as off-page SEO

• Backlinks. Links from other websites to yours, which Google treats as votes of trust.
• Brand mentions. Your business named on other sites, even without a link, helps Google and AI tools connect the dots about who you are.
• Reviews. Customer reviews on Google and other sites, which help both rankings and trust.
• Citations and listings. Listings of a business's name, address and phone on other websites, which must match everywhere.
• Google Business Profile. A business's free listing on Google Search and Google Maps, with hours, reviews and photos. It isn't your website, so it's off-page too, and for local businesses it's often the most important part.
• Social profiles. They rarely move rankings directly, but they confirm your business details and get you mentioned.

What we find off the website

Real examples from businesses we've taken over (not named):

• Old addresses and phone numbers still listed in directories years after a move, so Google sees two versions of the business.
• A second Google Business Profile nobody knew about, splitting the reviews and confusing Google.
• Cheap link packages bought by a previous provider. In my words:

"I genuinely avoid taking clients that had bought, or whose previous SEO providers used, cheap link packages or Fiverr SEO links. If I spot them on my clients' sites, I try to disavow them to avoid any penalty from Google."

Off-page SEO for local businesses and tradies

National SEO guides focus on links. For a local business, the biggest off-page wins are usually closer to home:

1. Reviews from real customers, asked for consistently, ideally the day the job is done.
2. Correct listings: fix old names, addresses and phone numbers in directories, and remove duplicates.
3. Local links: your trade association, suppliers, local sponsorships, community groups and local news.
4. A complete Google Business Profile with the right categories and services.
5. Mentions that AI tools read: industry lists, local guides and forums where customers ask for recommendations.

Off-page SEO strategy: step by step

1. Check what's out there. Search your business name and phone number, and list every directory and mention.
2. Fix wrong or duplicate listings first.
3. Set up a simple, steady way to ask happy customers for reviews.
4. Earn links from places you already know: associations, suppliers, partners, sponsorships.
5. Create something worth linking to, like a useful local guide or a price explainer. (Wikipedia's Marketing experimentation article cites an ADEL SEO page as a reference: a real link earned by a useful page.)
6. Track it: new links, reviews and listings each month, alongside your calls and enquiries.

What to avoid

• Buying links in bulk, or link networks built only to sell links.
• Fake or paid reviews.
• Spammy directories that exist only to sell listings.
• Any "guaranteed page one" offer.

Google's own spam policies treat bought links and link schemes as spam. They don't help with AI search either.

Off-page SEO and AI search

AI tools like ChatGPT and Google's AI build their answers from what many sites say about a business. Google and AI tools trust a business more when its name, address and details match everywhere. Mentions on trusted sites, consistent listings and real reviews make it easier for them to recommend you. More: AI search visibility.