Off-page SEO fundamentals

What off-page SEO is

Activities done outside your own website that improve its Google ranking — mainly building backlinks (links from other sites pointing to yours). Good design, strong content, and solid on-page SEO are the foundation, but off-page SEO is what keeps rankings stable over time. Results are not instant.¹

What a backlink is

Another website linking to yours — e.g. a blog placing your site's link in an article gives you one backlink. Also called "link building". Google reads backlinks as votes of trust: more strong, relevant backlinks generally means a higher chance of ranking.

Why social signals matter

Social signals are engagement on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram — each share, like, or comment is one signal, and posting your content there gives Google evidence that people are actually discussing your site.

Anchor text and URL

• Anchor text — the clickable words in a link (e.g. "Download inshot APK").
• URL — the direct web address the link points to.

Keep anchor text natural and varied — never the same phrase every time.

Competitor backlink analysis

Use Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Ubersuggest to check:

• Referring domains — the number of unique sites linking to a competitor.
• Backlinks — the total number of links, higher than referring domains since one site can link multiple times.
• DR (Domain Rating) — the strength of the referring domains themselves.
• UR (URL Rating) — the strength of one specific linking page.

Always filter to "one link per domain" in Ahrefs for clean data. The referring page is the exact page that gave the backlink. When buying backlinks, prefer domains where linked domains are fewer than referring domains — a sign the site is not spammy.

OBL (Outbound Links)

The number of external links a page has. Lower OBL is better when paying for a link:

• Paid link: OBL under 5.
• Free link: OBL under 20–50.

Check OBL with an SEO browser extension or Ahrefs.

Paid vs free links

• Paid links — usually placed inside the main article body, with anchor text you control.
• Free links — found in comments, forum posts, or profiles; anchor text is often generic, out of your control.

Finding links via niche filtering

In Ahrefs, filter a competitor's backlinks by topic/niche. If a well-ranking site in your niche has high DR and low OBL, even an irrelevant-topic backlink from it can still help — authority and low outbound-link count matter more than topical match in that specific case.

Reading impressions

• Impressions rising → your on-page SEO is working.
• Impressions stable but clicks low → start social sharing and branding work to lift CTR.

Foundation backlinks

Base-level backlinks every site should build first:

1. Profile backlinks — sign up on a site and add your link in the profile. Ask an AI tool for a list of high-DR/DA profile-backlink sites.
2. Image submission backlinks — upload an image with your site link in the description.
3. Video submission backlinks — upload a video with the link in its description.
4. Audio submission backlinks — upload an audio file with the link in its description.

Target: 30–50 foundation links, at roughly 5–6 per day.

Relevant vs irrelevant links

A relevant link (from your own niche) is the best option; an irrelevant but high-authority link is still useful if DR is high and OBL is low. Use Ahrefs to find which post on a target site gets the most traffic, and place your backlink there specifically.

Types of backlinks

1. Foundation links (profiles, social)
2. Blog comments (no signup required)
3. Forum backlinks (signup + profile link)
4. Podcast backlinks
5. Cloud stacking
6. Google stacking
7. Wikipedia backlinks
8. Guest posting (a new article carrying your link)
9. Niche edit / link insertion (your link added into an existing article)
10. Outreach strategy (contacting site owners directly for link opportunities)

Guest posting and outreach, in brief

Guest posting — writing a new article for another site with your backlink included. Niche edit — inserting your link into an article that already exists. Outreach — finding niche-relevant sites, sending a personalized email offering value, and suggesting a guest post or link exchange. Combining on-page and off-page SEO this way is what produces stable long-term rankings.

Footnotes

1. iSkills SEO course notes, compiled 2025. ↩