Off-Page SEO: Building Backlinks and Local Citations

Off-Page SEO primarily involves activities outside your website that improve its search engine rankings, with building backlinks and local citations being two key components.

Backlinks are hyperlinks from other websites pointing to your site. They act as votes of confidence, signaling to search engines your website’s authority and relevance. High-quality backlinks should come from sites topically related to your industry to maximize their impact. For example, a plumbing business should seek backlinks from home improvement or renovation sites. The quality and relevance of backlinks are more important than quantity, and tools like Majestic can help analyze topical relevance and trust flow.

Local citations are online mentions of your business’s essential information—Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP)—on various platforms such as online directories, review sites, and social media. Consistency in these details across all citations is crucial for local SEO, as it boosts your business’s visibility in local search results and strengthens credibility with search engines. Maintaining an optimized Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is also vital for local presence.

Additional off-page SEO strategies include:

• Brand building through guest posting and PR to grow brand awareness and attract new customers.
• Leveraging podcasts to reach new audiences beyond traditional search engines.
• Encouraging positive reviews, which influence buying decisions and contribute to online reputation management.
• Content syndication to increase content exposure, though care must be taken as duplicate content is not indexed by Google.

Off-page SEO is increasingly important as search engines and AI tools prioritize trust signals and authoritative mentions beyond your website content. This includes social media presence, mentions, and citations that influence visibility in search results and AI-driven answers.

In summary, effective off-page SEO in 2025 focuses on acquiring high-quality, relevant backlinks and maintaining consistent local citations to improve authority, relevance, and local search visibility. Complementing these with brand-building activities and reputation management further enhances your SEO performance.