The off-page principle

By On

One of the major aspects of SEO is off-page SEO, or backlinking.

What it essentially means is the number of referring websites that link to us and are relevant to our industry shows how much credibility and authority our website has. Makes sense, as it is a great indicator of the trustworthiness of a website.

But the question to ask is, what is the driving principle behind this approach that even organisations like Google had decided to integrate?

Simple – “People like us do things like this.”

This is a great perspective put forward by the marketing legend, Seth Godin. You can read his detailed take on it here if you’d like to.

What “People like us do things like this” means is a group of individuals that are part of a community do things a certain way, work with a certain type of people, buy a certain type of product, and trust a certain type of business.

This is the driving principle behind culture and how a community works.

And this brings to light two very essential questions that every marketer needs to ask themselves before they launch a product:

  1. Who is “us”?

  2. What is “this”? 

Answering these questions allows us to understand the culture we are operating in and design an approach toward the change in that culture we are seeking to make.

In the case of off-page SEO, from the perspective of a user, “us” is people in their industry, and “this” is trusting businesses that our peers trust.

Backlinks are referrals from businesses in our industry. And that makes our website a part of their culture and community. More referrals mean more authority in that culture.

Google understood this and designed the approach of PageRank on this very foundation.

This is also precisely the reason competitor analysis is one of the favourite approaches to backlinking for SEOs. Something to think over?

(Originally written on 20 Apr 2022)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How I got my running habit to stick? (Productivity hack included)

By On
Image
I am a regular runner, and running is a major anchor in my life. I run every day, and I try to do it in the mornings, but I get it done in the evening if that’s not possible. I don’t miss my runs without a proper reason. But this wasn’t always the case.  I had started running in 2017, but I just couldn’t get myself to stay consistent. Last year, I started using an application called Nike Run Club, and its guided runs shifted my perspective—not just about running, but about performance in anything we do in life. So, “What was that shift?” you might ask. Well, let me present this idea to you. There are two terms that are really important to understand here, and even though we know them, we have different ways of looking at them. The two terms are efficiency and sustainability.   Let’s look at their definitions once. Efficiency is defined as “the quality of doing something well with no waste of time or money,” and sustainability is defined as “the ability to continue or be contin...
Read more

How does a more aware consumer affect the marketing approach?

By On
Look at any product around you right now and ask yourself a question: “Why do I have it?” You’d either have an answer or you wouldn’t, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that you have it, and you bought it because you thought you needed it. Now, whether that need is valid or not is a different thing and depends on the individual. But the fact that some brand was able to make you realise that need or induce that in you is a success in marketing. We live in a world where all our necessities are met, and for the first time in the history of any species, we’re probably the ones who face a problem because there is an excess of food to eat and things to have.  We know that we probably don’t need most of the things we possess, and that’s why minimalism is picking up so much because we’ve become smarter at telling the difference between essential needs and acquired needs. So the question I want to ask is, What does it mean for marketers? I believe this brings forth challenges to mark...
Read more

Marketing gets a bad rep and it's not okay!

By On
I was recently having a conversation with someone who is a really skilled doctor and has been in the industry for quite some time. He doesn't have any online presence for his practice because he is one of those people who is very cynical about persuasion and influence. Consequently, he considers marketing an unethical practice. He had his own reasons and rightly so. Our conversation ranged from the importance of online presence to competency versus marketing. This didn't make much sense to me because I see them as the same thing. But then I thought about it. It's a fact that there are still so many SMEs and local businesses out there who have these negative perceptions of marketing that it's not ethical, not effective, an unnecessary expense and so much more. And there are reasons for that. Not just one, but I believe there are many factors that come into play here. Now, some people are cynical, and that's their personality. No matter how much we try, we can't h...
Read more