The phenomenon of digital marketing has taken the world by storm and has paved the way for businesses to grow dramatically. Digital marketing methods have given opportunities to companies by using their online presence to create brand awareness. Digital marketing offers various platforms like social media, pay-per-click (PPC), and search engine optimization (SEO). Among all the digital marketing methods, SEO provides the best customer reach, diversion of traffic towards the website, and growth potential. It works by combining various search intentions and connecting them to create a ranking on the search engine. The higher ranking a website has on SERP, the better are the chances for efficient visitor engagement and conversion. 

Every part of a website page ranging from URL to Meta description, content, display, and other directly impact SERP rankings. The slightest mistake in either one can cause massive ranking problems and ultimately lose a chance for a potential lead. Many SEO marketers, who have worked in the field for some time, know that Google has made several search algorithms with various updates. Earlier marketers used to churn out content and create backlinks (relevant or irrelevant) and gained ranking, respectively. However, the focus has now shifted towards quality rather than quantity. Marketers today concentrate on all the critical aspects of a webpage to achieve better ranking from search engines.

While marketers consider everything under the banner of SEO as one, two distinct branches make the SEO a complete process. These two categories are On-page SEO and Off-Page SEO. To help you learn more and re-tune with the optimization process, let us discuss each branch in detail.

On-Page SEO

On-page SEO or On-site SEO is optimizing different parts of a webpage that affects search result rankings. The determination of your website ranking appearance mainly depends on several factors. These factors include page loading speed, content, accessibility, title tags, keywords, etc. On-page components are the ones that you can change and have total control over the functions. 

Major On-page SEO Factors include:

• Keywords
• Meta description, title, H1, H2, and so on
• Alt Text and image optimization
• URL structure and SSL/HTTPS
• Page performance, speed, and internal linking
• SEO optimized content, social tags, and mobile-friendly features
• Page Experience

Off-Page SEO

Off-page SEO encompasses increasing the domain authority of your website by gaining quality links from other sources. Off-page factors are the ones that occur outside of your website, which you do not have direct control over. Outside elements like backlinks create brand awareness and increase visitor engagement while highlighting relevancy to SERP users. Many of the choices made in the on-page strategy also affect the wellness of off-page overall.  

Factors of off-page SEO includes:

• Backlinks
• Domain Strength
• Domain Authority
• Social Sharing and content distribution
• Guest blogging

Differences in On-Page and Off-Page SEO

A user has to know the significant differences for a better SEO strategy and ranking with a clear explanation of both these branches. With On-Page SEO, you have total control over different aspects of a website, but for off-page, you do not. It is because factors like social sharing, backlinks, reviews, etc. rely totally on one’s behaviour. Both on-page and off-page need a balance to create a better SERP ranking. Websites with poor on-page SEO but better off-page optimization will not rank well and vice versa. Therefore, a marketer needs to understand the critical differences between them.

The difference in Ranking Factors

In terms of ranking, on-page SEO relies on researching keywords and creating quality content around the keyword. The page quality of a website depends on the relevancy of the content present and user search intent. Other factors that on-page SEO uses for improving ranks are the URL and page structure. They include HTML tags, Alt-text images, optimizing page loading speed, and internal linking to website pages. 

OFF-Page SEO relies heavily on backlinks provided by other websites. Backlinks occur when other high authority websites provide a link to your website if they see it fit according to their relevancy and requirement. These backlinks act as an endorsement from other trusted sites that SERP considers as validity for content. Another off-page ranking factor that is out of our control is the domain authority. Websites gain DA by having a domain name for some time and its history along with the number of referring domains.

The difference in Social Promotion

Social promotion in on-page SEO is only about creating social tags on a page where users can click and reach that same brand’s social media page. The presence of social media buttons has become an essential requirement by Google for inclusion on a website. On the other hand, social promotion on off-page depends on the behaviour of the user. People only promote content that they find fit to share in terms of relevancy and information. Even then, there is a minimum chance that they might refuse to share even despite being right. Off-page social sharing is all about luck and chance. In both these factors, social media does not directly link to page ranking. However, they do generate many clicks that boost site speed and, ultimately, SERP rankings. 

Other Best Practices

The best practices for on-page SEO include regular monitoring and optimization of content, page performance, and other visible factors. You have total control over how well and regularly you optimize on-page factors. Off-page best practice has an opposite and uncontrollable method. Besides having backlinks, you can also add your website to local listings and directories to increase links and authority. They need accurate information across all platforms that include website name, address, contact information, etc. Another practice for off-page SEO is to engage in forum discussions. The more discussion a website has, the better trust and recognition it builds. 

Which One Is Better?

Choosing between on-page and off-page SEO is like selecting the foundation and roof of your house. An effective SEO needs a balance between them as they work together to improve search rankings. However, experts suggest using on-page factors first and then focusing on off-page. Lay the foundations with on-page practices and then initiate off-page methods with regular updates. Balancing the two will help make the website understandable for users and search engine crawlers. 

Final Word

SEO marketing requires a marketer to create a balance of on-page and off-page practices to improve ranking. After recent updates, SERP algorithms compel marketers to concentrate on off-page SEO before moving on to link building and domain authority enhancement. Search engine and organic traffic play a significant role in the growth of online business and brand awareness. Implementing both techniques will help you get noticed by potential customers.