Off-page SEO

Off-page SEO (also called off-site SEO) is the part of search engine optimisation that happens outside your own website: backlinks, mentions of your brand in the media and signals such as reviews show Google and AI systems that others trust you. On-page SEO makes your page good, and off-page SEO is how others confirm it.

Off-page SEO in numbers: what we see in the Linkbroker marketplace

Building signals from outside is our daily business. Since 2023 we have delivered more than 16,500 placements, and in 2025 we delivered more than twice as many as in 2024 (as of November 2026, based on our own analysis of all delivered orders). For a growing number of companies, off-page SEO is no longer a one-off project but ongoing work.

A second figure shows how far these signals reach today. On 11 November 2026 we analysed the robots.txt files of 1,914 reachable publisher domains from our marketplace catalogue, most of them German-language sites. Of these, 88.8% allow all 10 AI crawlers we checked, and the search crawlers behind ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity are blocked by just 1.9% combined. In other words, the systems that put together answers in AI search are able to read a mention on almost any of these sites. The measurement is a one-day snapshot of a typical article path on each site.

In our marketplace, many outlets show our AI Score, which tells you how often an outlet is cited in answers from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot and Google AI Overviews. That way you can see before you book which outlets appear there as a source. You will find more on this on our digital PR page.

On-page vs off-page SEO: the difference

• On-page SEO covers everything you control on your own website: content, headings, meta tags, internal links and technical factors such as load time and mobile display.
• Off-page SEO covers everything others publish about you: links, mentions, reviews and directory listings.

The two work together. Signals from outside have the strongest effect on pages that genuinely answer a search query. If a page is weaker than the results above it, even good links will not keep it at the top for long. Conversely, an excellent page often stays invisible until other sites point to it.

Off-page SEO techniques: the three big levers

1. Link building

Backlinks are the best-known off-page signal. Google says it "uses links as a signal when determining the relevancy of pages and to find new pages to crawl" (Google Search Central). What counts is not how many links you have but who links to you. When we assess publishers, we therefore look first at a matching topic, real visitors and a profile of their own made up of referring domains and rankings. How to win new links in a targeted way is explained under link building, and you can find suitable websites, with all metrics visible before you book, in the Linkbroker marketplace.

Two quick wins are easy to overlook: find mentions of your brand that carry no link and ask the site owner to add one, and redirect old URLs that still attract links to the matching new page, so those links count again.

2. Digital PR

Through digital PR, your brand appears in articles on news and magazine sites. The links there are usually nofollow, and the value lies elsewhere: reach, trust and mentions in exactly the sources that AI systems draw on for their answers.

3. Brand mentions

Mentions of your brand without a link are not a confirmed ranking signal for Google, but they matter all the more for AI answers. In an Ahrefs study of 75,000 brands (Linehan & Guan, 2025), the correlation with visibility in Google AI Overviews was 0.664 for brand mentions, compared with 0.527 for branded anchors, 0.326 for Domain Rating and 0.218 for the number of backlinks. A correlation does not prove cause, though. Our customers are asking about this too: questions about whether we offer anything for AI visibility belong to a request type about services beyond links that came up in 40 support chats (as of 12 August 2026). How to measure your presence in AI answers is covered under AI visibility.

For local businesses, further outside signals come into play: a well-maintained Google Business Profile, genuine reviews and consistent company details in directories.

How to measure off-page SEO

Three figures show whether your work outside the website is paying off. First, the number of referring domains over time, meaning how many different websites link to you rather than how many links there are in total. Second, the distribution of your anchor texts, which should consist mostly of brand, URL and generic wording. Third, how often people search for your brand and how often AI answers name it. Google Search Console's Links report and SEO tools such as Ahrefs provide the link data. Mentions in AI answers can be tracked with tools such as Ahrefs Brand Radar, which we also use for our own brand.

Off-page SEO checklist

• Referring domains: Are new websites linking to you over time, and do they match your topic and have real visitors?
• Anchor texts: Do most links carry your brand, your URL or generic wording?
• Media mentions: Is your brand named in articles on news and magazine sites that AI answers draw on?
• Reviews and listings: Are your reviews genuine, and are your company details the same in every directory?
• AI answers: Do you know which questions AI systems name your brand for, and do you track this over time?

Conclusion

Off-page SEO means others speak for you: through links, mentions and reviews. Start with a few sources that genuinely fit and build on them steadily. Which pages should receive links first, and at what pace, is covered under link building strategy.

Frequently asked questions

Which off-page SEO techniques matter most?

Usually editorial backlinks from relevant websites with real readers, followed by digital PR and mentions in the media. For local businesses, reviews and consistent company details come on top.

Where should you start with off-page SEO?

Start with a benchmark: compare your referring domains with those of the pages that outrank you for your most important keywords. The gaps show which kinds of sources you are missing and where your first new links should come from.

Do social media signals count for off-page SEO?

Google has not confirmed likes and shares as a ranking signal. Social media helps indirectly, because content that people see there is more likely to be linked to or mentioned later.

Do reviews help your local rankings?

They can: Google's Business Profile Help says that more reviews and positive ratings can help your business's local ranking. Ask genuine customers for reviews and reply to them.

Related terms: Link building · Nofollow link · Disavow links · Brand building · Answer engine optimization