On-Page vs. Off-Page Search Engine Optimization

Aug 1, 2007 - 9:33 am 6 by

What is the difference between on-site and off-site SEO? This is the question asked on a Cre8asite Forums thread. While this is a somewhat beginner topic, it's a good question and helpful to review.

On-site SEO, as many say, are focusing on the on-page elements. For example:

  • Unique title tags
  • H1s/headlines
  • Copywriting
  • Adding descriptions to images
  • Crawlable links
  • Internal navigation

And off-site SEO, focuses on things beyond your website, such as:

  • Press releases
  • Link building
  • Advertising
  • Social media

Ammon Johns has a pretty good summary of how they should be distinguished:

It is important to remember that off-page factors begin while still on the same site, such as the navigational links to the optimised page, the link-text used in the site, and even the URL (which reflects site structure).

Thus, off-site factors and on-site factors are separate but somewhat tied to each other.

Forum discussion continues at Cre8asite Forums.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Bing Search

Microsoft Hiring Very Senior PM To Fight Spam On Bing & Copilot

Jan 8, 2026 - 7:51 am
Google Maps

PSA: Don't Create Separate Google Business Profile For Department Listings

Jan 8, 2026 - 7:41 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google's John Mueller Answers If You Should Invest In GEO

Jan 8, 2026 - 7:31 am
Search Engine Optimization

Tailwind CSS Lets Go 75% Of Engineers After 40% Traffic Drop From Google

Jan 8, 2026 - 7:21 am
Google Ads

Google Vehicle Ads Gains Call Assets

Jan 8, 2026 - 7:11 am
Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: January 7, 2026

Jan 7, 2026 - 10:00 am
 
Previous Story: Google AdSense Now Supports Bulgarian and Serbian Languages