What is off-page SEO?

Backlinks: quality over quantity

A backlink is a link from another website to a page on yours. Google uses links to find pages and to judge them: its ranking explanation says it looks at whether "other prominent websites link or refer to the content," and PageRank, its system for understanding how pages link to each other, "continues to be part of our core ranking systems."

Not every link helps. Google's spam policies define link spam as "creating links to or from a site primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings," and list examples including "buying or selling links for ranking purposes," "exchanging goods or services for links," excessive link swaps, and "low-quality directory or bookmark site links." For a local business, the links worth having come from real relationships: a local news story, a trade association listing, a supplier's dealer page, a sponsorship of a local team.

Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile is the listing that appears in Google Maps and in the map pack, the group of local businesses shown above the regular results for local searches. It isn't a link, but it's the center of local ranking. Google says "businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local search results," and its help page on categories says your categories affect your local ranking.

Fill in everything that applies: primary and secondary categories, services, hours, service area, and photos. Then keep it current. Our guide to the map pack explains how Google picks the businesses it shows.

Citations and NAP consistency

A citation is any listing of your business name, address, and phone number (often shortened to NAP) on another site, such as Yelp, the Better Business Bureau, Apple Maps, or a trade directory. Google doesn't publish how it uses these listings. What its Business Profile guidelines do ask is that you "represent your business as it's consistently represented and recognized in the real world," with a name that matches your storefront, website, and stationery.

We treat consistency across listings as basic good practice: the same name, address, and phone number everywhere, so customers and search engines never see conflicting details. If you've moved or changed numbers, fix the old listings before adding new ones. And skip bulk directory submissions, since Google's spam policies list "low-quality directory or bookmark site links" as link spam.

Reviews as off-page signals

Google reviews are an off-page signal that directly influences map pack rankings. Google's own local ranking guidance says prominence draws on "how many reviews you have" and that "more reviews and positive ratings can help your business's local ranking." Local search experts add that recency and a steady flow of new reviews matter too. Reviews have to be genuine: Google's policies ban offering anything in exchange for a review or asking only happy customers, and when it finds fake reviews it can remove them, block new reviews for a period, or show customers a warning on your profile. The most reliable way to build review volume is a simple, consistent process for asking every customer right after a job is complete. Our guide to how Google reviews affect ranking covers the details and sources.