SEO services
Off-Page SEO Services That Shape What the Web Says About You
Off-page SEO is everything said about your business on sites you do not control: links, mentions, reviews, listings, press coverage and the sources AI answers quote. I audit what that picture says about you today, then fix the gaps that hold your rankings and your enquiries back.
- years in SEO
- 6+
- client websites worked on
- 60+
- person doing the work
- 1
Most off-page SEO offers are link packages with a new name
Off-page SEO covers every signal about your business that lives on sites you do not control, yet most of what is sold under that name is one product: a monthly bundle of guest posts, directory submissions and social bookmarks, priced per link. That made more sense when links were all search engines looked at. It makes little sense now, and parts of it carry real risk.
Search engines try to answer one question about any business: is this a real, trusted organisation that people would be happy to find? They answer it by checking what independent sources say. Links are a big part of that, but so are reviews on the platforms customers use, consistent listings across directories and data aggregators, coverage in the press your market reads, mentions on forums and communities, and profiles on the professional bodies you belong to. AI answers draw on the same sources when they decide which businesses to name.
So off-page SEO, as I practise it, starts with an honest picture of that footprint. What do the sources a searcher or an AI system would check say about you, and how does that compare with the businesses ranking above you? The gaps decide the work, which might be links, might be reviews, and is often a set of listings and mentions nobody has looked at in years.
Key takeaways
- Off-page SEO is wider than link building. Search engines and AI systems corroborate a business across reviews, listings, press, forums and partner sites, not only through backlinks.
- Links remain the heaviest off-page ranking signal in competitive organic results. Campaign work has its own page; here they sit alongside everything else.
- Reviews and consistent listings matter most for local and map pack visibility, and they influence whether a searcher clicks you or the business above you.
- Brand mentions on the sources AI answers cite are becoming a visibility channel of their own, and they are earned the same way as good press: by being worth mentioning.
- The work is judged on outcomes you can check: referring domains from relevant sites, review volume and response, listing accuracy, branded search and enquiries from referral traffic.
What's included in my off-page SEO work
Seven parts, planned together so effort goes to the gap that costs you most. Campaign-scale link work and Business Profile work have their own pages and are linked where they apply.
An off-page footprint audit benchmarked against the businesses above you
Links, unlinked mentions, review profiles, listings, professional registers and press coverage are pulled together and set against the three to five businesses that outrank you. The point is to see which gap is costing you most, because a market where rivals have deep review profiles needs different work from one won on trade press.
- Referring domains and anchor mix against competitors
- Review volume, rating and response rate per platform
- Listings and registers checked for accuracy
- Press and community mentions found and logged
A link profile risk review and a plan for the links you lack
Relevant links from sites with real audiences still move rankings in competitive markets. I check the existing profile for risky patterns, recommend a disavow only where the evidence supports one, and plan new links from relationships that exist without SEO. Prospecting and outreach run under link building.
- Risk review of the current link profile
- Disavow advice only where the evidence supports it
- Links from memberships, suppliers, partners and sponsorships
- No paid guest posts, private blog networks or link exchanges
Review requests sent to every customer, within Google's policies
A request goes to every completed customer when the job or matter closes. Google's policies prohibit selectively asking for positive reviews, steering unhappy customers away or offering discounts and prize draws in exchange, and fake or undisclosed incentivised reviews are targeted by consumer law in the UK and the FTC in the US.
- Request timing and templates your team will actually use
- Google first, then the platforms your buyers check
- Two platforms done properly rather than ten done badly
- No gating, incentives or reviews from staff and friends
Review responses written for the next reader, not only the reviewer
Every review gets an answer, negative ones calmly and without revealing anything private. In healthcare and law that rule is strict: a reply must never confirm someone is a patient or a client. Where a profession has rules on using testimonials in marketing, I check those limits before review content appears on your own pages.
- Reply guidelines for praise, complaints and fake reviews
- Confidentiality rules for regulated professions
- Testimonial use checked against professional rules
- Unclear cases referred to your regulator or adviser
Listing and entity consistency across every profile and register
Your name, address, founding details and description are compared across your site, Business Profile, LinkedIn, professional registers and industry directories. The report lists every mismatch and the fix, so search engines can tie each mention to the right organisation. Map pack listings themselves are handled under local SEO.
- A mismatch report covering every source you control
- Corrections made or briefed to whoever owns each profile
- Professional and licence registers checked first
Unlinked mentions reclaimed and digital PR aimed at the sources you lack
Mentions that already exist are the cheapest links available, so I list each one with the contact who can add the link. New coverage is earned with data, expert comment from your team and genuine stories, aimed at the publications your competitors appear in and you do not.
- Unlinked mentions listed with a contact for each
- Expert comment and data stories pitched to relevant press
- No press release wire blasts
A record of how AI answers describe your business and which sources they cite
For your priority questions I record how AI Overviews, ChatGPT and similar assistants describe you and your competitors, and which pages they cite. Those cited sources become off-page targets. Making your own pages easy for AI systems to quote is on-site work, covered under AI search optimisation.
- Answers saved for each priority question
- Cited sources listed and ranked by how often they appear
- Re-checked over time, since answers change
Experience
Off-page SEO from someone who has done it many times
You work with me from the first call to the last report. No account managers, no hand-offs to a junior team.
Book a free call- years in SEO
- 6+
- client websites worked on
- 60+
- documented case studies
- 35
Off-Page SEO by industry
The method stays the same. The queries, the competitors and what a lead looks like do not.
Off-Page SEO for lawyers
Law society and bar listings, legal directories, press commentary from named lawyers and a review process that never breaches confidentiality. Links included, scholarship schemes and paid legal guest posts refused.
Read moreOff-Page SEO for healthcare
Professional registers, hospital and referral profiles, patient reviews answered without confirming anyone is a patient, and expert comment placed by journalists. Links and mentions from sources fit for health content.
Read moreOff-Page SEO for home services
Manufacturer installer finders, trade review sites, Google reviews that describe real jobs, local press and supplier credits. The off-page signals a homeowner checks before letting a trade into the house.
Read moreOff-Page SEO for accountants
Software partner directories, professional body listings, chamber profiles, client reviews and Budget commentary. A reputation off your site that matches the care you take with clients' affairs.
Read moreOff-Page SEO for insurance agencies
Carrier agent locators, regulator and licence registers, association directories, local reviews and press quotes before storm season - with licensing details accurate everywhere they appear.
Read moreOff-Page SEO for architects
Awards, design press, collaborator credits and professional body directories, plus the unlinked recognition your projects have already earned - all within the protected title rules.
Read moreOff-Page SEO for e-commerce
Product reviews and store ratings within the fake review rules, gift guides, stockist pages, disclosed creator content and the community discussion AI shopping answers draw on.
Read moreOff-Page SEO for B2B
Trade press, distributor and partner pages, certification registers, industry and software review directories and the analyst or association mentions buying committees check before shortlisting.
Read moreWhat off-page SEO covers, and where each part is handled
These are the signals I audit and work on. Some have their own page because they are big enough to be a service in their own right.
| Signal | What it is | Why it matters | Covered in depth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backlinks | Links from other sites to yours | Still the strongest off-page input to organic rankings in competitive markets | Link building |
| Brand mentions | Your name cited in articles, lists, forums and partner pages, with or without a link | Corroborate who you are; unlinked ones are often the cheapest links available | This page |
| Reviews and reputation | Ratings and written reviews on Google and the platforms your customers trust | Feed local prominence and decide clicks between similar results | This page |
| Citations and listings | Business name, address and phone on directories, aggregators and professional registers | Consistency supports map pack trust; errors split signals and send customers to old numbers | Local SEO |
| Digital PR | Coverage earned through data, expert comment and stories | Produces links, mentions and branded search at the same time | This page and link building |
| Entity signals | Consistent facts about the business across profiles, registers and knowledge sources | Help search engines connect mentions to the right organisation | This page |
| AI answer citations | Being named or linked in AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Copilot | A growing share of research starts in these answers | AI search optimisation |
Mentions, entity signals and being named in AI answers
Search engines increasingly treat a business as an entity: a known thing with a name, a location, people, services and relationships. They build that picture from many sources. If your company name, address, founding details and description differ between your site, your Business Profile, LinkedIn, professional registers and industry directories, the picture blurs. Cleaning that up is unglamorous work and some of the most reliable I do.
Mentions matter even without a link. A trade publication naming you in a list of specialists, a forum thread recommending you, a partner's case study crediting your work - each one confirms what you do and for whom. Unlinked mentions are also the first place I look for links, because the hard part, being mentioned, has already happened.
AI answers lean on the same sources. In the AI answers I check for clients, the businesses named tend to be the ones mentioned repeatedly on the pages those answers cite: review platforms, comparison articles, industry directories and well-read community threads. Off-page work feeds that directly. The on-site side, content that AI systems can quote, is covered under AI search optimisation.
Free review
Get a free Off-page SEO review
Send me your site. Before the call I look at your rankings and pages, then tell you what I would fix first and what it is likely worth.
How off-page SEO changes by industry
The sources that carry weight, and the rules that limit what you can do, differ by sector. Each industry links to its own off-page page.
| Industry | Off-page signals that carry weight | Limits to respect |
|---|---|---|
| Lawyers | Law society and bar listings, legal directories, press commentary by named lawyers, client reviews | Confidentiality in review replies; professional rules on testimonials and specialist claims |
| Healthcare | Professional registers, hospital profiles, patient review platforms, expert comment in health press | Patient privacy in every reply; advertising rules on treatment claims |
| Home services | Manufacturer installer finders, trade review sites, local press, Google reviews with project detail | No bought review bundles; accreditation logos only where you hold the accreditation |
| Accountants | Software partner directories, professional body listings, chamber and business group profiles | Professional body rules on publicity; nothing that reveals client affairs |
| Insurance agencies | Carrier agent locators, licence and regulator registers, association directories, local reviews | Licensing status shown accurately everywhere; financial promotion rules on claims |
| Architects | Awards, design press, collaborator credits, professional body directories | Protected title rules on who can be described as an architect |
| E-commerce | Product reviews, store ratings, gift guides, stockist pages, community discussion | Fake review bans; disclosure of gifted and affiliate content |
| B2B | Trade press, distributor pages, certification registers, industrial and software review directories | Customer permission before naming accounts; sponsored placements marked as such |
Off-page work that holds up, and work that backfires
Every item on the right is still sold widely. I will tell you plainly if something in your current plan sits there.
Holds up
- Links and mentions from organisations you genuinely work with
- Reviews requested from every customer, answered in public
- A small set of accurate listings on directories customers use
- Coverage earned with data, comment or a real story
- Consistent business facts across every profile you control
Backfires
- Bought guest posts and link networks dressed up as outreach
- Review gating, incentives or reviews written by staff and friends
- Hundreds of automated directory submissions with mismatched details
- Press release wire blasts that produce copies, not coverage
- Planted forum posts and fake community recommendations
How an off-page engagement runs
Most engagements start with a four-to-six-week audit and foundation phase, then move into ongoing earning and monitoring.
- 1
Map the current footprint
Pull every signal in the audit tab above into one view, including how AI answers describe you for your priority questions, and set it against your closest competitors.
- 2
Fix the foundations
Correct listings and profiles, align business facts across every source you control, claim the mentions that should link, and set up a review request process your team will actually use.
- 3
Earn what is missing
Link campaigns, digital PR and expert commentary aimed at the specific sources your competitors have and you do not. Effort goes where the gap is largest.
- 4
Monitor and respond
New reviews answered, new mentions checked, listing changes caught, and AI answers re-checked for the questions that matter. Reported monthly with what changed and why.
Where off-page work sits in the wider plan
Off-page signals amplify what is already on the site, so they work best once technical SEO and on-page SEO are sound and there is content worth citing. If you do not yet know which of those is your bottleneck, an SEO audit answers that first.
Campaign-level link work lives on the link building page, listings and Business Profile work on local SEO, and visibility in AI assistants on AI search optimisation. For how all of it fits by sector, start at SEO services.
Growth from real projects
Learn more about off-page seo
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Off-page SEO Services FAQs
What do off-page SEO services include?
Everything that affects how search engines and customers see your business from outside your site: links, brand mentions, reviews and reputation, directory and register listings, digital PR, consistent business facts and being named in AI answers. The mix depends on your market. A local practice may need reviews and listings most; a national B2B firm may need trade press and links.
Is off-page SEO the same as link building?
No, link building is one part of it. Links are still the heaviest off-page signal for organic rankings, but reviews, listings, mentions and press all shape how search engines judge a business and how searchers choose between results. I run link campaigns as their own service and plan them alongside the other off-page work.
Do reviews affect search rankings?
Google says review count and score are among the factors that affect local ranking, so for map pack visibility they matter. For ordinary organic results their effect is less direct, but they strongly influence clicks and enquiries. Either way, the honest approach is the same: ask every customer and reply to every review.
Can off-page SEO get us mentioned in ChatGPT or AI Overviews?
It helps. AI answers tend to name businesses that appear repeatedly on the sources they cite, such as review platforms, comparison articles, directories and well-read communities. Earning mentions on those sources is off-page work. Nobody can promise a mention in a specific answer, and anyone who does is guessing.
How do you measure off-page SEO?
With numbers you can check: new referring domains from relevant sites, reclaimed mentions, review volume, rating and response rate, listing accuracy, branded search trends, referral visits and enquiries from linking sites, and how AI answers describe you over time. Rankings for the pages that received authority come last, because they move slowest.
Do you do social media management?
No. Off-page, social profiles matter mainly as accurate profiles that confirm who you are and as places where your content gets shared. I check them in the audit, but posting schedules and community management are better handled by a social specialist.
How long does off-page SEO take to work?
Listing fixes and reclaimed mentions are usually in place within weeks. Review profiles build steadily once the request process is running. Links and PR take months to earn and longer to show in rankings. I report progress on each signal monthly, so you can see movement before rankings catch up.
Find the off-page SEO gap between you and the businesses above you
Send me your domain and your two closest competitors. On a free 30-minute call I will walk you through how your links, reviews, listings and mentions compare with theirs, and the off-page gap I would close first.