git:20260810.b3c37f1 to git:20260810.e5bc675

---

name: seo-offpage

description: "Plan and execute off-page SEO including link building, digital PR, brand mentions, citation building, and external authority signals. Use this skill whenever the user wants to build backlinks, plan a digital PR campaign, list local citations, run guest post outreach, develop linkable assets, recover lost links, or audit a backlink profile for risk. Triggers on link building, backlinks, digital PR, brand mentions, citation building, guest post, outreach, linkable asset, broken link building, HARO, podcast outreach, off-page SEO, anchor text, link velocity, toxic backlinks, disavow. Also triggers when the user is trying to grow domain authority or earn coverage."

category: seo-foundation

catalog_summary: "Link building, digital PR, citations, linkable assets"

display_order: 5

---

# Off-Page SEO

Build the external signals that earn rankings: backlinks, brand mentions, citations, and trusted sources pointing back to the site. Stack-agnostic.

---

## When to use

- Planning a link-building strategy

- Running digital PR or earned-media campaigns

- Building citations for a local business

- Developing linkable assets (research, tools, calculators)

- Recovering lost backlinks after a migration or audit

- Auditing a backlink profile for spam or toxicity

- Pitching guest posts, podcast appearances, or expert quotes

## When NOT to use

- On-site optimization (use `seo-onpage` or `seo-technical`)

- Keyword research and content planning (use `seo-keyword`)

- Competitor backlink research alone (start with `seo-competitor`, then return here for outreach planning)

- Paid link buying (this skill does not endorse or facilitate that)

---

## Required inputs

- The site or brand getting the links

- The audience and category

- A backlink tool (Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz, Majestic, or similar) for prospecting and monitoring

- A target outcome (rank for X, build authority in Y, recover from Z)

---

## The framework: 4 strategies

Off-page work splits into four strategy types. Most programs blend them. Pick the mix that fits your phase.

### 1. Earned media

Links and mentions you earn through coverage, journalism, or contribution.

- Digital PR (data-driven studies, original research, surveys)

- Expert quotes (HARO, journalist platforms, expert request services)

- Podcast appearances (relevant shows in your category)

- Speaking engagements and conference content

- Newsworthy product launches or company milestones

**Strength:** Highest authority, hardest to replicate.

**Cost:** Time-intensive, often requires PR or content budget.

**Volume:** Low to medium per quarter.

### 2. Owned assets

Linkable assets on your own site that attract links passively over time.

- Original research and reports

- Free tools, calculators, and generators

- Comprehensive guides (the kind that become "the X resource for Y")

- Visualizations and interactive content

- Templates and frameworks

- Industry data trackers (regularly updated benchmarks)

**Strength:** Compounds over time. Each link points at an evergreen asset.

**Cost:** Upfront content investment.

**Volume:** Slow to start, accelerates as the asset earns mentions.

### 3. Partnerships and relationships

Links earned through real business relationships.

- Customer case studies (where they link back)

- Partner programs and integrations

- Co-marketing campaigns

- Industry association memberships

- Speaker and expert contributor relationships

- Affiliate and referral programs

**Strength:** Trustworthy, contextually relevant.

**Cost:** Time to develop relationships.

**Volume:** Medium and consistent.

### 4. Citations and listings

Local and category-specific listings that establish entity legitimacy.

- Google Business Profile (for local businesses)

- Bing Places, Apple Business (formerly Apple Business Connect)

- Industry directories (review-quality only, skip spam directories)

- Niche association directories

- Wikipedia entry (where the brand qualifies for notability)

- Wikidata entry

- Trade publications and category indexes

**Strength:** Foundational for local and entity SEO.

**Cost:** Low to medium, mostly setup time.

**Volume:** One-time foundation, occasional refresh.

---

## Workflow

- Total referring domains

- Domain rating trend

- Top referring pages by traffic value

- Anchor text distribution (over-optimized exact-match anchors are a risk)

- Toxic links (spam directories, link farms, irrelevant categories)

- Lost links (referring domains that disappeared)

2. **Define the goal.** "Rank top 3 for X by Q4" requires a different tactic mix than "build category authority."

3. **Pick the strategy mix.** Allocate effort across the 4 strategies. A new site typically goes 70/20/10/0 (assets/citations/partnerships/earned) for the first year. An established site can lean more toward earned media.

4. **Build the prospecting list.**

- For earned media: relevant journalists, podcast hosts, publication beats

- For owned assets: identify what assets to build based on what gets linked in your category

- For partnerships: list 50 to 100 potential partner sites

- For citations: standard list per category, plus niche directories

5. **Outreach.** Personalized, value-first. Generic templated pitches damage the brand more than they help.

6. **Track and measure.**

- Referring domains gained per month

- Domain rating trend

- Anchor text mix (avoid over-optimization)

- Pages on the site attracting links

- Lost link recovery rate

7. **Audit and disavow.** Quarterly review for toxic links. Disavow only when there is real evidence of harm (manual penalty notice, sudden drop after spam attack). Most sites should not need to disavow.

---

## Failure patterns

- **Volume over quality.** 100 directory submissions help less than 5 editorial links from category-relevant sites.

- **Buying links.** Risk of manual penalties is real. Cost-adjusted, the ROI rarely works out.

- **Over-optimized anchor text.** If 40 percent of your inbound anchors are "best running shoes," it looks engineered. Aim for natural distribution: brand, naked URL, generic, partial-match, exact-match (in roughly that order of frequency).

- **Generic outreach templates.** "Dear [first name], I love your blog about [topic]" gets archived in seconds. Personalize or do not send.

- **Ignoring lost links.** A 5 percent monthly loss in referring domains compounds. Build a recovery workflow.

- **Treating disavow as a routine cleanup tool.** Disavow is for confirmed spam attacks or penalty recovery, not preemptive hygiene.

- **Working off-page before the site is worth linking to.** A poorly-designed, thin-content site will not convert outreach. Fix on-site first.

---

## Output format

Default output is a markdown plan at `offpage-strategy.md` plus tracking spreadsheets for prospects and outreach.

Structure:

1. Current backlink profile summary

2. Goal and target metrics

3. Strategy mix (allocation across the 4 types)

4. Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 tactical plan

5. Prospecting lists (in spreadsheets)

6. Outreach templates (personalized, never generic)

7. Tracking and measurement plan

---

## Reference files

- [`references/outreach-templates.md`](references/outreach-templates.md) - Templates for guest posting, expert quotes, broken-link outreach, podcast pitches.

- [`references/linkable-assets-guide.md`](references/linkable-assets-guide.md) - Categories of linkable assets with examples and effort estimates.