Question

When launching a new site for a client, what is more important and what would you focus on first, on-site SEO or off-site SEO? A little debate here at the office  

Answer 1

When on-page is done properly, you need less off-page. Plus when pages are then indexed, you will know better how many links will be needed. Remember, when you build a house you start with the foundation.  

Comments

@noncompliance51820 yep 100%! agree here. A few here though are arguing that social and link building is more important. Can’t put brains in statues  

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@sain0 I worked for a company that only wanted to do link building, but would complain that the conversion rate was so low. Even with testing and the data to back it up, they still believed link-building was the best strategy for traffic.  

Answer 2

I first start with technical seo, then do some research and planning, then push good amount of content, if it is getting good traffic it may attract some backlinks itself and if not then we build links.  

Answer 3

1. technical 2. Keyword research 2. 1 content plan 3. Optimize / Publish high quality content 4. Foundational links 5. Wait 6. High quality links 6. 1 outreach

Comments

@ashleyashli relatively long (at least 500 words but ideally 1000+), unique, genuinely useful content. Social is not entirely useless but it's the icing on the SEO cake.  

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@prior links that helps establish your brand all over the place. PM

Answer 4

The first 3; Excellent suggestions.  

Answer 5

@sain0 Keyword Research, Content planning and other on-page activities. But primary focus should be on executing on-page techniques properly and then off page activities.  

Answer 6

Glen's advice is gold. Why waste money on link building if a page can stand by itself? Most pages need something, but instead of throwing money at link building see how much extra help the page needs to grab top spot and plan accordingly.  

Comments

Yeah I agree, however I think once all the onsite work is done and completed, paying for good high quality links wont hurt, , , but i think its more important to get the onsite stuff done first and then focus on other methods

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@sain0 good quality links never hurt! But why overspend? No convincing some folk  

Answer 7

Might be all out on my own here but research, discovery and on page implementation before launch.  

Comments

In a perfect world, yes. SEO is done before launching the website. Then again in a real world it's usually priority to get a website out and then maybe some SEO will come in and magically optimize it, right.  

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@vasodilator Real world internal process issues.  

Answer 8

KW research and Content/on-site SEO. Of-Page is secondary.  

Answer 9

If you launch a new website without having done all the on-site SEO then the site isn't finished.  

Answer 10

Hi @sain0, for a new site 1. Website security http or https 2. Both mobile and computer indexing process 3. The most important On page factors Title, meta, header, and snippets if you have 4. Sitemap 5. Before backlinks interlinks with your homepage and innerpages 6. Keyword research for Backlinks also competitor research 7. Finally, you rock with Contextual backlinks with both Do follow and No follow links

Answer 11

Still waiting for an answer for this situation  

Answer 12

Why would you even consider off site SEO before your site was optimized? That just doesn't make sense.  

Answer 13

I would say on-site. with the exception of GMB. So if you do quick GMB optimization first, then I suppose that would be off-site! Even though in every other way I’d say on-site  

Answer 14

On-Site first.  

Answer 15

Off-site first, as links needs time to be recognized