Search engine optimization (SEO) is the act of optimizing a web page or website for search engines, and there are two ways to achieve this: on-page and off-page SEO. On-page SEO refers to optimizing the actual HTML text, Meta tags, title, h1 tags, and other such on-page elements with respect to keyword density, site navigation, content, and so on. On-page optimization tends to yield quicker results because it only requires the updating of web content, images, and other relevant on-page elements each time a new keyword or key phrase is searched for in Google or other search engines. Because of the relatively narrow focus of this form of optimization, many webmasters consider it to be relatively easy, but what they do not realize is that there is great competition in on-page optimization, which can also be quite expensive. Off-page SEO, however, encompasses aspects of the web design and development, including links from other websites, text, and code rewriting, directory listings, and so on.
In a nutshell, off-page SEO is generally considered to be more important than on-page SEO because of the increased ability for users who are searching for specific keywords to be able to find you. For example, if you own and operate a web site that sells textbooks, you obviously want as many people as possible to be able to find and purchase your products, and one way to accomplish this is by making sure that your website appears in search results for as many different search terms as possible. However, the same information, the same text, the same layout, the same photos, etc., can all be optimized on a page with on-page SEO and still yield a better overall SEO result. The bottom line is that both forms of optimization are important and depending upon what you're trying to accomplish, it may make sense to hire an expert who can optimize both on and off the page.
So, what is the difference between on-page and off-page SEO? It's simple. An on-page optimization plan focuses primarily on making sure that your website appears at the top of every search engine's results page. A well-optimized site will get a good bit of traffic, and should rank well within the first few pages of search results, but it takes time and effort to get your web site ranked high enough that your company name will pop up in yellow and black in the search results. An off-page SEO program focuses primarily on making sure that your web site is placed in the proper places within the various search engines, rather than concentrating solely on having your site comes up first.
