Link building is a critical part of any local SEO strategy, whether you are a brick and mortar business or Service area businesslink building can help improve your rankings.
Finding high-quality and relevant links for local SEO will also be one of your biggest challenges.
So, here, you’ll find a variety of helpful tips to help you identify leads, use the tools that work for you, and be more successful in your link building outreach strategy.
What is a local link?
The traditional thought process when we think link building It’s that we want highly authoritative domains to link back to our site – we want as many domains as possible.
However, earning backlinks for smaller organizations can be very challenging, especially if no one has heard of you.
If you’re tasked with building links for local brick-and-mortar stores or service area businesses, it’s important to understand the relevance of your links.
Local links are intended to show that others who are locally relevant trust or endorse your business.
Local SEO professionals typically focus on:
- Correct NAP (name, address, phone number) information.
- Build a reference list.
- Create hyperlocal content.
- Build links from local websites.
The purpose of completing these tasks is to establish a presence in the SERPs for the local terms in the local map package Google Business Profileand organic search results for localized keywords.
When getting local links, try following:
- Link back to your location page or the most relevant page corresponding to the backlink.
- Make sure there is some kind of CTA on the linked page.
Websites in your area may not be able to get highly authoritative websites. They may be small themselves.
don’t focus on Link metrics such as DA For localized websites.
Even if a website has a low DA, getting links from them may be more valuable than from Forbes, Huffington Post, or The New York Times because they are influential and relevant to your niche, .
While it’s always great to get big links from highly authoritative sites, it’s important to understand the constraints local businesses are dealing with — and, often, lack the budget to produce the type of content these big publishers are looking for.
Setting big goals is great, but we need to understand the parameters we’re using.
Local businesses will only operate within the confines of their local space, so doing business in San Francisco and getting traffic from New York could ultimately prove worthless.
Start with building a citation
Citation building, finding general directories, niche directories, and correcting the information you’re currently in will help you get started.
Citations are great because they enable you to place links on some pretty decent sites, and some searchers might even see your key business information if the query is low enough against the competition.
Services to help you with citation building problems include:
These are great platforms I use for citation building and moderation.
When getting started with one of these tools, pay attention to the niche directories in their database. Niche directories will be more important than general directories.
Where are the opportunities? You can find them anywhere!
“Who will link back to the sandwich shop?” – Anonymous SEO Expert
There is a general idea that local link building may not be beneficial, may not be natural, or (in some cases) seem impossible.
But that’s why those who do local SEO may need to be more creative than those who do SEO for big brands.
Local linking opportunities may differ from national or global linking options. You’re fighting to rank for hyperlocal keywords that often don’t have a lot of search volume, and you’ll be working with sites that start with low authority.
To answer the anonymous quote above, you can build some types of local links for sandwich shops:
- Local newspaper or media featuring local cuisine.
- Local bloggers with a small number of followers but an entire following within your target area.
- Local events page, write about what to do in an area – tourist attractions, downtown directories, chambers of commerce, etc.
- Other local businesses that also have a website and would like to have a Local Partners page or a Business We Love page.
- Business owners can sponsor or volunteer local charities that feature volunteer pages.
- travel website.
- Local organization and group websites.
If you’re doing SEO for a local space, it’s important to understand where the limitations of that local space are and make that space your new earth.
Everything you do to promote this business exists within the boundaries you set.
Knowing your limitations will allow you to think more creatively and effectively find opportunities in that space, which will ultimately bring the most value to the business website you’re developing.
Open the link tool and start prospecting
As long as I can remember, Areves and majestic Has become the standard for link research.
However, it is worth noting that samlash Made great strides in upgrading their database and now claim to have the largest database of backlinks. Sometimes it’s a good idea to use multiple tools!
To start building your prospect list, you first need to understand where the business is in its space and how competitive it is to rank up.
Start with the terms you think will provide the most value to your business. Then see which businesses are currently ranking on the first page of the SERPs.
Gather a list of sites and see what links they’ve gotten in the past.
Compare the mutual links between them, and the different links they get.
These are direct competitors, so most links will be related to the specific business you’re in.
Compare the list you’ve collected with the link profile of the site you’re currently working on to see what you’re missing.
If you can get all the links your competitors get, you can be on a more level playing field in terms of links.
How to Find More Linking Opportunities
If you are experiencing hypothetical competition for space in terms of search links, the natural next step is to get more links than your competitors.
Explore other local businesses and where they get news coverage.
Doing so will help you see how other companies outside of our industry are linking in the same local space.
By looking at general popular businesses within our local space, we can begin to find some easy-to-get opportunities to build links and find local writers, local bloggers, and websites who want (or have supported) local businesses in the past.
Another method I use is to look for businesses that have a lot of traction Place their website through a link analysis tool.
One way to find highly attractive businesses is through review sites like Yelp.
Go to Yelp and search in your city and filter by the most reviewed businesses.
These businesses may not relate to your value proposition at all, but they provide a lot of information about your website’s promotional opportunities in the local space.
For example, the top rated business in San Francisco is Tartine Bakery.
If you put this site into a backlink analysis tool, you might be surprised by the results you find.
According to Ahrefs, the site has more than 3,000 links. I’m more than willing to bet you that not all of this has to do with food.
If you’re working with a small restaurant, you now have a goldmine of potential links that are local to your space, even if you don’t serve the same type of food.
Screenshot from Ahrefs, December 2018Use this method with the businesses and businesses that get the most reviews in a few different verticals to get a variety of potential links.
When you browse these lists, you will find links that are completely irrelevant or unavailable. But that’s okay.
This exercise focuses on finding the few diamonds in the rough and, where possible, connecting with local influencers.
For more advice and tips on link building, be sure to check out these expert resources:
Featured image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Magazine
