Local SEO link-building is the process of acquiring backlinks from relevant local websites to increase visibility, domain authority, and organic rankings.
In our guide, we discuss the benefits of local SEO link-building, show you how to find local link-building opportunities, and 15 proven tactics that you can use in your local link-building strategy.
Let’s dive in, shall we?
TL;DR
- Local SEO link building involves obtaining backlinks from relevant local websites to increase organic local search rankings and increase your brand awareness.
- Building links with local organizations and influencers improves local brand visibility, drives website traffic, increases trust and credibility, helps build local networks, enhances local SERP rankings, and boosts your credibility.
- Listing your website in local directories is a great way to get a local link.
- Local media are another potential source of local backlinks. Apart from increasing your domain authority, they can drive lots of referral traffic and spread the word about your organization. You can either reach out to them directly or use press releases.
- Establishing oneself as a reliable source of local information or an expert on a subject is a reliable tactic for local link-building.
- Try writing guest posts to get links from high-authority local websites. You can do this by establishing partnerships with local bloggers and influencers.
- Creating a local guide or a blog with local content will promote your business and help you secure backlinks.
- Sponsoring a local event, organization or charity can often result in a backlink from the event’s website. Similarly, hosting your own event and getting it listed on local event directories can lead to backlinks.
- If you are in a position to do so, consider funding a scholarship for a local student.
- Local reviews and travel websites are other good sources of backlinks, so encourage your customers to review your product or service.
- Collaboration with non-competing businesses will not only give you backlinks but also allow you to leverage their resources to promote your business.
- Analysis of your competitor’s backlink profiles can reveal additional link-building opportunities. To do this, use products like Ahrefs or Moz Local.
- BacklinkManager is a link-building application that allows you to track and monitor your website’s links, and receive automated status updates.
- If you want to see how it can help you boost your local link profile, book the demo!</
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What is Local SEO Link Building?
Local SEO link building is the process of obtaining backlinks from relevant local websites to increase organic rankings for local searches and expand the reach of a local target audience.
You can get such local backlinks from sources such as city guides, local business directories, and local blogs.
How to Find Local Link-Building Opportunities
Finding local link-building opportunities requires a bit of research and creativity. Here are some possible sources that you can use:
- Local business directories
- Partnerships with local businesses
- Local blogs and local news sites
- Local events and sponsorships
- Local organizations and clubs
- Local influencers
- Competitor analysis
Benefits of Local SEO Link Building.
Local SEO link building can offer several benefits to a business, especially those targeting a specific geographic area. Here are some of the main benefits:
- Improved Local Visibility: Building quality local links will help search engines better understand your relevance to a specific location. This can significantly enhance your visibility in local search results, increasing the chance that local customers will find your business.
- Increased Website Traffic: When local sites link to yours, their audience can become your audience too. This can drive more local traffic to your website, especially if the linking site has a large, engaged local following.
- Increased Trust and Credibility: Links from respected local websites can improve your business’s credibility in the eyes of both search engines and customers. This can lead to higher search rankings and increased customer trust.
- Enhanced Business Reputation: Being linked to well-regarded local businesses and organizations can improve your reputation within your local community. It’s an endorsement that tells others you are a trusted local business.
- Local Network Building: Local link building often involves reaching out to other local businesses or organizations. This can help you build a strong local network, which could lead to additional partnerships, collaborations, or customer referrals.
- Better Local Rankings: Local link building is a critical component of local SEO, which aims to improve your business’s ranking in local search results. The higher you rank, the more likely local customers are to find and choose your business.
15 Tactics for Easy Local Links
Given all the benefits, local link-building is definitely worth the effort. Here are 15 local link-building tactics that you could use in your local SEO strategy.
1) Add Your Business to a Local Business Directory
Including a business in online business directories is an effective strategy for link building, as it can help improve rankings and build visibility in the local community.
To add your business to a local directory, the essential data required is the name, address, phone number, and a link to the website.
When selecting a directory, businesses should take into account factors such as website traffic, search engine visibility, associated costs, and the overall quality of the directory.
2) Reach Out to Local Media
Appearing in local media outlets can be advantageous for local businesses, as it can help to raise visibility and establish a sense of trust with the local community. Additionally, local media can help to spread the word about a business’s products or services and draw in potential customers.
Local media outlets may include newspapers, magazines, and radio stations that are based in the local area.
To begin the process of reaching out to local media outlets, compile a list of local publications and websites and contact writers who may be interested in writing about your business.
After that, review any existing press mentions and reach out to request a link.
3) Send a press release about newsworthy events.
Press releases are a valuable tool for local SEO link building, as they can be used to create backlinks to a website and enhance its search engine rankings.
Crafting a successful press release begins with selecting a pertinent and newsworthy topic, followed by creating an attention-grabbing headline. To keep the content concise, include quotes that are both impactful and memorable.
To ensure that a press release is newsworthy, it is advisable to focus on local business events with innovative ideas or charitable initiatives. Customizing a press release for a particular publication can significantly increase the likelihood of it being accepted and published.
4) Become a trusted source.
Establishing oneself as a reliable source is a vital tactic for local link building, as it can help foster relationships with local media outlets and build a strong local presence.
To become a trusted source, it is important to establish relationships with journalists and provide knowledgeable quotes on topics related to one’s area of expertise.
5) Write guest posts.
You can investigate media outlets that accept submissions from contributors.
An effective way to present editors with guest article ideas is to craft a concise email that outlines the concept and explains why it would be of value to their readers.
Naturally, your guest article should be of the highest quality, demonstrating your knowledge and providing readers with valuable experience.
If you can, try to include links to your business website, as this can drive traffic to your website and improve your local SEO.
6) Contact Local Bloggers
Establishing connections with local bloggers can be advantageous for local link building, as it can lead to increased visibility in local content and social media, thereby fostering engagement with the local community and expanding local reach.
You can identify relevant local bloggers by using tools such as Google search, BuzzSumo, or AllTop to search for blogs related to your specific industry or niche.
Establishing connections with local bloggers can be achieved by engaging with them on social media or via email. Simply, follow them on social media and interact with their content, or send them a personalized email introducing yourself and your business.
In exchange for a link from a local blogger, you can offer a variety of incentives such as a product or service sample, a discount code, or an invitation to an event.
7) Create a Local Guide
The seventh approach for achieving local links with ease is the creation of a local guide.
This strategy involves identifying a topic that is relevant to the local area and your business, conducting research, constructing the guide, and promoting it.
To acquire organic links, the local guide should provide valuable content and be promoted effectively. Additionally, the guide can be promoted to local businesses and organizations to request links, thus generating local links.
8) Sponsor Local Organizations
Sponsoring local organizations and local charities is an effective way for businesses to build local links.
For local businesses, sponsoring local organizations can provide numerous benefits, such as increased visibility, enhanced reputation, and networking opportunities.
Furthermore, sponsoring a local organization can be an effective way to engage with the local community and create meaningful connections.
When negotiating sponsorship terms, it is important to be transparent and honest about the budget and expectations.
To evaluate the success of the sponsorship, businesses should track the number of local links generated and calculate the return on investment (ROI).
9) Offer a Scholarship
Granting a scholarship to local students can be a great way to generate links for local SEO.
This approach has the potential to create multiple links from authoritative educational domains, and colleges and universities are likely to link back to the scholarship landing page or other local content.
To create a scholarship for local students, it is important to define eligibility criteria and award amounts. Additionally, a landing page should be created on the website to host the details and application instructions.
To maximize the reach of the scholarship, it is recommended to contact local schools and universities, send a press release to local media outlets, and list the scholarship on scholarship search engines and directories.
10) Get Links from Local Review and Travel Websites
Positive reviews on popular platforms such as Google or Yelp can help you with your local link-building goals, so encourage your customers to review your product or service.
Such positive reviews can also help you pitch your products to other customers in the future.
11) Hold Special Events and Promotions
Consider holding special events or campaigns that resonate with your local audience.
These could include sponsoring a local sports team, hosting a charity fundraiser, running a workshop, or holding a contest.
Once you’ve decided on an event or promotion, advertise it in your local news outlets such as local newspapers, radio channels, and Facebook community groups.
12) Create a Blog Covering Local Topics
Starting a blog and covering local topics is another way to build links for local SEO.
Blogging allows you to showcase your knowledge and expertise, thus increasing consumer trust and attracting more traffic to your website.
Spend time researching what your local audience wants and craft articles to meet their needs. If readers find your content useful, they’ll link back to it.
13) Build Relationships with Local Influencers
Local influencers have a significant following in their communities, and they can be instrumental in building local links.
Reach out to local influencers and propose a collaboration that could include them reviewing your product or service, running a giveaway, or hosting an event at your business location.
Make sure the collaboration is mutually beneficial and resonates with the influencer’s audience.
14) Collaborate with Non-Competing Local Businesses
Partner with non-competing local businesses for shared promotional efforts.
This could include guest blogging on each other’s websites, co-hosting an event, or offering joint promotions.
Not only does this strategy help in building local links, but it also helps in expanding your local presence and reaching a wider audience.
15) Conduct competitive analysis
A thorough competitive analysis is the final local link-building tactic in our roundup.
This entails studying and understanding the SEO practices, including link building, of your local competitors.
By doing this, you can find new local link-building strategies and local link opportunities to enhance your own SEO efforts.
Tools for local SEO link-building
We’re finishing the text with a quick roundup of a few tools that can help plan and manage your local SEO link-building efforts.
Google My Business
Google My Business isn’t a tool in the traditional sense, but it’s essential for local SEO.
It allows you to manage how your business appears in Google Search and Maps, and you can add your website link to your profile for a local SEO boost.
Ahrefs
This comprehensive SEO tool suite can be used for various aspects of your local SEO link-building strategy.
It can help identify your competitors’ backlinks, provide keyword rankings, and conduct content analysis. Its Site Explorer feature is particularly useful for examining your competitor’s backlink profile.
Moz Local
Moz Local is an excellent tool for managing your local citations.
It ensures your business details are consistent across all platforms and directories, which is crucial for local SEO. Moz also offers a Link Explorer tool for analyzing backlinks.
BacklinkManager
BacklinkManager is a link-building tool that allows you to track and monitor your website’s links.
With BacklinkManager, you can
- track links and receive automated status updates
- get notifications about link status changes (do-follow, no-follow, page not found, link removed)
- track how many links you’ve built to reach your targets
- manage link exchanges by sharing link-building targets with partners, receiving status updates on link exchanges, and keeping score with each link exchange partner
Conclusion
Local SEO link building is an important part of SEO as it helps boost visibility in organic local search results. It involves acquiring backlinks from relevant local businesses and websites that are likely to send your website more qualified traffic from customers in the local area.
There are numerous techniques you can use. Some, like sponsoring local events or scholarships, can be quite expensive, while others, like bloggers, influencers, or local press outreach require a lot of energy.
To help you optimize the costs and streamline your processes, choose the right tool stack. Tools like BacklinkManager can help you keep track of your link-building initiatives.
If you want to learn more about BacklinkManager and how it works, book the demo!
