According to Google, building links is integral to a successful SEO strategy. Several links can improve your rankings, including links from high-authority sites — but these links are highly competitive.
So, how can your local businesses acquire and earn links? Google ranking depends heavily on local links. An analysis of Moz’s 2018 Local Search Ranking Factors found that they are one of the most important ranking factors for local search.
Various local link building tactics are available for businesses, and this guide will take you through them regardless of your budget. So, read on to find out more.
Add a Local Resource Page to Your Site
Are you familiar with local resource pages? As a guide, this page lists the best restaurants and libraries in your location and links to their websites. It is best to link to your target business first to get a backlink.
Once you have created a resource page, you are ready to ask for a favor in return. In this technique, you contact the business you’ve linked to and request they mention you on their website too.
Copy Your Competitors Links
Gaining backlinks is primarily about providing value to customers and constantly striving to establish niche authority — which eventually leads to high-quality backlinks. You can also use your competitor’s backlinks to boost your site’s authority by analyzing their links.
Finding superior quality, high authority links that link to your competitors and replicating them for your site is the key to avoiding spammy links. Many tools are available to help you generate a list of competitor backlinks. Besides, you could use a solid link-building partner like the Getmentioned link building agency to help you get good-quality links that’ll grow your business more than the competition.
Sign Up For Industry-Specific Directories
Google’s ranking algorithm relies heavily on niche citations. As a result, Google can recognize the sector in which you operate, thus increasing your chances of showing up in niche-related searches. Additionally, niche citations using the same NAP format as your website can significantly increase the amount of ‘link juice’ your website receives.
When searching for niche-related directories, search for “business listings,” “business directories,” or “free business listings” on Google. You can find tons of directories where you can get listed if you replace ‘business’ with the industry you work in. Contact them and have your NAP match your website and Google My Business page. As Google sees more links, it is more likely to associate your business with that industry.
Boost Your Local Blogs
Blogs with valuable, hyperlocal content can do well if you promote them in the correct forums. The success of this strategy depends on finding the right platform to market your content. Sites promoting local blogs, such as Reddit sub-threads, city pages, forums, etc., are the best for hyperlocal and relevant content.
You will probably gain traction and backlinks in a location-specific subreddit if you write a blog about ‘the best 4th of January deals in Michigan. The content you create for local audiences must be helpful and not sales-driven. Self-promotion might get you called out, and you could get a terrible reputation.
Build Second-Tier Links
You can relate all the tactics discussed in this post to first-tier backlinking. Getting a link from another website pointing to yours may seem simple. Tiering new links with existing links falls under second-tier local linking. As a result, more recent links will point out existing links, further building their authority.
Using guest posting, for example, is a great way to promote your website. For example, you wrote a guest post and included a link to your website. You are already building second-tier links when you share a blog on social media.
Additionally, you can reference industry collaborations or independent mentions that link back to your website. It is likely that a link posted on an authoritative site, and further shared by several trustworthy domains, will be viewed as extremely valuable and authoritative – further boosting local SEO.
Conclusion
Small businesses that rely on local leads for survival depend heavily on local link building for SEO. They can increase their ranking for locally targeted search terms by using the link-building tactics in this guide. With the help of these tactics, hopefully, you will expand your local SEO authority and achieve hyper-local relevance in your niche regardless of your budget.