Local Link Building Strategies: Different Types & Examples

---

What Is Local Link Building

Local Link Building is the process of earning links from websites that are geographically close to your business. This can include links from nearby neighborhoods, cities, and counties. It is a relatively new but essential part of SEO strategy.
Search engine crawlers focus on geographic proximity while ranking webpages, which means that by localizing your SEO strategy, you can get on top of your competitors.

Different Types of Local Link Building Strategies

---

1. Get Your Business Listed in Business Directories

By using business directories, companies can get local backlinks that help improve their search engine rankings and help bring in more traffic. It is important to make sure that you select directories that best fit your business.
Keep in mind that each directory's purpose is different, but some require you to pay a small fee to be listed in them. It's usually pretty straightforward to submit your business to a local directory.
You'll need to create an account with the directory site and fill out a form providing basic contact information about the business.
For example, Have a look at this local listing from Angi.
The best part about using these promotional websites is that it's free to sign up (for most platforms) and post a listing! All you need to do is answer a few questions about your business and submit the form.
Three Best Directories

• Yelp
• Bright Local
• Angi (formerly Angie's List)

2. Collaborate With Bloggers and Influencers

Bloggers and influencers in your industry can open many doors for you to generate local backlinks. These individuals have a large following of people who live in the area, and they often write about things relevant to a particular business or industry.
When you work with an influencer or blogger, their large followers/readership may be interested in what you have to offer. The more people your influencer has following them, the greater the chance they will have of amplifying your message and reaching a much larger audience.
Start with finding the bloggers (in your industry/niche) who have a substantial following. Next, reach out to them and tell them you're interested in building a relationship with them. You can also mention that you'd like to promote their content on your site.
Have a look at these top influencers from Houston.
Here are the top three platforms to find influencers:

• Post For Rent
• BuzzSumo
• FollowerWonk

3. Optimize Social Media Profiles

Social media has become a powerful tool for business owners and marketing professionals. With the right strategy, you can use social sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to generate local backlinks to your website and bring in potential new customers.
See how Google uses Twitter to gain a link to their blog.
You can use your personal and company profiles to add links to your posts. It's essential to keep in mind that, while generating these links, it's best not to spam followers with the same message repeatedly.
You can either post content on your Facebook wall, tweet on Twitter, or share posts on LinkedIn. Posting content with links will allow other people to find the posts and link back to the original webpage.
Tips:

• Ensure that your profile is complete and has a strong business image.
• Platforms like Pinterest allows users to claim their website. Make use of such features.
• Use platforms like Bitly and TinyUrl to shorten if your URL is lengthy.
• Consider using platforms like Beacons to have multiple links in one place.

4. Be in Touch With Local Newspapers

One way to get backlinks from local newspapers is to ask the editor to mention them in their publication. Many small businesses offer promotions and contests to incentivize people to purchase goods and services in the area.
If you are one among them, you can advertise your contest, promotion, or giveaway in your local paper in exchange for a mention of your company.
Another way to get local backlinks is to write a press release and send it for the newspapers' consideration.
For example, See how a Small business expo is promoted in a local newspaper - Exhibitor online.
A local newspaper is the source of information for people who live in an area. They are usually more than happy to write an article about their home town and its entities, especially relevant to their readers.
Why not send them a press release about your event/company if it best aligns with their audience's taste.

Related : Press Releases and SEO

Tip: To work with local newspapers, you'll need to develop an idea for an article that fits their focus (which is usually local). You also need to research where the major newspapers in your area are and their editorial policies.

5. Curate Locally-relevant Content

When it comes to building local links, curating region-specific content can be an excellent idea to get a headstart. By leveraging social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, you can get your content to reach a broader audience in your target market.
With the right strategy, you could even get them to go out on a limb for you by sharing your content. Locally-relevant content can also earn you backlinks from major local sources that people trust.
By using quality content, you will not only make it easier for your readers but make it more likely for other sites to link to your article or post. Sites like TourTexas and VisitDallas earn backlinks from other local sites by generating area-specific content.
For example, See how Austin Women's Health Center is posting local content related to Austin's healthcare.
Tips:

• Use images, videos, and infographics to spice up your writings.
• Consider creating long-form articles and adding links to credible sources.

6. Join Local Business Associations To Get Backlinks

Local and regional business associations and chambers of commerce provide a fantastic opportunity for local businesses to join and get local backlinks.
In general, you will be asked to fill out an application and pay the necessary fees to join. Once accepted, you gain access to various perks to help your business gain exposure.
You get a lot from such associations, from free advertising in various publications to discounts on services and connections with other businesses in the area.
Joining a business association will also help you obtain local backlinks from the association's website, social media networks, and blogs.
See how this website has gained a backlink by joining the Austin chamber of commerce.
In addition, you can create a profile on the association's website that includes a company description and your website link.
Tips:

• Many of these groups host monthly networking events, trade shows, and weekly coffees.
• These in-person connections also offer a chance to meet like-minded entrepreneurs and grow your professional network by establishing valuable relationships.
• The more you attend these events, the more visibility you'll gain.

7. Exploit Quora

Quora needs no introduction. It is a site that many people use to answer/ask questions. The platform has an abundance of topics, and you can either choose one that you are most knowledgeable about or one that will potentially generate the most traffic and local backlinks for your business.
Many people find success with Quora by focusing on their niche/business questions. To generate backlinks from Quora, you'll need to spend time answering questions.
For example, Have a look at this mobile app development company answering a user query and adding their backlinks at the same time in Quora.
We advise you to answer the questions well enough to receive upvotes from other users — which will help your question rank higher on the platform.
Tips:

• Quora does not allow users to promote your business/products explicitly, and doing so will result in a ban.
• If you want backlinks, make sure your answer is relevant and exciting to the site's audience.

8. Use Reddit

Another effective way to earn local backlinks is through Reddit by posting content that fits the subreddit's subject. If you wonder what a subreddit is, here is the answer: A forum dedicated to discussing a particular topic on the Reddit platform.
Reddit can be great to earn local backlinks if your pre-existing content ties into the subject matter of a subreddit. Say that yours is a local plumbing company.
You can answer questions related to issues such as pipe leakage and redirect the readers to your site.
Here is an example wherein a plumbing company can redirect the readers to their website. However, Reddit's esoteric culture can be hard to figure out what works and what doesn't.
Take a look at this screenshot.
Start finding out what subreddits are related to your business, and then post an appropriate answer with a hyperlink.
Quick Tip: Look for subreddits that have a large number of followers.

Benefits of Local Link Building

---

1. Search Engines Will Rank Your Website Higher

When websites link to other websites, the website with the most backlinks is more relevant in search engines.
The more local backlinks pointing to your site, the higher it will rank for that specific topic or keyword in search engines. This is because Google factors each link's importance when it analyzes how to rank websites.
Backlinks are a measure of the popularity and quality of a website. The more backlinks you have from high-quality websites, the more it signifies that others trust your website and find it valuable enough to link from their website to yours.
High-quality backlinks are links from authoritative websites, such as .edu and .gov domains, and they can give you a boost in search engine rankings.
Have a look at this screenshot from Majestic showing the number of external backlinks and referring domains.
3 Useful Tools to up Your Linking Strategy

• Monitor Backlinks
• Majestic
• SEO SpyGlass

2. Get Indexed Faster

The Internet is a vast and ever-growing database of information. It's no wonder that we're all constantly looking for ways to make our sites more visible and get found by more people.
Many try to do this by building local backlinks, which can help your site index faster.
Backlinks are the easiest way to get your site into Google's index. It won't take long until you start ranking for your chosen keyword. However, there is no guarantee that Google will index the page in a short period; it'll depend on many factors.
See how authoritative backlinks are helping us to get indexed faster.
Websites in the same niche typically create high-quality backlinks as the site, which leads to faster indexing on search engines.
Search engines may take longer to index if a site has low-quality or irrelevant backlinks.
3 Helpful Tools for Indexing

• PrePostSEO
• Link Processor
• Small SEO Tools Google Index Checker

3. Foster Relationship With Complementary Businesses

Reciprocal linking is when you share the URL from the other site on your website and share yours. It's nothing short of "You scratch my back, and I will scratch yours." But it does work and creates relationships between the parties involved.
By making mutually beneficial connections (read local links) with other businesses, both parties can increase brand recognition and reach new markets.
A website's backlinks, which are the hyperlinks on other websites that lead back to a webpage, can help two companies grow their relationship and help each other achieve their goals.
Reciprocal local link-building is a low-cost form of publicity and visibility in the search engine results pages (SERP).
3 Free Reciprocal Link Checker Tools

• Webconfs
• Small SEO Tools Reciprocal Link Checker
• SEO Book

4. Establish Authority On Your Niche

Strong local backlinks help establish a business their authority in an industry. When a company is mentioned or linked to another site, it appears more authoritative and noteworthy to the viewer.
Backlinks lend authority to a website, make you appear a leading source of information, and encourage people to talk about it.
Readers will perceive that you have a significant amount of authority in a topic when they see a lot of backlinks from other respected websites.
In a nutshell, backlinks are a type of authority-builder, as it is associated with the idea that other sources find the content worth linking to. This provides evidence that the content is valuable and trustworthy.
Tip: Create link-worthy posts that people want to share. Below are three free tools to generate ideas for your blog.

• Hubspot's Blog Ideas Generator
• UseTopic
• Portent

Here is a screenshot from a blog topic generating tool - The Hoth

5. Achieve More Credibility

Local backlinks are a clear sign of trust and credibility. Links from authoritative or well-known websites can boost your company's credibility among your customers because they show social proof.
To give you an idea, a link from a Twitter account with 100,000 followers would have more impact than one with 1000 followers. When readers see that reputable websites have linked to an article, they trust that information.
Have a look at this backlink from the official Cadbury Dairy milk page on Twitter.
Local backlinks are also crucial for increasing your credibility in the eyes of Google because they are publicly visible indicators of how popular your website is.
Remember: Search engine algorithms consider local backlinks as votes for the given webpage. These votes are accumulated from the sites linked to the webpage through hyperlinks.
3 Useful Tools to Keep Your Website's Credibility in Check

• Open SEO Stats
• WOT
• Ionos

6. Decrease Bounce Rate

The Internet has seen a lot of changes over the last decade. More websites are being created to meet the needs of this evolving market. Today's consumers want to customize their experience with features like personalization and customization.
Sites need to cater to the users' needs by providing engaging content to keep them coming back for more.
This is where local backlinks come in. When you redirect readers from another site through a backlink, they are already warmed up and are organically interested in reading yours. This, in turn, decreases the bounce rate.
Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who enter your website but do not stay on the site for more than 10 seconds. Keep in mind that Google also ranks web pages based on their bounce rates, how many pages an average visitor views before leaving the site, and the like.
Login to Your Google Analytics > Audience > Overview
Tip: Do not assume backlinks as magic wands that will decrease your bounce rate in no time. Your site's features, usability, mobile-friendliness, and content quality are among a few factors that impact your bounce rate.

7. Increase Your Brand Value

Local backlink optimization helps establish an authoritative voice for your company on the Internet, leading to increased brand value.
Companies always look for new ways to bring in customers. As today's customers are more likely to choose a brand based on its value, organizations invest time and money into building their brand value.
One way to build brand value is through generating inbound links from other websites. This means that sites with many backlinks will show up first in a Google search, positively impacting how customers view the company.
Tip: As a business owner, you must be aware of spammy local backlinks. If a site has a lot of spammy backlinks, it is less likely to rank well in search engine results pages. These links are typically from low-quality websites and contain irrelevant content.

8. Boost Website Authority

The idea of "domain authority" is based on the belief that a site has a certain amount of credibility because of the number of links pointing to it.
For Local SEO specialists like us, one of the most critical factors in determining your site's ranking in Google is its domain authority.
Take a look at the Domain Authority of our website.
Bear in mind that the idea of domain authority is an "unofficial" SEO ranking parameter used to rank websites for search engine results.
Also, do not confuse Domain Authority with Page Rank. Domain authority measures a website's popularity and trustworthiness, determined by analyzing link metrics such as age, quality, quantity, and diversity.
Three Best Free Tools to Check Your Domain Authority

• Ahrefs Authority Checker
• Small SEO Tools DA Checker
• WSO's DA Checker

Local Link Building & SEO - FAQs

---

Q1. What Is Local Link-Building?

Local link-building refers to the act of earning locally-relevant links from reputed sites to yours. SE optimizers use the strategy to get location-based rankings for sites.

Q2. How To Get Started With Local Link-Building?

The first step is to identify the sites, directories, newspapers, bloggers, forums, and business associations of the areas your business serves. The next step is to devise a strategy to earn backlinks from them.

Q3. Can I Do Local Link-Building Myself?

Yes. However, given the complexities involved in earning backlinks from locally-relevant sites, it is advisable to hire a proven SEO agency to do the job.

Key Takeaways

---

• List your local business in relevant directories.
• Foster relationships with local and neighborhood newspapers/magazines.
• Partner with local bloggers and influencers.
• Join chambers of commerce and local business associations.
• Make use of platforms such as Quora and Reddit.
• While using question-and-answer platforms, do not add your link in a spammy way. Answer questions honestly and slip in links organically.
• Create content that strikes a chord with the local audience.
• Be wary of spammy local websites and avoid them at any cost.