Anastasia SidkoI think you’ll agree:
Building links is tough.
You’re trying to get your business rank as fast as possible to have customers lining up at your door. But you’re constantly getting stuck trying to find new backlink opportunities.
But would you believe that there are a number of sources that almost guarantee to get you quality links, fast? In this post I’m going to show you what they are.
What makes a good local backlink?
When you think of it, it’s only logical that both local and traditional, global SEO backlinks should be the same.
There is however a small difference between them.
In traditional, global SEO, the most important factor of a backlink’s quality is the authority of a linking domain. In other words, the more authoritative backlink source, the better the link.
In local SEO however, industry and local relevance often take priority.
Even a lower authority website but relevant to your industry or location might be a good backlink opportunity.
And so, when building local links, you shouldn’t disregard low authority sites if they’re relevant to what your business does or where it’s located.
Now, with that off the way, we can look at the best local backlink opportunities.
1. Local Directories
The simplest way to describe what local online business directories are is to call them an online version of a traditional yellow pages phone book. Many of these directories work on the same principle as traditional yellow pages (and are thus called IYPs – Internet Yellow Pages).
Others, like Yelp.com have developed loyal and engaged audiences, people who review businesses and share their experiences with them.
In spite of those differences though, all local directories have one thing in common: they allow listing a business along with crucial information (i.e. name, address, phone number) and a link back to the site.
To find the best directories to list your business:
Start with this list of 50 local business directories from Hubspot.
To find local or industry specific directories however, try these 2 methods:
Manual search
Start with one of these search queries below to find relevant directories.
For Location relevant directories:
- [State/County] Directory, i.e. “Washington directory”,
- [City] Directory, i.e. “Seattle Directory”,
- [Zipcode] Directory, i.e. “98101 Directory”.
For industry relevant directories:
- [Keyword / Industry] Directory, i.e. “Dentist Directory”,
- [State/County] [Keyword] Directory, i.e. “Seattle Flowers Directory”.
Automated Software
Alternatively, use dedicated software like Local Citations Finder by Whitespark that will query search engines and deliver a list of relevant backlink opportunities.
Things to remember when listing a business in local directories
Consistency of your contact information is one of the key local search ranking factors.
In order for any listing you create to aid your local SEO efforts, your business’ contact information (specifically Name, Address and Phone Number, commonly referred to as NAP) must be consistent.
Search engines use this information to validate a business and verify the accuracy of details about it they have in their database. And thus any inconsistencies might confuse them and reduce their perception of a business’ authority.
When listing a business, go beyond just link building.
You shouldn’t list a business in an online directory purely for links. Local business directories are often the first place where a customer comes across a business and thus, they could help you make the right first impression.
Therefore, enhance your listing beyond just the basic information. Add proper images to show a visitor how your business looks like; provide a thorough company’s description and list your products or services.
2. Local Newspapers
Publications from your city or state are another great source of backlinks.
First, they are hugely concerned with anything that’s going on in your area.
This means that if you run an event or have other newsworthy topic (i.e. won a new contract, made a new hire, renovated your premises or sponsor an organization), they are going to publish it.
And because these days most newspapers also publish an online edition, sharing your news with them is an opportunity to gain quality editorial backlinks.
3. Local Business Associations
There are many benefits of joining local business associations, from networking opportunities, recognition to receiving a business support.
And build links.
Many associations’ websites feature business listings that could include your company’s details and a link back to your site.
4. Local Blogs
Similarly to local newspapers, bloggers interested in what’s going on in your city, area or neighborhood could mention and link to your business.
First of all, many local blogs regularly feature and showcase local businesses. Therefore, reach out to them to find out how you could get listed too.
Another way is to ask them to review your product. Contact local bloggers to find out if they’d be willing to try your product for some time and then share their experience on the site.
5. Testimonials from Clients, Vendors or Partners
If you’re working with other companies, be it as partner or vendor, you could use that relationship to gain backlinks as well and here’s how.
You could ask them to provide testimonials for your business on their sites.
Many companies have a dedicated suppliers page listing different companies they buy stock from.
Take this site for example. The company not only lists all their suppliers but also, has a dedicated page for every one of them.
Similarly, you could also offer your vendors to write a testimonial of their services / products they could feature on their sites in exchange for a link back to yours.
6. Sponsorships
What is that one-thing local events committees, clubs, societies, schools and many other local organizations need?
Money.
They need sponsors to help them fund whatever they are trying to make happen.
And that’s an opportunity to gain some valuable links and mentions for your business while doing something good for the community too.
Any organization you sponsor will be happy to put information about it on their site, mention your business and link back to it.
This is an invaluable opportunity to gain not only backlinks but very positive exposure in your local area.
7. Bonus tip: Research Your Competitor’s Backlinks
Finally there’s one other way to quickly find new backlink opportunities – by analyzing your competitors’ link profiles.
Conducting a competitive analysis could help you:
Spot links you could quickly recreate for your domain. By checking your competitors’ link profiles you could identify new and quality link building opportunities.
Reveal link opportunities you’ve missed. What if there was an organization in your region that lists local businesses but you’ve never heard of it before? Or emerging publication willing to write up about local companies? An event or organization you could sponsor? Checking your competitors’ links profile could help you identify those and many other opportunities you may have missed.
Highlight their backlink strategies. Going deeper into their link profile could reveal what strategies your competitors use to rank their domains. This is invaluable insight that could help you make better decisions about your strategies and find a competitive edge.
There are a number of tools that could help you analyze your competitors’ backlinks. Some of the most popular on the market include:
This is a powerful website backlink checker that’s also a part of a thorough set of online marketing intelligence tools. SEMrush allows you not only to analyze a competitor’s backlinks but also to research and monitor every aspect of their digital marketing strategies.
Ahrefs operate a large index of backlinks and allow analyzing relevant data for any website.
Similarly to Ahrefs, Majestic operates a proprietary index of backlinks and allows to research links pointing to any domain.
Operated by Moz, OSE is another tool allowing to research backlinks pointing to a domain along with various authority signals.
Bottom line
The strong link profile is an integral part of a local business visibility in search engines. The above-mentioned link opportunities will help you to attain your digital marketing success. So develop a detailed plan of your link building strategy, follow it step by step and track the results.
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