Local link building is the process of acquiring links from websites that are relevant to your local area, industry, or audience. Local links can help you boost your visibility in local search results, increase your brand awareness, and drive more traffic and conversions to your website.
But how do you get local links? What are the best strategies to build local links for your business? In this article, we will share 11 effective local link building strategies that you can use to improve your local SEO and grow your business.TLDR Summary
- Local link building is the process of getting links from websites that are relevant to your local area, industry, or audience.
- Local links can help you rank higher in local search results, increase your brand awareness, and drive more traffic and conversions to your website.
- Some of the best local link building strategies are:
- Getting links from other ranking sites in your niche and location.
- Getting links from your competitors’ backlink profiles.
- Reclaiming lost links or fixing broken links.
- Creating locally relevant content that attracts links and shares.
- Getting local citations from directories, review sites, and social media platforms.
- Pursuing other local link opportunities such as sponsorships, events, influencers, testimonials, etc.
- Claiming unlinked mentions of your brand or website.
- Buying companies or websites that have local links and redirecting them to your site.
- To implement these strategies, you need to do proper research, outreach, and follow-up.
- You also need to monitor and measure your local link building results and adjust your strategy accordingly.
What is Local Link Building?
Link building is the process of getting links from other websites to your own website. Links are like votes of confidence that tell search engines and users that your website is trustworthy, authoritative, and relevant.Local link building is a specific type of link building that focuses on getting links from websites that are relevant to your local area, industry, or audience. For example, if you are a dentist in New York, you would want to get links from websites that are related to dentistry, health, or New York.
Local links can help you improve your local SEO, which is the practice of optimizing your website for local search queries. Local search queries are those that include a geographic modifier, such as “dentist near me” or “best pizza in New York”.
According to Google, 46% of all searches have a local intent, and 88% of consumers who do a local search on their smartphone visit or call a store within a day. Therefore, ranking well in local search results can help you attract more customers and grow your business.
Why is Local Link Building Important?
Local link building is important for several reasons:- Local links can help you rank higher in local search results. Search engines use links as one of the main ranking factors, and they consider the relevance, authority, and trustworthiness of the linking websites. Getting links from local websites can signal to search engines that your website is relevant and authoritative for your local area, industry, or audience, and therefore deserves to rank higher.
- Local links can help you increase your brand awareness and reputation. Getting links from local websites can expose your website to a larger and more targeted audience, and increase your brand recognition and credibility. People tend to trust local businesses more than national or global ones, and they are more likely to click on links from local sources.
- Local links can help you drive more traffic and conversions to your website. Getting links from local websites can bring you more qualified and ready-to-buy visitors, who are looking for products or services in your area. Local links can also increase your click-through rate, as people are more likely to click on links that match their search intent and location.
How to Do Local Link Building?
Local link building is not very different from regular link building, but it requires some specific steps and strategies. Here are the main steps to do local link building:- Research: The first step is to research your local market, competitors, and link opportunities. You need to identify your target keywords, audience, and location, and analyze the top-ranking websites in your niche and area. You also need to find potential local websites that you can get links from, such as directories, review sites, blogs, media outlets, etc.
- Outreach: The next step is to reach out to the local websites that you have identified and ask them for a link. You need to craft a personalized and compelling email that explains who you are, what you do, and why you want a link. You also need to provide value to the website owner, such as offering a guest post, a testimonial, a sponsorship, etc.
- Follow-up: The last step is to follow up with the website owners that you have contacted and try to get a positive response. You need to be polite, persistent, and patient, and avoid spamming or annoying them. You also need to track and manage your outreach campaigns, and keep track of your link prospects and results.
11 Best Local Link Building Strategies
Now that you know the basics of local link building, let’s look at some of the best local link building strategies that you can use to get more local links for your website.1. Get Links from Other Ranking Sites
One of the easiest and most effective local link building strategies is to get links from other websites that are already ranking well in your niche and location. These websites have proven their relevance and authority to search engines and users, and getting links from them can boost your own rankings and traffic.To find these websites, you can use a tool like Ahrefs1 to analyze the top-ranking pages for your target keywords and location. You can then filter the results by domain rating, referring domains, organic traffic, etc., and export the list of websites to a spreadsheet.
Then, you can use various methods to get links from these websites, such as:
- Guest posting: You can offer to write a high-quality and relevant article for their blog, and include a link to your website in the author bio or the content.
- Resource page link building: You can find pages on their website that list useful resources for their audience, and suggest adding your website as a resource.
- Skyscraper technique: You can find pages on their website that have outdated, incomplete, or low-quality content, and create a better version of that content on your website. Then, you can reach out to them and ask them to replace their link with yours.
- Broken link building: You can find pages on their website that have broken links, and offer to replace them with your website’s links.
2. Get Links from Your Competitors’ Backlink Profiles
Another effective local link building strategy is to get links from your competitors’ backlink profiles. Your competitors are the websites that are targeting the same keywords, audience, and location as you, and getting links from the same websites as them can help you close the gap and outrank them.To find your competitors’ backlinks, you can use a tool like Ahrefs1 to enter their domain name and see all the websites that are linking to them. You can then filter the results by domain rating, referring domains, organic traffic, etc., and export the list of websites to a spreadsheet.
Then, you can use the same methods as above to get links from these websites, such as guest posting, resource page link building, skyscraper technique, broken link building, etc.
3. Reclaim Lost Links or Fix Broken Links
Sometimes, you may lose links that you already have, or have broken links on your website. This can happen for various reasons, such as:- The linking website removes or changes the link.
- The linking website goes offline or gets deleted.
- The linking website changes its domain name or URL structure.
- The linked page on your website gets deleted or moved.
To find lost links or broken links, you can use a tool like Ahrefs1 to enter your domain name and see all the websites that are linking to you. You can then filter the results by link status, such as lost, broken, or redirected, and export the list of websites to a spreadsheet.
Then, you can use various methods to reclaim lost links or fix broken links, such as:
- Contacting the linking website and asking them to restore or update the link.
- Redirecting the broken or moved page on your website to a relevant page.
- Creating a new page on your website that matches the broken or moved page.
4. Create Locally Relevant Content
One of the best ways to attract local links is to create locally relevant content that provides value to your local audience. Locally relevant content is content that covers topics, issues, or events that are specific to your local area, industry, or audience.For example, if you are a dentist in New York, you can create content such as:
- A guide on how to find the best dentist in New York.
- A case study on how you helped a local patient with a dental problem.
- A review of the latest dental trends or technologies in New York.
- A list of the best dental clinics or resources in New York.
- Showcase your expertise and authority in your niche and location.
- Solve problems or answer questions that your local audience has.
- Generate interest and engagement from your local audience.
- Build relationships and trust with your local audience.
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