Local link building is an important part of SEO for local businesses. Building links from relevant local websites can help your business rank higher locally in search results. Some effective local link building strategies include:
Reach out to local businesses in your industry or area and look for opportunities to do partnerships, sponsorships, or guest posts that can help cross-link your sites. For example, you could offer to sponsor a local sports team and get a link on their website in return. Or you could do a joint promotion with another complementary local business and link to each other. These strategic partnerships allow you to build relevant links while also promoting your business.
Find and join local organizations, chambers of commerce, industry associations, alumni groups, and any professional networks relevant to your business or target customers. Get engaged by attending meetings, volunteering for committees or leadership roles. Having an active presence in these groups allows opportunities to mention your business on their websites through member directories, event coverage, or contributed content which can often contain links back to your site.
Physically visit local businesses around your target areas to introduce yourself and your business. Share printed marketing materials highlighting the services you offer. A personal touch can help you get your name and website in front of other businesses who may link to you in return one day through citations, recommendations, or organic content they create. Don’t forget to ask for their business card so you can follow up with a thank you email containing a link to your site too.
Target local Review websites, directories, blogs, and local media. Contact them about getting a listing, mention, review, or by pitching yourself as an expert source for a potential article guest post that could contain a link. Make sure any links included meet their content guidelines. Review sites in particular often like to feature local businesses and are a great place for a nofollow link.
Get involved with local events whether you sponsor, volunteer, or just attend. These could include everything from chamber mixers, trade shows, fundraisers, industry conferences to local sports, arts, music or civic events. Wear branded materials and bring marketing materials featuring your website. Introduce yourself and your business to organizers who may have opportunities for you to get mentioned on their sites through event recaps or partner/sponsor pages with links.
Audit Google Maps and ensure your business is completely claimed and optimized with up-to-date info, photos and a link to your site. Also claim your business profile on other local directories like Yelp, Foursquare, Bing Places etc. Get customers to check-in and review your business which can pass link equity.
Outreach to hyperlocal news sites, neighborhood blogs and community websites covering your specific city, town or surrounding areas. See if you can get mentioned or pitch yourself as a potential contributor. Guest posts and byline articles are a great way to gain natural backlinks if relevant to their audience.
Start or join local entrepreneur or business owner networking groups on LinkedIn and Facebook. Introduce yourself, engage by liking/commenting/sharing other members’ updates. Over time you may find opportunities to provide them value through resources, guest posts, etc that could earn a link mention. Just be sure not to spam, keep engagements relevant and focus on helping others versus self-promotion.
Target links from any .gov local authority sites like your city/town/county website as well as those of other local political and community representatives in your area. These can help with local SEO authority. Pitch yourself as a relevant source for any business spotlights, event coverage, economic reports they produce online.
Those are some effective local link building strategies focused on tapping into the unique local connections, organizations and media within your specific targeted community and region. With ongoing active engagement and consistent outreach pitched towards providing value versus overt self-promotion, these tactics can help business naturally build citations, mentions, and authority links to boost their visibility and search performance for local customers. Local SEO requires a hyper-focused and boots-on-the-ground approach, but done right it truly pays off.