Website Link Building Tips for Your Local SEO
Jerry Leach, 8 October 2022.
Who doesn’t want to see their local business site ranking on the top page of google, right?
And if you are reading this article then you already know that Local SEO or building a local link is essential if you want to rank your local business site.
But even after applying local link-building strategies to your website, and there is no traffic coming in nor is anyone converting to your actual customer, then you are not doing it properly. If you know all about local SEO and link building’s importance then do not worry. You will get your traffic and customers. You just need some quality link-building tips for local SEO. I guarantee if you do the local link building properly then you will get more traffic than ever.
As a long-time SEO expert, I have put together 5 quality link-building tips for local SEO that will do the job just fine if you follow the tips properly. So, without wasting any of your valuable time, I will dive straight into the tips you need to improve your link building for local SEO.
5 Quality Link Building Tips for Local SEO
Building quality links are important if you have a local business site. Local searchers are far more purchase driven. Recent studies show that 80% of local searchers end up purchasing products from the suggestions they get from Google and especially from the top 3 ranked positions. Now, if you want your site to be one of the top 3, then you must follow the tips I’m providing for building local links.
1. Optimize your website for local keywords
The first thing that needs to be done is to optimize your website for local keywords. Once you know which keywords are helping people to find the business you run, it will be much easier to gather traffic.
For example, say you run a restaurant in Ohio then people might use the keywords ‘top restaurant in Ohio’ to find the best restaurant. If your website is optimized for that exact keyword phrase then your restaurant name and site will pop up on the front page.
To research and find the right keywords you can use tools like Google’s keyword planner, SEMrush, etc. These tools will help you to find the search volume data of your location. Another important thing to do is once you rank your site for one keyword, move to the next and use multiple keywords to rank your site. That way your chance of getting traffic will be increased.
2. Create website content that attracts links
Creating high-quality content for the local customer is the way to earn links organically. Choose content that is relevant to your business and provides value to your target audience. Then plan, write, and publish those contents. If the contents are useful to your target audience, then they will do the job by sharing, and commenting on the content. That way you will earn links naturally.
For example, if you run a Thai restaurant create some high-quality Thai recipes and link them to your restaurant website. Thai food lovers will find the content useful and share and comment on them. And you will earn targeted links.
3. Foster relationships with other sites
You can create relationships with other relevant websites in your area so that they can link your website to their blog or newspaper articles.
Reach out to different local blog sites that write about the best or top restaurants in your area. Ask them to link your restaurant website to the blog they mentioned about the restaurant.
Approach local journalists and pitch them an interesting story to write about, and ask them to mention and link your site on the article. For example - for your Thai food restaurant, give the writer the story of the origin of a Thai recipe and how it came to your area. Then ask him to mention and link your restaurant website and mention that yours is the place to go to if anyone wants to taste the original Thai taste of that recipe.
4. Build local citations
Local citations are the mention of your business name, address and phone number on any relevant website to your business. SEO experts believe that local citations are the key ranking factor.
Your citations can be shown anywhere, like social media or business directories where people are trying to get information about local businesses.
Firstly, you should get the NAP (Name, address, and phone number) citations on any kind of business directories or in social media reviews. Then fix the NAP of your website and official page. NAP is called structured citations and it’s the most useful.
You can even build an unstructured citation which is a contextual mention of your business on blog posts, forum posts, and press releases.
These citations will help people to discover your business online.
5. Make sure your Google My Business is up-to-date
Google my business is one of the best ways to make your business appear on google searches, maps, and other google services. But google won’t rank your google my business account if it’s not updated properly. Google determines the ranking based on three factors.
Relevancy of your business to the search. So, make a complete profile that has enough information about your business so customers can get the information they need.
The distance of your business from the searcher. So, always keep your locations verified. A verified location will help you in distance ranking.
The Third one is prominence. Google will rank your profile depending on your business reputation and familiarity. So, always add updated photos, videos, and customer reviews to your account to let google know you are an active business and are running smoothly. Also, add special features of your business to the account and keep the information up to date.
FAQ
What type of links should you care about for local Seo?
There are three types of links that you should care about for local SEO:
1. Inbound links from other local websites
2. Inbound links from authority websites
3. Outbound links to local resources
Inbound links from other local websites show Google that your website is relevant and trusted by other local businesses. Inbound links from authority websites show Google that your website is relevant and trusted by experts in your industry. And Outbound links to local resources help increase the authority of your site.
How can I rank higher in local SEO?
There are a number of things you can do to improve your local SEO ranking, including:
1. Make sure your website is optimized for local keywords.
2. Add your business to relevant online directories.
3. Claim your Google My Business listing.
4. Encourage customers to leave online reviews.
Conclusion
These are some of the basic and most necessary strategies of link building for local SEO. Most people don’t care about the basic thing and that’s where they make the mistake. Do the basic task right first and when it’s effective then move on to a more advanced strategy.
Those were my top 5 quality link-building tips for local SEO. If you haven’t had any success till now, then apply these link building strategies. They are tested and proven.