Local link building: What is it? 8 practical tips

What is Local link building?

The local link building is that segment of the local off-site marketing strategy that includes all the actions of optimization for search engines whose goal is to promote a site on the web through the construction of a network of incoming links.

To make a local marketing strategy effective, off-site activities play a fundamental role in the construction of a network of connections that enhances local link building and increases the popularity of our site.

Before the advent of 2.0, when the web was not made up of relationships and social media did not exist, Google recognized as key elements for increasing popularity the inbound links or links that from a third site referred back to ours. For this reason the off-site SEO activity tended to coincide with that of link building. The advent of online communities, the overwhelming power of Facebook and all other social media have influenced the change in the algorithm of Google that today takes into account the social factors for positioning.

In this article there is everything you need to set up a successful local link building. Starting from the definition of local link building we will discuss the importance of off-page SEO activities, how to recognize a good link, to get concrete advice on which to base a strategy to be put into practice to achieve the objectives set.

Local link building

Local link building: Relevance and Proximity

Let’s find out what makes the difference to your local off-page strategy

The advent of online communities, the overwhelming power of Facebook and all other social media have influenced the change in the algorithm of Google that today takes into account the social factors for positioning.

The local link building is a subtle exception and a backlink that may seem “useless” in the classic link building, can have considerable value in a local link building campaign, regardless of the authority or ranking of the domain that sends it. There are two elements that make the difference and are …

  • The vicinity is necessary to ask whether a given link may be relevant in your location, in your industry and in your niche market;
  • The relevance to climb the SERPs is very important that the links refer to a local and sectoral perspective according to the neighborhood, the city or the province. If the links are “locally” relevant, they bring value to the local link building.

Starting from these two elements, it becomes clear that our backlink profile will be enriched when we are able to establish connections with activities, sites, blogs and influencers belonging to our sector or to niches of market products that represent us. We must therefore avoid sites that deal with subjects that are not consistent with our area of interest, whether they have been inactive for a long time or with a high spam score. It is wrong to target quantity, but we must always focus on quality.

Local link building

How to recognize a good link

Quality and authoritativeness of the domain in the territory of reference

For a local link building that contributes to the construction of an effective local SEO, it is very important to monitor the origin of the links evaluating the quality. Obtaining a “good” link hides behind a long activity of strategy, choices and decisions. But the strategy must start from a crucial question: what are the useful links, those that can bring visibility and visits to our site and therefore popularity?

Answering this question is very complex, especially if we consider the local context, which differs greatly from a wider context such as the national one. The focus must be on quality and authority of the domains of origin, without neglecting the quantity of backlinks in the reference territory. So we try to understand how to recognize a good link.

We can define a “good” link if …

  • It produces traffic from the referral site, i.e. from the site on which the link is published;
  • Produces visibility to our brand making it recognizable, therefore popular;
  • Brings improvement to our reputation by increasing the authority and reliability of our site.

These are closely linked features: external links generate referral traffic which positively influences the importance of the brand and its reputation. In even simpler words, a good link is what allows us to grow the popularity and authority of our site.

But this is not enough. In the next few paragraphs of this article we will explain how off-page links and actions can bring us the expected benefits and which references to create our strategy with 8 tips for your local link building.

Local link building

A successful local link building cannot disregard the following elements …

1. Quality

In the local reality, the first thing to do is look around, analyze the ecosystem in which our activity has dropped and make a selection. Community, local online magazines, directories, and forums: these are some of the realities in which to insert ourselves and try to make ourselves known. We carefully evaluate the sites that contain a link to our site. We do not need a lot of links, the important thing is that those that lead to our site are profitable and quality. Never lose sight of backlinks, a good backlink is not said to be eternal today. It could happen that the site that sends it has in turn penalties or start linking other sites in a reckless way.

2. Quantity

Entering company contacts in local directories, niche sites and business associations, always from a local SEO point of view can bring undoubted advantages. In multiple directories you are on the web, the more users can reach us easily.

3. Target

The authority of a site is among the first 3 factors in order of importance for ranking purposes and therefore considering it in our strategy is important. However, we must first assess how much and where our target audience is present and active. Our target exists and we must pursue it. Even if this means reaching it on a site with low authority, but with a lot of traffic.

4. Partnership

Each local activity has partnerships with suppliers or similar companies. Each partner, in turn, could have interesting connections from which to draw and weave a network. In local SEO, we need to leverage mainly on collaborations with local companies in the same sector, with companies in the same building or with members of the same business association. It is the best way to increase the possibility of reaching potential local customers who are searching certain activities on the network.

5. Competitor

It is important to take into account the context in which our business has declined. And in this context a fundamental role is represented by competition. Analyzing our competitors can bring us many advantages. First of all, it can help us understand its moves, “copy” it and perhaps even anticipate it. But above all it can help us to get ideas on what to do.

6. Content

It is the fundamental element for a good link strategy. If we do not have something interesting to say, hardly anyone will be willing to share it. Our advice is not to do blogging if you do not have something truly original and unique to say. Rather than talk about current trends or breaking news try to create niche content.

7. Digital PR

The digital PR activity is carried out with the main purpose of creating strong and lasting relationships with administrators of other sites, bloggers, influencers and opinion leaders and making them talk about you, your products or services. Link building also has the same objective of online public relations activities, with the only difference that while the former is characterized by a colder and more detached relationship, the online PR approach is necessarily more humane. We advise against carrying out any action with the sole purpose of promoting the brand or products; moving the focus and conversations, even outside the simple professional side, can also lead you to build important relationships.

8. Events

For a local activity, events can be the most strategic element ever. They are the moment when online and offline converge and where the best relationships can be born. Each sector event must be adequately documented and perhaps told in real time through social media. Organizing an event, on the other hand, requires much more effort, but if done well, returns can be considerable. Bringing people into your company is a great opportunity to build the best long-term relationships, promote the brand and get your products tested.

Activities like these will help you to position your brand both online and in the local community.

Do you still have doubts about what is the local link building?

In this article we have introduced one of the most relevant topics among the areas that make up a Local Marketing strategy. The importance of off-page actions and the construction of quality links make local link building one of the most interesting segments of the Local SEO strategy, as well as being a continuously updated activity.

Have you already started planning your local link strategy? Are you carrying out local link building actions for your store? Let’s discuss it together in the comments.

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