In order to build the presence of your local business, backlinks are a way to go. If your website has backlinks on a website of high authority, the search engine will believe that your website has valuable content, as well. That’s the reason why backlinking hacks have become so popular, and businesses go out of their way to have a quality backlink. However, this might seem overwhelming to beginners, so a lot of companies outsource the SEO work to agencies who specialize in this field. But, can you become a backlink builder for local SEO and create a good link building strategy yourself?
And without a doubt, local SEO is not the easiest thing to do. It involves adding original content, managing social media accounts, etc. However, with these tips, building backlinks will become a bit easier.
What are backlinks?
Backlinks are links from one website to another. When building backlinks, you’re basically getting hyperlinks on other sites that point to the page on your website.
One of the main benefits of having backlinks on multiple sites is referral traffic. Potential customers will be introduced to your brand and they might visit your website. However, the other big advantage has to do with SEO.
When ranking your website, search engines will look at the number of your backlinks, but also at their quality. In order to boost SEO, you want to get powerful backlinks. This will help you increase traffic and build the authority of your brand. Focus on the quality, and try to get backlinks that will have the strongest impact on the local SEO.
What backlinks are more important?
Backlinks are obviously quite important. They allow the search engines to recognize your website as an authoritative website and will give your website more exposure to potential clients. However, search engines will qualify the relevancy of the pages with your backlinks and give you ranking based on this.
As you can see, not all links are equal. What you want is to get a link from a site with higher authority, as it will carry more SEO weight. However, you also need to focus on the market. First of all, when we say market, we mean that you want to get backlinks from top websites in your niche. But, if you want to focus on the customers in your locality, this is another thing to have in mind.
How to become a backlink builder for local SEO
If you want to focus on your locality, you want local backlinks. These backlinks are the ones that will benefit your local SEO and help you build the credibility of your business on the local market.
The website you want to have your backlinks on are the websites your target audience visits. These can be forums, local communities, or business directors, and many other websites where your target audience can be found. Here are a couple of tips that will help you build local awareness of your business website.
Manage your social media accounts
Depending on your target audience, you should choose the social media platform to focus on. Depending on that, you’ll choose Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc. Or of course, you can choose several platforms to focus on.
Google My Business
One of the ways to become a backlink builder for local SEO is to claim your Google My Business listing. There are many benefits to creating your profile.
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- Your website will get more exposure, your business information included
- People will be able to see your business on Google Maps
- You will get a backlink from Google directly
- You might “the 3-pack” placement on Google
- It costs nothing, but can significantly help you on your path of becoming backlink builder for local SEO
Online directories
Try to get a backlink from a local business directory. Of course, you want online directories related to your niche. While most people will rather look for a business on Google, than on these sites, it can still have some impact.
Partner with other local businesses
Your clients don’t have to know about SEO or use search engines to even read the news. Some of your clients might read the local papers. But there’s still a way to use this to your advantage. You can write a press release about your business and add a link to your website. Of course, the trickier part is to get the editors to publish it.
Guest Posting
One of the ways for local businesses to build backlinks is through guest posting. Approach high authority local bloggers and offer to create quality content. You should know how to write the perfect guest blog pitch. The reason for them to say yes is because they want to publish original quality content.
Create quality content
A good way to build backlinks is by creating great content. The content that’s informative, compelling will be something that visitors will want to share, without you asking for it. This content can include tutorials, instructional videos, or other similar content related to your niche.
Get links from customers, manufacturers, and suppliers
Any business relationship can help you get backlinks. If you build a good relationship with your customers, you can ask them to give you a backlink. Also, your manufacturers can do the same for you. After all, some of them want to showcase where someone can find their products. And when it comes to your suppliers, you’re already paying them and it doesn’t cost to ask them.
What comes next?
Use these tips to gain new local links. But, keep in mind that this list is good for the start of your plan. Once you become the backlink builder for local SEO, the results will follow. But, how long it takes to see the results, it depends on many factors. Be ready for the marathon, rather than a sprint when creating your link building strategy.