What Is Local Link Building and How Can It Help Me Get More Qualified Leads?

 

Link building has been the undisputed SEO champion for almost a decade now. When it comes to SEO strategies, this specific technique stands out for its impressive ability to help clients:

1. a) Become more visible on the web;
2. b) Rank higher on Google SERPs;
3. c) Generate more traffic and sales, and
4. d) Improve their brand identity

Sounds like some great stuff you’d want your business to enjoy, right? Well, things are taking a turn for the local in 2022.

If you run a small business or a startup, you’re likely targeting a specific community. Perhaps certain towns. Or maybe a handful of cities. A couple of states, at best.

Your approach is local. It goes without saying that your SEO plan should also be local. This is where local link building comes in!

What is this SEO strategy? And how can it help you earn more qualified leads? We’ll cover everything in this blog.

 

What Is Local Link Building? And What Are Local Link Building Strategies?

 

Let’s take a quick refresher. Regular link building is the process of earning more links that take web users to your website. These links are called backlinks.

Let’s say you write a stellar blog that demonstrates industry expertise. An industry giant (albeit non-competitor) reads your blog and wants to cite something in their own content.

How will they do this? By offering you a hyperlink.

Think of this as an online citation. When we users click on this hyperlink (backlink), they’ll be taken to your site. You’ve hit the jackpot.

An industry giant that racks up a ton of traffic is now sending its audience over to you. The outcome? Your rankings will improve, your traffic will skyrocket, and your conversions will become a lot, lot sweeter!

Yes, link building works just as well in practice as it sounds on paper!

Now, why are we replacing our regular link building plan with a local link building plan?

Here’s why.

As a small business or startup, you should always focus on targeting your local audience, not just anyone.

Think about it. If you run a business in California, there’s no point in targeting web users in New York. You’re wasting your SEO efforts.

The more local your plan, the better!

Local link building is the process of generating high-DA (domain authority) backlinks from local industry giants.

If you earn a backlink from an industry giant based in Washington when your business is based in Florida, you’ll generate a weak stream of traffic. By localizing your approach, you can reel in maximum traffic and bag maximum sales. Local link building techniques are more effective and efficient for local businesses.

Now that we’ve covered the basics, keep reading for a step-by-step guide to local backlinking in 2022.

We’ll cover everything you need to know about local SEO link building so you can master this strategy and get your business booming.

When done right, this technique works wonders. Let’s make sure you do it right!

1. Get Active on Social Media

We’re not in the middle of going digital. We’ve gone digital! Today, social media has become somewhat of a necessity for most people. It helps people a) stay connected to loved ones who don’t live in close proximity, b) buy products/services online, c) stay entertained, and d) discover something new every day.

As a small business, you can build a tight-knit online community, retain your customers, reel in a wider audience, and strengthen your brand identity through social media. Your first local link building tactic should be setting up Google My Business, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram profiles. Over time, add LinkedIn to your plan as well.

Here’s the trick. Not only will you connect with customers, but you’ll also become visible to local industry giants. As they pick up on your social media activity, they’ll explore your content, products/services, and online activity. If you’re doing a great job, there’s a high chance that you’ll earn a backlink.

Here’s an excellent example by Harpoon Brewery.

Need a warm up for your Thanksgiving feast? Come by the Harpoon Beer Hall in Boston, MA to try our Limited Edition Gobbler Sandwich — available through November! 🦃 $1 per sandwich will be donated to the Greater Boston Food Bank. pic.twitter.com/9sEgtzxhWS

— Harpoon Brewery (@harpoonbrewery) November 9, 2021

Not only is their tweet engaging and heartfelt, but it’s also local!

Notice the mention of Boston, MA. This is intentional.

This small business knows that local foodies are likely searching for “best sandwich in Boston” or a similar set of keywords on social media. They’ve included these high-ranking search terms in their tweet. This is a great way to target your local audience and get seen by local industry experts on social media.

If you want to go the extra mile, include relevant keywords to maximize your reach and local link building potential.

Here’s another great optimized example by Ryan Bailer Support.

Need some tech support in the NYC area? We’ve got you covered. Head to https://t.co/lO8gtvo9SC for more info! #NYC #technology #localbusiness #SmallBusiness #NewYork pic.twitter.com/KSQ5myw2BO

— Ryan Bailer Support, LLC (@RyanBailerSupp) February 25, 2018

What stands out? Local keywords! And a set of relevant keywords that help the tweet earn even more visibility.

This is how you reach local businesses and build strong backlink partners. Make sure your social media activity is engaging and optimized for local search. Increase each post’s attention-grabbing potential by including a visually exciting image, video, infographic, or GIF.

Recommended Read: SEO Strategy: How to Get Backlinks with Infographics

2. Post Local Guest Blogs

Regular guest blogging? Nah. It’s time to get local.

As a quick refresher, guest blogging is the process of writing blogs for other websites. Ideally, these should be high-DA sites with a score of 50 and up (the higher, the better). A higher score demonstrates strong online authority.

If a site has a DA score of 90, they enjoy a consistent, massive stream of traffic, high conversions, and a pristine brand identity. If they offer you a backlink, you’ll earn qualified traffic.

However, if a low-DA site were to offer you a backlink, you’d earn very little traffic as the host site isn’t doing so well for itself to begin with.

So find a site that can benefit you.

Here’s the trick.

Instead of finding any guest blogging partners, find local guest blogging partners.

Local online directories should be your first stop. Better Business Bureau or Whitepages can help you find other businesses and list your own business!

Make sure you keep two types of specificity in mind: a) industry-specificity and b) location-specificity.

There’s no point in finding a local guest blogging partner that isn’t in your industry.

The opposite won’t help either.

Check off both of these boxes, and you’re good to go!

Local guest blogs are very different from regular guest blogs.

You must:

• Use a set of high-ranking local keywords
• Plan the blog based on local industry trends
• Include the desired location in the blog title, body, and CTA
• Demonstrate insight into local industry trends, not just generic industry trends

A well-researched, well-written, and optimized guest blog will do better on local Google SERPs.

As it racks up more views, your backlinks will begin to work their magic.

You’ll earn high local traffic and more local conversions.

This should be your goal as a small business.

Using a localized guest blogging strategy will ensure that your readers can actually buy your products/services since they live in your target area.

This is a great way to boost your sales and generate impressive business growth!

Recommended Read: Guest Blogging and Blogger Outreach Master plan: Complete Blueprint For Guest Posting in 2022

 

3. Let Your Competitors Pave the Way for Local Link Building Success

If you’re just starting with local link building, you’ll need some help.

Every local industry has a handful of top players.

These are direct competitors who perform exceptionally well on Google SERPs.

If you want to recreate their success, take some inspiration from them!

Reach out to a team of local link building experts who can run a competitor analysis for you.

This analysis will help you discover:

• Your top-ranking competitors
• The sites that are offering backlinks to your competitors
• The quantity and quality of said backlinks
• The traffic your competitors are generating from said backlinks

This knowledge is essential. It’ll help you carve out a similar local link building plan. If it works for your competitors, it’ll work for you (with a few changes, of course).

Many businesses dismiss this strategy as a black-hat SEO technique. It’s not.

Competitor backlink recreation is a white-hat SEO strategy that yields impressive results when done right. You’re not stealing backlinks. You’re tweaking your plan based on your competition’s backlink profiles.

Combine this strategy with a thorough local online directory search (highlighted above), and you’re good to go! Once you identify the top-ranking backlink partners in your local industry, start reaching out to them.

We recommend crafting a well-executed email that demonstrates industry expertise, appreciates the business being approached, and subtly requests a backlink partnership.

Keep things concise, don’t drag on. At the same time, don’t “beg” for a backlink. Keep your email professional, polite, and leveled.

Approach the company as an equal. They’ll perceive you as a reputable business and consider starting the local link-building partnership.

We also recommend working on improving your DA score before you start reaching out to local industry experts for backlinks.

If your DA score is below 50, you can’t expect to build a partnership with a business that has a 70+ DA score.

There are exceptions to this. It’s possible that you just launched a new business. While your website, content, and products/services may be top-notch, your DA score could still be unimpressive as Google’s algorithm hasn’t picked up on your activity yet. This is understandable. Mention it in the email.

However, if this is the case, your website design and development, content, and products/services should truly be top-notch. Avoid lying or exaggerating. If you can’t partner with high-DA sites, start slow.

Many small businesses use local link building to build their way to the top. When done right, it’s possible.

4. Become an Internal Link Building Master

This is one of the easiest local backlinking techniques because the control is entirely in your hands. Remember, your site is also a local site! As you include more internal links in your content, you’ll make it easier for web users and industry experts to travel across your site.

As they travel from one blog to a service page back to another blog, they’ll get a good gist of what you have to offer. This technique is genius as it helps feed two birds with one scone! You’ll earn more organic conversions as your web readers become more active on your site.

At the same time, you’ll give industry experts a slice of what you offer. If they like what they see, they’ll bookmark your site.

As they work on content for their own website, they’ll visit these bookmarks and pull relevant links to include in their own content.

See how this works? As always, go local.

Generate more local content, so your internal links can also follow suit. We recommend exploring the top local trends in your industry.

Let’s say you offer legal support in Virginia.

This month, all eyes have been on the Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard libel trial that’s taking place in Virginia. You can write opinion blogs on the trial to rack up more views.

Make sure these pieces are excellently researched. You’ll do more harm than good if you accidentally make a typo or include a factually incorrect detail. Proofread and edit the content thoroughly. Of course, optimize it well and include a set of other local internal links to earn backlink juice.

A couple of Virginia-based law firms have already made the most of this strategy.

Here’s an example.

As you explore these pieces (and other similar local content), you’ll notice at least 2–3 internal links. Out of these, make sure at least one is local.

You can always create local content no matter which industry you work in. It’s just a matter of doing excellent research and finding relevant topics that earn more clicks!

5. Write Local Press Releases

Local link building is all about local outreach. Expert eyes will automatically turn to your business as you establish authority in your industry.

A professional, well-researched, and well-structured local press release is your golden ticket to unlocking high-DA local backlinks. Press releases showcase something noteworthy about your business.

You may have launched a new product/service. You may be announcing a new site feature. Maybe, you have bagged an impressive accomplishment as a business. or hit a milestone!

It could be anything. As long as it’s newsworthy, it makes the cut.

Include your location in the title of the press release. Here are some examples:

• “[XYZ Business] Revolutionizes the Tech Industry by Launching [XYZ Product] for Remote Workers in California”
• “[XYZ Business] Launches a New Blog for Design Enthusiasts in Los Angeles”
• “[XYZ Business] Celebrates 20 Years of Offering Professional Legal Support to Clients in Atlanta”
• “[XYZ Business] Offers a 30% Discount to Working Moms in Nashville.”

Catch our drift?

These are excellent press release titles as they:

1. a) Announce something that grabs the audience’s attention and
2. b) Include the location in the title.

Your press release has a higher chance of showing up among the top pages of PR sites and Google SERPs if it’s optimized for location.

As industry experts notice how well your business is doing, they’re more likely to offer you a backlink.

Don’t wait for things to happen on their own. Be proactive and draft an email to the top industry experts. You can include links to your top content (including some local press releases). If they haven’t already come across your content, they will now!

As long as you have an impressive arsenal ready to fire off, you’re good to go.

Recommended Read: 10 Advanced Link Building Tips and Tricks to Boost Your SEO

Summary

In this blog, we walked you through top local link building strategies for small businesses and startups.

We highlighted the importance of using social media, posting local guest blogs, recreating your competition’s backlinks, using more internal links in your content, and writing local press releases.

Of course, these are just a handful of the full spectrum of local backlinking strategies.

This is where our experts come in! At Search Berg, we offer professional link building services to help you earn high-DA backlinks from some of the biggest names in your local industry.

It’s time to get your rankings back on track, earn some sweet traffic, and lock in those conversions!

We’re ready when you are. Take a closer look at our backlink building services.

Once you’re ready, give us a call at 855-444-4777.

Let’s get you back on track!