Local links are an excellent way for retailers to gain relevance within their communities. They not only help businesses win trust with their customers; they also enhance their rankings within Google’s Local Pack. In this article, companies will learn how local links can improve their legitimacy with clients and their position in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Why are Local Links Important?
Local mentions on websites help improve Local SEO. When companies have a strong, accurate local links profile, it enables customers to discover them online. It also increases foot traffic to shops.
Source: https://ahrefs.com/blog/local-citations/
Here are three reasons why local links are necessary for businesses.
- They establish trust and create authority – Getting citations boosts a company’s legitimacy on platforms like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing.
- These links demonstrate relevance within a community – When entrepreneurs submit citations on local sites, it strengthens their significance within their hometown.
- They raise local rankings – Citations positively impact position within Google’s Local Pack.
In the next section, you’ll learn how to expand the number of your local mentions on websites.
Companies Should Strengthen Their Local Link Foundation to Improve SEO
Business owners search for concrete ways to increase their relevance within their local community. In this section, Dialed In Web has several tips and to improve Local SEO and strengthen a company’s links profile.
Source: https://whitespark.ca/blog/what-is-a-local-citation-for-local-seo/
1. Add Local Citations to Top Sites
Local citations are business listings on websites within a community. They contain contact information that includes their names, addresses, phone numbers, and postal codes. When a company has multiple local citations, it increases its position in Google’s Local Pack.
Source: Source: https://whitespark.ca/top-local-citation-sources-by-country/united-states/
Citations generally fall into two categories:
Structured Citations: These are mentions on prominent online aggregate lists like Yellowpages, Lawyerslistings.com, and others. Their links usually include a “nofollow” tag; however, they offer essential signals to search engines that a business site is relevant within a region. It is also simple to acquire these links and establish a strong baseline profile for local companies.
Companies should be careful not to add their citations to too many sites. An overabundance of local links can provide diminishing returns to companies, especially if these sites are not high-quality ones.
Dialed In Web recommends adding your list citation to a curated list of respected companies within the area. Here are several rules when adding mentions:
- Get listed on the top 50 -80 general citations in your country.
- Get linked in the top 5 to 20 industry-specific sites in your country.
- Get listed on the top 2 to 8 city-specific sites in your city.
Unstructured Citations: These are business listings on local community sites like blogs, newspaper websites, event listings, job databases, and government websites. Like structured citations, they can also increase a company’s perceived value with search engine crawlers.
2. Seek Mentions on Business or Industry Association Websites
The next step that entrepreneurs should take to strengthen their local links profile is to join business and industry associations. These are valuable to get and very easy depending if you can afford the membership fees. Almost every industry has professional associations at the state or local level.
These associations are easy to find. In your preferred search engine, enter: (city), (keyword), and one of four terms: association, society, council, or alliance. You can also use this query: (state) (keyword) intitle: associations.
Source: Google
How to determine whether a link is worthy:
- Do they have a membership database that offers list citations or followed links?
- Where do they rank in Google? If you find them on page 8 or 9, they may not be worthy enough to join or link to on your site.
- What are their link metrics? Use Moz Domain Authority and find out how many root domains link to them.
Businesses can move onto step three after they sign up for respected associations within their area.
3. Use Your B2B Connections to Increase Local Link Profile
Companies can use their existing business relationships to increase mentions on local websites. Generally, a contact list can provide some decent opportunities for companies that will link to them. Additionally, entrepreneurs can ask other businesses they serve to provide a link to them on their website. Think of these as B2B opportunities.
Check vendors or partners’ pages for linking opportunities. Additionally, consider writing a testimonial for companies to improve chances to get backlinks. When finishing this process, be patient. Getting local linking opportunities takes time, so don’t rush the process.
4. Donations, Sponsorships, and Scholarships
Another great way to get local mentions is through donations, sponsorships, and scholarship opportunities.
For instance, companies should consider what services they can offer to organizations that serve the community. In exchange, they can request a mention on their site. For instance, a roofing company can donate their services to a women’s shelter in exchange for a local link on your website. Other potential agencies include local sports teams, clubs, marathons, art festivals, animal shelters, food banks, and homeless shelters.
Next, businesses can search through their competitors’ backlinks for organizations to sponsor. After getting these links, companies can end the prospecting process for links and use their rival’s list. Additionally, software like ZipSprout can also help entrepreneurs find organizations they can sponsor and support.
Source: https://zipsprout.com/
Entrepreneurs can also use scholarships as a way to build their local links. Unfortunately, this link building method has become increasingly saturated, so some search engines no longer include it as an SEO signal.
5. Links from Local Events Can Increase Local SEO
If a business has conference rooms, they can host local events within their communities. They can post these event-based links online to boost their prominence with residents.
Source: https://moz.com/blog/the-complete-guide-to-link-building-with-local-events
Home-based companies can use a different strategy for event-based links. They can sponsor meetings at other locations to benefit from these online mentions.
Some potential community-related events include:
- Coffee Shops – Owners can host events for seniors, date night mixers, after-hours events for the business community.
- Attorneys: Professionals can organize workshops on filing for divorce, bankruptcy, or starting a venture.
- Web/SEO – Getting started with HTML coding, creating a social media business site, introduction to keywords.
When creating topics, connect it with a major event in the city. For instance, if you live in Austin, Texas, you could have centered your topics around South by Southwest (SXSW) or other major concert events.
You can also advertise your events on social media sites like Facebook.
6. Job Pages Can Improve Local SEO
Businesses can also use their local job listings to boost their local SEO and strengthen their profile. For instance, add as much detail about each open position and submit them to local and national directories. They can also give businesses a boost in local relevance. Even though these events aren’t high-quality, they will help you promote your business.
Are you searching for a way to promote your local business? Dialed In Web is a premier Dallas internet marketing agency that can drive high-quality traffic to your business using targeted SEO and social media marketing. For more information, contact us today.
