How To Build Good Local Links

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Many Google Algorithm updates continue to reinforce the importance and influence of link building in determining how a websites should rank; and yet while links define the authority of your domain and its individual webpages, many marketing managers and business owners overlook the value and power of having a strong backlink profile when compiling their SEO strategy.

But what is a good link? How long should link building take me? Is quantity of links better than the quality of links? And what is the importance of locality to the links that you build?

What is a Good Local Link?

  • In short, the anatomy of a good link is from a page;
    with very few other outbound links
  • without a filter or penalty associated
  • that is relevant to the content that you write
  • that is trusted with a high website authority
  • that is local to the services/products that you provide

While there are many more factors that determine whether a link is of good quality, these are the above 5 key considerations that you must have front and centre of your mind while link-building.

What is the Importance of Website Authority?

Website Authority, which can also be referred to as Domain Authority, is a search engine ranking score, measured between 1 and 100. It was developed to predict how well a website should rank on search engine results pages.

Website Authority is calculated based on the analysis of multiple factors, where the higher the authority of your website, the greater the opportunity your site has to rank for the terms you have optimised for. 

It is important to ensure that the links that you build are from websites with strong authority. As the website authority of the page linking for your website has been found to be one of the most important factors contributing to your PageRank.

Building links with websites that have highly authoritative pages passes more authority to your own site, increasing your PageRank, and improving your own website authority and ranking capability. 

What is the Importance of Locality?

While securing as many high website authority domain links as possible is often the traditional focus when digital marketers start to think about building links; not all businesses necessarily benefit equally from these sorts of links.

If you are an ecommerce business who provide product and services nationally and internationally, then prestigious high authority websites are going to provide excellent value to your search engine ranking objectives, and building links such as these should be your first goal.

However, the majority of businesses in the UK are SME’s and are primarily interested in sales and customer opportunities local to their offices or retail stores. The importance of Local Link Building to these business types is much more important.

Top 20 Cheap Local Link Building Techniques

If you are a business or enterprise who are focused on providing products or services to your local area, then you should be looking for opportunities such as the below;

  1. Attending Networking Events
  2. Finding Local Influencers 
  3. Industry Specific Local Directories
  4. Local Discounts
  5. Local Guest Blogging
  6. Hiring a Local Photographer
  7. Provide Testimonials to Local Businesses
  8. Contributing to Local Pages on Wikipedia
  9. Entering Local Business Awards
  10. Sponsoring a Local Sports Team or Society
  11. Search for Online Mentions
  12. Leverage Alumni Opportunities
  13. Volunteer Time to Write for your Local Newspaper
  14. Volunteer Time to Community Projects
  15. List your Office WiFi on Local WiFi Directories
  16. Donate to Local Foodbanks
  17. Create Local Meet Ups
  18. Becoming a Member of Local Business Association
  19. Reverse Image Links
  20. Advertise in Local Guides

If you are a marketing manager within an SME, or a business owner of an SME the importance of link building in comparison to the broader business tasks and objectives will likely bear an insignificance.

Link building is a necessity to driving strong search engine rankings, however, having a link-building specialist working within your business often isn’t practical or feasible; and creating good local links efficiently can take time to master.

Within our team here at Sweet Digital, we have link-building specialists who can take your website authority to the next level, so get in touch.

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