Local Link Building (Buying) Guide

Last Updated: March 21, 2023

A Comprehensive Guide to Local Link Building Strategies

Local Link Building remains one of the top factors to implement in any Local SEO Strategy. Whether you’re a brick-and-mortar or service area business, the quality and relevancy of your links play a huge role in improving your overall visibility and rankings.
In general, two dominant types of approaches toward link-building will be noticed in many instances.

Approach 1 focuses on gathering reviews and citations for Local Map Pack visibility, which is a good but not the ultimate approach. Having links also point to your location page/pages or other relevant pages on your website that correspond well to the backlink is extremely important.

Approach 2 focuses on acquiring as many highly-authoritative links as possible, which is a valuable approach; however, the most critical element to watch for when building backlinks is the links’ relevancy element. Other elements to keep in mind are link diversity, quantity, and anchor texts.

Getting a link from an influential and relevant website that doesn’t have a very high DA is extremely valuable for local businesses and, at the same time, easier to acquire.

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Why Are Links So Important?

Why would links influence ranking positions? Well, this is strongly related to the fact that Google understands a backlink as a strong indicator of Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness as it shows that others and especially users have seen the content published as valuable, trustworthy, and informative, that’s why they have linked and referenced that content. And it does make sense.

To understand the correlation between Google’s ranking position and the number of referring domains, we have also done numerous tests to come back to the same results: links still play a massive role in moving the needle in the right direction.

The same applies to both, Organic and Local results. Since the Local Pack algorithm is tied to the Organic algorithm, link building is one of the tactics that can help with better rankings organically in SERPs and Maps. However, there are some differences in the weight that each link type has in influencing better rankings in Maps vs. SERPs.

To build the appropriate links to influence better-ranking results, you must first consider the content, types of anchors to utilize, and the types of links to build. Then, to go further, always make sure to reference your competition for the keywords, pages, and types of links you would want to look into building.

For anchors, we start by analyzing the current link graph and understanding the types of anchors behind those links in order to come up with the right ratio.

You generally want to have a balanced mix between the following anchor texts:

Exact match
Partial match
Brand
Generic

The anchor analysis will allow you to map out the types of anchors you will need to work on and how much each anchor will need to be pushed.

Next, check the types of links you have and understand what links, diversity, and quantity you need more of. Make a systematic plan that will enable proper execution in terms of outreach and general link-building efforts.

Google’s Updates About the Importance of Link Building

Here’s Googe’s Documentation and what is said there about links:

-Google finds pages through links from other pages.

And according to recent Google updates: “First, backlinks as a signal have a lot less significant impact than when Google Search first started many years ago. We have robust ranking signals, hundreds of them, to make sure that we can rank the most relevant and useful results for all queries.”

Also: “Chances are, there are a number of sites that cover topic areas similar to yours. Opening up communication with these sites is usually beneficial. Hot topics in your niche or community could spark additional ideas for content or building a good community resource.”

Plus, on a recent poll on Twitter, 44.3% of voting SEOs agree that Link Building is as effective as it always was.

Therefore, the quantity and quality of links still play a huge role in indicating how valuable and important your site is for rankings. Your linking patterns help Google understand your site. Beyond only rankings, it is also the best method for Google to discover web-pages.

With all this in mind, planning out your link and anchor strategy stays at the top of your SEO and Local SEO efforts.

This brings us to the next section to determine the types of links to look for when building your Local SEO link graph.

Types of Links to Build for Your Local SEO Strategy

Generally, we are going to break down types of local links into four main categories, with each category having its own group of links that they belong to.

Brand Authority

Brand authority is the factor that will determine your position within your industry. It is an earned trust that will only be given to you if you perform continuously to gain it. It will either profess you an average business or a household name and expert source in your niche.

Geo Relevancy

Geo-relevancy allows Google to connect and understand that your website is relevant for a specific location and display results for searchers for those particular locations. Google aims to show users relevant results, and acquiring geo-relevant backlinks will make the difference in understanding your relevancy to the geographical location.

Niche Relevancy

Niche-relevancy means that your website and listing are relevant to your industry. Niche-relevancy pertains to and fulfills searchers’ intent. Niche-relevant backlinks will be your golden ticket toward increasing rankings as they help Google understand what your website and content are all about.

Tiered Links

Tiered links boost and help with the trustworthiness and authority of the links mentioned in the three categories above. They are added here as a specific category because they are not the most substantial standing on their own but are very powerful when added to any of the link categories above. Plus, they do help with indexation.

Link Factors to Consider

There are different factors to consider when building citations and links , as they serve different purposes in your SEO strategy. Before you begin acquisition for a better natural link graph, know the breakdown of the key factors for each:

Citation Factors

For both structured and unstructured citations, it’s essential to consider the following aspects to ensure consistency, accuracy, and effectiveness in your local SEO efforts:

Accuracy – Ensure that your business Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP) are consistent across all structured and unstructured citations. Inconsistencies can confuse search engines and potential customers, negatively impacting your local search rankings.
Quality – Focus on acquiring citations from high-quality, authoritative sources. These citations carry more weight and can significantly boost your local search rankings.
Relevance – The most powerful citations are those that tie into the entity one way or another.
Completeness – Fill out all available fields in structured citations, such as business hours, website URL, and a detailed description. This provides users with comprehensive information about your business and can improve your local search rankings.

Link Factors

Before you begin acquiring links for a better natural link graph, it’s essential to consider several link factors to ensure your link-building efforts are effective and sustainable.

For both internal and inbound links be sure to consider each of these following factors:

Domain Authority – Keep in mind, DA is a third party metric so don’t use it as fact, but rather a guide to gauge authority.
Page Authority – This is another third party metric so be careful weighing it too heavily against other factors.
Quantity – don’t focus on links from a single source; the 400th link isn’t going to be as impactful as the first.
Relevance – Whether it’s local relevance, niche relevance, or another type of relevance, these links will carry more weight than a general or non-relevant link.
Diversity – A diverse link profile with links from various sources, such as blogs, forums, news websites, and social media, is more natural and less likely to be flagged as spam by search engines.
Link Anchor Text – Use a mix of branded, keyword-rich, and generic anchor texts to create a natural link graph. Over-optimizing anchor text with exact-match keywords can lead to penalties.
Link Placement – Links placed within the main content area of a page, surrounded by relevant and informative text, are more valuable than links placed in footers or sidebars.

Links for Creating and Boosting Brand Authority

Brand Links include quality web 2.0 and brand profiles covering NAP mentions and brand-building purposes. These are also perfect pillow links to continue boosting with tiered links.

Custom Signals include brand mentions and links created in parity with the competitor research that will help your brand further stand out.

Do-Follow News Links establish authority by having brand mentions in regional and national news sites like ABC, NBC, and Fox.

Premium Local Press Releases bring authoritative links and brand mentions to boost your traffic, brand awareness, and exposure. Our Premium Press Releases include DoFollow links and Google News Verified links.

Social Fortress Accounts boost digital brand building and establish top-tier brand profile links.

Social Power Up Links maximize the power of your social accounts.

Top Level Business Citations quickly establish brand authority mentions based on your region.
Premium Guest Post Links build the link profile for your brand, boosting brand awareness and overall authority. For more impact in niche and authority, also get niche guest posts.

Bio Entity Stacks help optimize Google’s Knowledge Graph for your brand and highlight the relationships between entities. Links the shared entities and combines with Domain Authority Stacking (DAS), linking multiple layers of sites together to pass authority to your money site and boost brand visibility.

Links for Creating and Boosting Geo Relevancy

One way to create geo-relevancy is by building relationships with local businesses, organizations, and influencers to earn backlinks from their websites. However, that takes time. You can also do this by participating in local events and sponsorships, which can lead to valuable local links. These links are often highly effective in pushing relevancy and are rather affordable considering the cost of high-quality links.

Below is a list of link types you can use to strengthen local relevance – some of which we offer:

Local Business Listings
Local Points and News of Interest
Custom Signals
Local Blog Promotion
Local Events and Tiered Event Links
Local Guest Blog Posting
Local Infographic
Local Image Usage Outreach
Local Scholarships
Local Sponsorships
Microsites
Tiered Links to Existing Local Links
GPS Listing Citations
Patch Events
Paid Listings

Links for Creating and Boosting Niche Relevancy

To rank for key terms, you need to establish relevance around the services, products, and topics. Below are our favorite niche links:

Niche Specific Listings
Press Releases
Social Bookmarks
Niche Guest Posts
Niche Placements
Targeted Media Outreach links
Paid Listings and Posting

Tiered Links for Boosting the Effectiveness of the 3 Link Categories Above

These links are best for boosting Guest Posts, Niche Links, Brand Profiles, and Citations.

Do-Follow News Links are also part of this strategy and are perfect for boosting your guest posts by having authoritative mentions on news sites like ABC, NBC, Fox, and more.
Social Power Up Links are excellent for interlinking to your social accounts by using social hubs and then continuing to boost them with Tier 2 Budget Links.

Summary

Local Link Building is one of the most important and challenging factors of your overall Local SEO Strategy. Careful consideration is required to create a link graph that will improve your visibility and ranking in SERPs for your localized terms and in the Local Map Pack. You don’t want to send the wrong signal to Google by building too many or too few of the same types of links, and especially not by using the same type of anchor text.

In general, you will need all types of links mentioned in this guide to have an integrated, comprehensive approach to your strategy and rankings. However, obtaining a specific group of backlinks at one particular time is also possible. For example, if you need more brand authority, there are a few options to work on improving that. Likewise, if it’s niche relevancy you need help with, there are also options to improve it if that is a more convenient approach for you at a specific time.

However, working on getting brand, niche, and geo-relevant links and boosting those links with several tiered links month over month will help establish your relevancy and prominence and gain faster results.

With our Monthly GBP Local SEO Campaign packages, you get all the different types of links mentioned above for your GBP Listing and Location Page/Pages every month for an integrated approach.

Depending on the location you are targeting, which directly influences the competition level, you have a breakdown of the package levels suitable for the population size and competition strength of your target area.

Each level requires the right amount of links to move the needle in the desired direction. And having a white-label SEO partnership to fulfill your Local SEO needs is particularly helpful, especially when you need more time and resources on your side.