Inbound links play a key role in how a website ranks. When we generally think about regular link building, we’re focused on getting high authority sites to link back to our websites, and we work on getting as many of these links as possible. However, there’s a difference between a regular link and a local link. A local link comes from a local source like a website that’s specific to a particular city. For example, a tailor in London may have some local links from a London college, a London newspaper, or other businesses in the city.
Local link building is done to build relevance for a website toward its locality with the goal being to establish a presence in the SERPs for local terms. Getting an inbound link from a local source can be more valuable than getting a link from a big, well-known source like a national news publication. Here are a few relatively easy ways to pick up some local links to put your business front and centre.
Get Press Coverage
As a local business, you want as many local people as possible in your area to know about you. When it comes to advertising and marketing, nothing beats local press coverage. Free press coverage drives traffic to your website and helps you get those sales you need. To get noticed by the press you should:
- Reach out to local media outlets with interesting stories about your business
- Invite local media to special events you’re having at your business
- Offer to provide guest content to local newspaper sites
- Share your events on local online calendars
Enter Local Competitions to Win Awards
Many local organizations and companies organize and sponsor awards in various business areas. Conduct a search to look for any awards you can win, and then sign up. If you’re fortunate, a sponsor will mention you to give you some free advertising just for being a nominee. Even if you don’t end up winning, your website may appear on local online lists and in print media like “Best 25 Tailors in London”.
Host a Community Event
You can get listed on your city’s website and other local news sources by hosting a community event. The type of event you host is up to you, as long as you’re creating and providing a productive resource for the members of your community. You can host an event that draws many people like a garbage pick-up day where the meeting place is your business. Another idea is to host a food drive or drop-off for people in need. Both of these ideas will generate interest and show that your business cares about more than just making money.
Connect with Local Influencers
A great way to earn some inbound links is to build actual relationships with local influencers. These people can be politicians, community leaders, or journalists. You can bet that these local influencers are online using posting on Facebook, tweeting, and updating their blogs. These people are always looking for new, unique content to share and they provide you with links, mentions, and other types of signals Google uses to rank sites, so get out there and connect!
You can contact a local influencer in person, via phone, or through email and introduce your business to him/her. You can also connect through a social channel the two of you both use.
Conclusion: It’s not all that difficult to connect with local influencers to get incoming links to your site. You can also get social mentions and reviews from these people to make you more visible to your targeted customer base. While some of these methods involve you getting out from behind your computer and meeting and greeting people, it will be worth the effort as it’s always good to show the face behind the brand. One of the best “SEO tricks” you can try, is really simple, hire the right SEO agency!