When you set out to master the world of SEO so that you can more effectively promote your business, one of the most critical things you’ll need to learn about is link building. Link building simply means getting other websites to link to your business’s website. Search engine algorithms use these links to help determine the quality of your site. The more high-quality inbound links your site has, the more likely your site is to rank highly in most search engine results. That’s why it’s in the interest of every business to obtain as many valuable links as possible. And that means focusing on finding local links.
Why do local links matter?
For most businesses, the links with the most value tend to be local links. After all, you want to find links that will encourage people who are actually likely to become your customers to visit your website. If you’re a dentist and you’re trying to attract local clients in Rhode Island, it won’t do you much good to be linked to from a website that is based out of Texas. Local links are the ones that will provide you with the kind of relevant traffic you need. That’s why local links need to be at the center of your link building efforts.
How can you find out what your current link status is?
Before you start trying to add more local links, you should begin by figuring out how many links you currently have. You can obtain much of your link history from Google Search Console, which will help you see how many of the clicks through to your website came from local sources. This is a great tool for getting started, because it will give you a stronger picture of how dominant local links are in your website’s traffic. If not enough of your clicks are coming from local sources, it’s time to start thinking about how you can change that.
Can guest posts help my business build links?
One potential way to drum up more links for your site is to offer to do a guest post on another site. In the past, of course, this method was one of the most common ways to build up links, often through low-quality websites. Google’s policies have changed a lot since then, however, and these kinds of guest posts will no longer be very useful to you. You’ll need to dig a lot deeper if you want to make guest posting worthwhile.
If you want guest posts to be beneficial to your SEO, it’s important to make sure that you’re writing for high-quality websites, and that the subject matter is relevant to your own site. You should try to pick sites that are relatively visible, with high traffic—that will help to ensure that your writing there will get in front of as many sets of eyes as possible. You should also take a look at how many comments the site tends to get on its blog posts. The more engagement its posts tend to get, the more valuable your guest posts are likely to be for your SEO goals.
How can I get other sites to cover my business?
Along with guest posts, you can also try to get other sites to report on what your business is doing, or mention you—along with a link back to a relevant page on your site. This can be tricky to accomplish, and it’s best to spend some time looking for sites that are actually likely to do it. You need to be strategic about who you decide to reach out to, or you may find yourself wasting a lot of time making these requests to sites that would never link to you.
Try to find unique reasons to reach out to other sites. If you are a dental practice and you have recently introduced a cutting-edge instrument or procedure, see if any local news outlets might be interested. If you are an auto shop and you are offering a weekend sale, reach out to some popular auto blogs with the news. Don’t just reach out to the same sites over and over again—think creatively and try to find new venues to get the word out about your business.
What else can my business do to inspire more links?
Of course, there are plenty of organic ways that you can inspire other sites to link to you. Just as you can encourage visitors to your site by having high-quality content, so you can encourage links to your site by doing things that will make you notable in your area. Holding or sponsoring local events is a good way to get more links to your website, as is offering scholarships. This kind of outreach is a must if you want to make yourself more of a brand in your community, which is indispensable if you want to begin attracting more local business.
By the same token, you should make sure that your website itself is optimized for local SEO. Make sure that you are using your physical location as a keyword phrase, and that it appears in important places such as the title tags on individual pages. Finally, make sure that you’re writing content that is actually relevant to your area. Write blog posts about popular local events, or covering important local culture such as favorite foods or well-known tourist destinations. When other sites link to your own site, make sure that any visitors have a reason to stick around. If you are creating the kind of content that will drive valuable traffic to your site, that traffic will come—but the content needs to come first!
Are you ready to change up your approach to content marketing? Pennington Creative can help you rethink your current strategy and launch a new campaign that will help you get the visibility you’re looking for. Our experienced writing team can provide you with the top-notch content that will help you connect with your audience. If you’d like to learn more about our range of services, get in touch with us today via our website!
