Local Link Building help!
-
Hi All,
Looking for some help with where to begin link building for local small businesses. If the website is leading to a lawyer, doctor, or any type of professional service, I'm at a loss on where to start.
I've tried looking into local directories, and I also know that if one of the clients has a reason for being linked in an online news article, those links should be pursued. Additionally, I've gone and helped to claim all local listings, and submitted to DMOZ and a few other directories.
So if the website is just leading to a business that isn't running any events or specials worth writing about, what is the best way to acquire links?
Thank you!
Tyler
-
Glad I could help!
Check out the Whitespark Local Citation Finder, if you haven't already - it's pretty awesome...
Another few non-link related things that will be a big help for local search optimization:
Also, make sure you get their Google+ Local pages claimed and optimized. Work hard on a review strategy so they can start acquiring positive reviews.
If you're brave, you can try merging their G+ Local page with their G+ Business page - then you've got an integrated maps/social presence, which can lead to some cool things...
also, you can set up Google Authorship, so that the business owner's photo shows up next to their listings, which can help click-throughs.
-
Hi Greg,
Thank you for taking the time to help me out! I'm encouraging more clients to integrate blogs with the websites that we build for them, but the tricky part is getting the client to provide content.
In some instances my company will write and manage these postings (we work in specific niches so we have solid content writers), but this is at an extra cost to the clients. Most of my clients see themselves as too busy to write a blog post, but I'm trying to emphasize the importance.
The guest blog posting is a great idea too, as I'm thinking that getting content for a guest blog post would actually be easier than having them run their own blog.
Local citations are pretty big for the niche we're working in, so this may be where I'm directing most of my energy.
Thanks for the helping out a local SEO greenhorn, I'm always working to get better at this
-
Oops, accidentally duplicated my response!
-
I think that an obvious place to start would be local professional organization websites. Many of them have a member’s area that will have a small blurb about the member and hopefully a link. Another idea is business organizations like the chamber of commerce, etc. Hopefully if your clients are creating good content and are able to push that content out (using social and email marketing) those links will happen organically. Just remember…if they build good content…the links will come!
-
You've still got several options. First and foremost, use Open Site Explorer to check out the links that your client's competitors have. You'll get lots of ideas, assuming that there are local competitors in the area. If not, check competitors in other cities, see what they're doing and do something similar locally.
Next - add some useful content to your client's site. Become an educator about that niche and post regular, unique content. Use that client's expertise to your advantage and share it with the local community. Build social connections to share that content.
Seek out local bloggers and build relationships with them. Once you're introduced and they know who you are, share some of that expertise with them - you could either get a guest post on their blog, have them guest post on yours, or have them write about your client's business.
Ask customers what they want to see on the site - not really crowd-sourcing, but just finding out what customers in that niche would find useful. Then do it.
And don't forget about citations - depending on the niche, local citations can sometimes be just as powerful as links (or even more powerful) when it comes to local ranking.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Link Building for Charities?
Hello there! I'd like to get some advice/tips about link building for charities. I am doing an internship on SEO in a charity in London and I have Moz Pro to work with. So, I have to work on the links building but I don't know how to start, what value I can offer, etc . Thanks! 🙂
Link Building | | Ignacio.Puglisi3 -
If I get multiple links from one domain, will that help my rankings?
Hello, I have developed a relationship with a blogger in my niche. He has published a guest post of mine with a link back to my site. Does it make sense to keep providing him with content to build different links from different pages within the same root domain? Thanks! Ricardo
Link Building | | myriad_ricardo0 -
Link-Building Prospect Consolidation
Is there a way to consolidate link prospects in Moz or should we look for an external tool e.g. Raven Tools, Buzz Stream etc.? Thanks. 🙂
Link Building | | HeatherBakerTopLine0 -
Link building for a non-linkable site?
Hello, I am trying to zone in on a link building strategy for a non-linkable site. What I mean by non-linkable is I have a construction site. It's a family owned and operated small business. Our clients are farmers and older people usually. We go do a job, do it right the first time, and leave. Basically even if a couple of people who link to me for some weird reason, this is no way in the realm of 6,000 that my main competition has. I have tried to get as many quality citation resources as possible by using get listed, and white spark. My domain authority is only 16 though, so I must be able to increase this somehow. I have listed with Google +, Bing, Yahoo and every other major citation I could find. So now with trying too increase links with other ideas. I read somewhere to donate to charitable organizations, but if they link back to me as a donor, in an unrelated field, isn't that spammy like? So a construction site donating to a disease website, and then getting a backlink in return, does that look weird. It just seems like there are so many rules that I do not want to mess something up. I do not want get spammy links, but not sure if citations count as links so I am doing a win-win thing? Thanks for any tips Chris
Link Building | | asbchris0 -
Which is the best link building method after Google penguin update & why?
We are currently offering our client pre penguin these activities for link building: Local listing Directory submission bookmarking article submission blog comment guest post business review squidoo lens Forum posting infograhics My questions is which is the best link building method and is there any activity that is redundant now. thanks
Link Building | | conversiontactics0 -
What are top 10 best link building places after penguin?
Can some one help on this. I am looking to build 1 way links to rank a new website. Besides blogging and social bookmarking can some one recommend what works post Panda and Penguin.
Link Building | | oneseocompany0 -
When link building is returning little success, what is a good plan b?
I know that in an ideal world you would be able to create an amazing site with great content that every one would link to. But what if you're not able to so this, what if you the market you're in is very competitive and you're struggling to find good link partners. I know I can submit to directories and article/press sites but surely this isn't enough to get me any where near my desired goal! I guess I'm asking: is gaining reciprocal links the be and end all of Serps, am I missing any other SEO techniques to get my site higher up the rankings?
Link Building | | newdaymedia0 -
Learning link building
I want to learn from one of the best how to do real link building. I currently outsource this and just aren't sure if they're that good or not. Can you please let me know if Rand is doing any training or presentations on this in L.A or California this year? And if not him maybe someone else you can recommend who's good. Thanks much.
Link Building | | afranklin0