In today’s world, backlinks are one of the most effective ways to boost your website’s visibility, enhance your credibility, and drive organic traffic. There are several strategic, ethical ways local businesses can build a backlink profile to support their overall SEO goals.
What are backlinks?
Backlinks are inbound links from another website to yours. They act as endorsements, boosting your credibility and relevance. For businesses operating in local markets, quality backlinks are especially important, helping you rank higher in localized searches, and helping to establish your business as a community leader in your space.
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness – these concepts directly link to SEO performance as E-E-A-T is a cornerstone of Google’s ranking guidelines. While Google’s criteria can sometimes seem a bit intangible, everything they examine and rank can be traced back to one of these 4 concepts.
Backlinks will help you build both Authority and Trustworthiness and ultimately help solidify your markers for all 4.
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Experience |
Expertise |
Authority |
Trustworthiness (most important!) |
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Why do backlinks matter?
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Improved Local Search Ranking: Google uses citations as a local SEO ranking factor, especially in industries with a lot of competition.
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Referral Traffic and Brand Exposure: People searching within directories may visit your site directly through these links, generating targeted referral traffic.
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Enhanced Trust and Credibility: A presence across multiple trusted platforms increases your brand’s authority and makes customers more likely to engage.
Building Local Authority: Quality over Quantity
While the number of backlinks has some impact, search engines prioritize the quality of those links. Links from respected, relevant sources like local newspapers, community blogs, and industry-specific sites are more valuable than dozens of random links from unrelated or low-authority sites. The objective is to earn backlinks from other reputable sources with strong E-E-A-T.
Despite any initial “success”, purchasing backlinks will always earn you a penalty from Google eventually.
They caught on to this practice long ago and have fairly accurate filters to flag these links quickly. If you have done this in the past, the damage can be fixed by disavowing these links in Google Search Console. Basically, you’re just saying you don’t want to be associated with them anymore, and they can be ignored. Any reliable SEO audit tool like SEMRush or Ahrefs should be able to provide this in a CSV format for easy uploading to Google Search Console.
How can I find backlink opportunities?
Partner with Local Influencers and Bloggers
Identify local influencers or bloggers who cater to a similar audience. Collaborate by offering exclusive promotions or sponsoring a local event, which they can feature on their platforms. The goal is to build relationships that can lead to organic, quality backlinks.
Community Sponsorships and Events
Sponsoring or getting involved in local events, charities, or sports teams can enhance brand visibility and often result in backlinks from the event’s website, local news, or forum-based pages.
Create Valuable Localized Content
Focus on creating high-quality, locally-oriented content that answers community-specific questions. For example, a med spa could produce content around local skincare trends or seasonal treatments (for example – a med spa in Vancouver, BC with tips on how to care for your skin post-ski trip). This approach encourages backlinks from local online publications and social media sharing.
Reach Out to Local Directories and Business Associations
Submit your business to local directories and review sites, ensuring NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) consistency. Chambers of commerce, local business groups, and regional business directories can offer valuable backlink opportunities.
Write for Local Publications and Blogs
Writing guest articles or opinion pieces for local publications allows you to position your business as a thought leader. Many newspapers, community blogs, and local business websites welcome expert insights on relevant topics, often including a backlink to your site.
How will I know if it’s working?
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Organic Search Traffic: Monitor your website traffic from search engines using Google Analytics to evaluate improvements in visibility.
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Ranking Improvements: Track changes in your search engine rankings for local keywords.
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Referral Traffic: Check referral traffic to see how many visitors arrive through backlinks, indicating the quality of your sources.
Generating high-quality backlinks is an ongoing process that requires persistence, quality content, and genuine community engagement, and is just one piece of an overall SEO strategy.
Want to learn more about achieving success with a local SEO strategy for your business? Speak to a OneLocal marketing expert. Book a demo or speak to your OneLocal representative today.
