- 89% of local SEO experts prioritize link building for their local business clients
- 100% of local SEO experts think link building is effective for boosting businesses' local search rankings
- Experts name local news sites, community sites, and industry sites are the most valuable link sources for local businesses
- Short personal emails have become more important in link building, while detailed emails have dropped in popularity
- The most valuable strategy for building local backlinks is through relationships with businesses and influencers, while sharing on social media is least valued
It’s clear, local link building is a vital factor when trying to achieve success in local rankings. But, how do leading local marketers approach getting backlinks, and what do they think makes a good local link?
To find out, we asked a small group of local SEO experts to share their opinions and experiences of local link building – and their insights are fascinating.
This is the second year we’ve run this report, so this year, we’ve compared both year’s findings to see what’s changed in local link building. To note, there was a slightly different number of experts taking part this year, so small rises or drops may be attributed to this, rather than big link building trend shifts.
A huge thank you to the SEO experts for sharing their excellent insights, including Megan Lindsey and Cory Agular from Search Influence. If you have any ideas or experiences you’d like to share about your local link building experiences, please let us know in the comments below.
Questions
- Is local link building a task you prioritize for your local business clients?
- How effective is local link building for boosting local businesses’ search rankings?
- Are links more or less important to local business search rankings than 12 months ago?
- Will acquiring links become easier or more difficult this year?
- What is the biggest problem or misconception about the value of links to local SEO?
- What are the most valuable link sources for boosting search rankings for local businesses?
- If a local business asked you how many links they should aim to get each month, what would you say?
- How valuable are the following strategies when building new backlinks to local business sites?
- How valuable are the following attributes when building new backlinks to local business sites?
- Approximately how much should local businesses aim to be spending to acquire each link?
- Which link building outreach processes do you find most effective?
- In your opinion, what makes a local business link building campaign successful?
Contributors
Adam Dorfman
Reputation.com
Alex Jones
Hallam
Ben Fisher
Steady Demand
Blake Denman
RicketyRoo
Brian Barwig
Integrated Digital Marketing
Carrie Hill
Ignitor Digital
Casey Meraz
Juris Digital
Colan Nielson
Sterling Sky
Dan Leibson
Local SEO Guide
David Mihm
Thrive Hive
Dev Basu
Powered by Search
Gyi Tsakalakis
AttorneySync
Joel Headley
PatientPop
Joy Hawkins
Sterling Sky
Mary Bowling
Ignitor Digital
Phil Rozek
Local Visibility System
Steve Wiideman
Wiideman
Tom Waddington
Wachae
Will Scott
Search Influence