To build links for local SEO, businesses must focus on acquiring local backlinks using structured and targeted methods. Link building for local SEO involves earning hyperlinks from external websites to improve a site's relevance and visibility for geographically focused searches. This process strengthens a website's credibility in local search results, driving organic traffic and connecting businesses with nearby audiences.
There are 12 essential methods to enhance local link building:
Each of these strategies plays a unique role in boosting your local SEO efforts. Below, we explore each one in detail, breaking down what it is, why it works, and how you can implement it effectively.
There are online platforms where businesses can list their information, such as their name, address, phone number, and website. These are called local directories, and they help consumers find local businesses quickly. The most popular ones are Google My Business, Yelp, and Yellow Pages.
Local directories can be free or paid, but even paid directories have free basic listing options. Of course, paid packages offer more visibility and features, such as technical support. Prices can vary greatly depending on the level of domain authority and the scope of the platform, but you can find packages ranging from $10 to $100 per month.
In fact, the higher the domain authority, the more it will strengthen the credibility of the backlink. Likewise, the more specific the directory is to the niche or location, the more relevant it will be for local SEO. So, directories are useful for improving visibility in local searches and are ideal for businesses that rely on physical traffic.
According to a study by BrightLocal (2023), 62% of consumers would not use a business' service if they found discrepant information about them online. Fortunately, the backlink building through local directories is simple:
To improve local directory optimization, include relevant keywords in your description and frequently check that your information is correct. NAP discrepancies can damage your rankings.
Online mentions of a company’s information (name, address, and phone number) on websites or platforms, unlike backlinks, do not always include direct links to the company’s website.
These citations are often created for free, but there are paid services that help you manage and optimize these bulk mentions, such as Moz Local and Yext, which charge between &100 and $500 annually. Either way, accurate and consistent information is very important for citations to be effective.
Citations that occur on trusted platforms like Google My Business and Bing Places carry more weight. But mentions on local or industry-specific sites have a greater impact on local SEO. So for business looking to improve their presence in local search results, especially if they compete in geographically limited markets like delivery services and physical store, citations can be a good strategy.
Once your business is listed in reputable online directories with complete NAP information, use tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs to identify citation opportunities on relevant websites.
Reviews left by customers on platforms like Yelp or TripAdvisor show consumers’ experience with a business and play a big role in local SEO. As 76% of clients read online reviews when browsing for local businesses, they directly influence online reputation and search engine rankings.
Fortunately, local reviews are free to obtain, but there will be costs if you use monitoring tools or reputation management services. Tools like BrightLocal charge between $50 and $200 per month to monitor reviews.
For businesses that rely on local trust, such as clinics and restaurants, a detailed review that mentions specific services can make all the difference.
To get local reviews, you can:
Respond to all reviews, whether positive or negative. Be polite and professional to show that you value their feedback. Don’t ignore negative considerations, as not responding can come across as disrespectful, and use tools like Google Alerts to keep track of new reviews.
Include the best reviews on your website or social media. And while it’s easy to buy fake reviews, doing so can result in severe penalties. Platforms value authenticity, and a healthy balance of feedback is more trustworthy.
Links acquired through PR strategies targeting local media outlets and publications strengthen a business’s online presence. These links often come from news sites, local blogs, and community organizations, bringing geographic relevance.
They can be free, if the business gets organic media coverage, or paid, if it involves press offices or partnerships with local media vehicles. Press office services can range from $500 to $2,000 per month.
Such links connect your business to local topics and events, increasing the perception of community engagement. And well-written posts with contextualized links increase your local SEO impact. They’re primarily useful when launching new products or services, and when promoting community events or initiatives.
Your company can sponsor or get involved in community events to generate local media coverage. This could include working with NGOs, schools, or clubs to gain visibility or seek out reports who cover topics related to your sector. In a 2024 survey, 67.3% of respondents identified digital PR as the most effective link building strategy.
However, this search for visibility must be done carefully:
Content created by an external author to be published on a third-party blog or website allows local businesses to share their expertise with new audiences. All while gaining relevant backlinks to improve their local SEO. These posts are free when based on mutual collaborations, but can also be paid separately.
Post creation and publishing services can range from $50 to $500 per post, depending on the authority of the site and the complexity of the content. However, these posts should be published on reputable local sites to enhance the credibility and visibility of the company. In addition, links in the content should be contextual and focused on topics of interest to the target audience.
A guest posting service is useful for businesses that want to reach specific audiences in a specific region, primarily when launching new services for offerings in local markets. They also serve to establish authority in the sector in which they operate. To do this, you need to look for sites with a relevant audience, such as specialized blogs.
The content idea proposal should also add value to the partner’s website. Links to the company should be natural and useful to the reader. And be sure to track metrics such as traffic and engagement from the posts. Additionally:
This practice involves adding links to existing content on other websites. These are strategically included to drive traffic, increase the authority of the website and strengthen the presence in local SEO. Usually, they have a cost, varying between $30 and $500, depending on the agreements with the website’s owner where the link will be inserted.
Websites with high traffic volume will obviously be more expensive. Links from local websites with high domain names and geographic relevance have greater impact on SEO, just as updated and well-positioned content in search engines increases the effectiveness of these links.
Here, the goal is to reach audiences that already access content relevant to the niche or location. So, this strategy is useful for reinforcing the authority of the site in specific segments, especially during local campaigns or launches.
A good link insertion service it’s definitely the best option. So you will need:
Prioritize local sites with a good reputation and engagement, but be transparent. Clearly explain to the site owner the benefit of including the link. Use keywords related to your business as anchors to maximize SEO impact. But don’t just focus on quantity; inserting links on irrelevant sites can harm your strategy.
Links should be well-chosen to add value to the content, otherwise they may be viewed negatively by readers. Moreover, they should not be overly optimized because they may appear artificial and be penalized by Google.
Analyzing the links that drive traffic to your direct competitors’ websites is a very important step. The goal is to identify similar link opportunities for your business, using the same sources or strategies. It’s free if you use limited tools, but it will require some investment for more in-depth work, for example, using SEMrush or Moz.
The tools’ prices ranges from $50 to $300 per month, depending on the plan. But links obtained through this analysis are frequently from sites with proven authority, as they have positively impacted competitors. They are highly relevant, as they are already associated with businesses in the same niche.
Competitor research for backlinks is useful when launching a new website or improving the visibility of an existing one. It can also be used to gain a competitive edge in local SEO and in saturated markets, where identifying gaps can provide differentiation.
To conduct competitor research, you need to:
Focus on the links that really boost your competitor’s SEO. Study linking patterns and identify what types of links are most common for your competitors (guest posts, directories, etc.). And when you reach out to sites, highlight the unique value your business can provide.
But be careful, don’t blindly copy your competitors’ backlinks strategies. Many competitors may have toxic backlinks that you should avoid.
Collaborating with content creators who have a relevant audience in your region can help you generate backlinks, increase brand visibility, and engage local consumers. It can be free if the collaboration is based on an exchange of value, such as products or services. However, paid partnerships are more common.
Depending on the reach and reputation of the influencer or blog, costs range from $50 to $500 per post for influencers and $100 to $1,000 for sponsored blog posts. These costs are justified, as their engaged followers can provide high-authority backlinks.
But it is essential to choose content creators who share similar interests to your target audience and have well-crafted content that mentions your business or includes backlinks. And long-form content (over 1,000 words) gets more links and shares than shorter content.
For small businesses that rely on community recognition or campaigns that aim to increase digital presence and local SEO, collaborating with blogs and influencers involves:
Don’t just look at the number of followers; choose partners with an engaged audience and offer content that is authentic. Numerous followers do not guarantee conversions, and avoid creators who are not related to your niche. Finally, the content should include links to your website naturally.
A practical example would be a small local bakery that collaborates with a local food influencer to offer an exclusive tasting. The influencer mentions the bakery on their blog and Instagram, resulting in a 30% increase in website traffic and several in-person visits.
Supporting community initiatives financially or logistically in exchange for visibility for your brand, often including backlinks on websites related to the event or organization, is a great strategy. Sponsorships, of course, are paid and can be quite expensive. It is possible to negotiate an exchange of services or products, but depending on the scale of the event, costs can start at $100 and go up to over $5,000.
Backlinks from reputable organizations or well-known local events increase your website’s authority. And local sponsorships create genuine connections with the community, promoting your business to a relevant audience. This is great for businesses to build a strong reputation in the community, to reinforce local connections, and to increase visibility in specific niches.
To do this:
Choose events or organizations that align with your target audience’s values and interests, and make sure that the event website or materials have good domain authority. Also promote the event or organization on your own platforms to maximize the benefits of the partnership. Be sure to measure results; without clear metrics, it is difficult to assess the return on investment of the sponsorship.
See this practical example: A local clothing store sponsors a charity running event, with its logo prominently featured on the event’s website and promotional materials. As a result, it gains a high-quality backlink and attracts a 20% increase in website traffic during the month of the event.
These initiatives, where companies offer financial or educational support to students, usually in exchange for visibility and backlinks on educational institution websites or related platforms, have a very positive impact, despite requiring a high financial investment.
Links from educational institutions have high authority and a significant impact on SEO. They are even more useful for businesses that want to connect with younger or academic audiences, as well as for businesses looking to increase authority and visibility in education-related communities and sectors.
This option is excellent for building a positive brand image, especially when the target audience includes students or young adults. To implement this strategy, you will need:
The scholarship criteria should be aligned with your company’s values and audience. The educational institutions or platforms should be highly authoritative. Despite the cost, the offer should be good and well-planned, because an unattractive scholarship can generate low participation and limit exposure. In addition, there should be broad publicity, since without adequate promotion, the impact will be reduced.
An example of how this might work would be a technology company offering a $2,000 scholarship to students interested in computer science courses. The scholarship is promoted on local university websites and attracts high-quality links, resulting in a 15% increase in the company’s domain authority.
Partnering with other businesses in your area to promote services or products together often results in backlinks, visibility, and a stronger online and offline presence.
Links from well-established local businesses can increase your credibility with your target audience and search engines, and are ideal for businesses that share similar audiences but are not direct competitors.
These collaborations are perfect for companies looking to expand their network of contacts in the region. The same goes for those looking to strengthen their brand in specific niches or communities and attract new customers through recommendations from trusted partners.
But building backlinks through local collaborations isn’t that easy. First, you need to identify potential partners, prioritizing local businesses with a good reputation and an audience similar to yours. It’s important to determine how the collaboration will benefit both parties.
Also, be sure to publicize the collaboration widely by producing blogs, videos or promotional events, with products and services that complement each other. And, of course, share it on social media and newsletters.
Using the local bakery example, let’s assume that they partnered with a nearby coffee shop to promote a special coffee and bread combo. Both businesses posted the promotion on their websites, including backlinks to each partner’s pages, and the strategy increased organic traffic by 20% on both sites.
Getting backlinks from local news sites involves mentioning or covering your business on regional portals, blogs, or newspapers. These links usually come from articles about events, collaborations, product launches, or community outreach that your business is promoting.
So, for businesses that serve a specific community, these links reinforce your local presence and build a trusted brand image in the region. However, communications should be well-written, clear, informative and not generic. It is important not to rely on paid advertisements as well.
Now let’s assume that a local clothing store organized a charity fashion show and invited a local newspaper to cover the event. The article published included a SEO link to the store’s website with additional information. As a result, website traffic increased by 30% the following week, generating new customers and more engagement.
Actively participating in online forums where residents and businesses share information and discuss relevant topics can generate excellent backlinks and visibility. By being free, it helps promote services and events specifics to the local.
This is a great option if you’re looking to build a reputation as an authority in your local niche by answering FAQ from locals and potential customers. The first step is to look for popular local platforms, like Reddit, Nextdoor, or city-specific forums. Then, answer questions in detail and build a respectable profile, using your name or the name of your business.
Keep engaging in discussions, provide useful information and build trust before sharing links. The content you spread should be really helpful to users, such as guides and promotions, as participating just to promote your brand without adding value to the discussion will make the strategy unsuccessful.
Using a local restaurant as an example, let’s say they answered questions on a forum about “best places for family dinner” in their city. By sharing a link to their menu and photos, they attracted several reservations over the next week, with a 15% increase in website traffic.
Local awards are recognitions offered by organizations, communities, or platforms to highlight companies or individuals who excel in their field. These awards can be a great opportunity to obtain backlinks, enhance reputations and strengthen a company’s local presence.
While there may be an entry free, the awards themselves are free and are typically given out by respected entities, such as local business associations. They are highly relevant as they often feature businesses within a specific geographic context.
So, it’s important to look for relevant awards before submitting your nominations. Share on social media, on your company website, and in press releases when you’re nominated and when you win an award, as this can also generate additional backlinks.
Finally, choose awards that align with your brand’s values and goals. And be sure to keep a history of awards on your company website, but don’t use the award as part of your marketing and SEO strategy.
Our popular local bakery was nominated for an award this year for “Best Breakfast in Town”. The award’s inclusion on the website generated a high-quality backlink and drove a 25% increase in traffic to the site over the next two months.
This process of acquiring backlinks from relevant sites within a company’s specific geographic and business context is nuanced. These links help drive traffic, increase visibility, and strengthen a site’s authority in search engines, especially for searches with local intent.
Building effective backlinks for local SEO requires strategy to ensure links are relevant, high-quality, and aligned with business goals.
Links from trusted, high-authority sites, such as respected local directories or regional newspapers, have a greater impact on SEO than a large volume of low-quality links. Focus on local sources that are relevant to your industry.
Too many low-quality links can hurt your strategy, especially if they come from irrelevant or suspicious sites. Avoid link-buying schemes or artificial exchanges that violate Google’s guidelines.
Make sure your company name, address, and phone number are consistent across all directories, citations, and websites where you place your backlinks. Standardize your information so that it is spelled identically everywhere.
You can implement schema markup to structure NAP data on your website, making it easier for search engines to read. Don’t use name variations or address abbreviations. Inconsistent can lead users to question the legitimacy of your business.
Include location-specific keywords in your anchor text and descriptions, as this helps search engines associate your business with a specific geographic area. Local keywords are terms that include geographic references, such as “restaurants in New York” or “lawyers in California.”
Tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush or Ubersuggest identify local search terms with good volume and low competition. However, you should not over-enter terms, as this can be seen as spam. And don’t use only generic keywords. Users looking for services in your area may not find your business this way, and it will be difficult to compete in search results for area-specific searches without local keywords.
Use analytics tools like Google Search Console or SEMrush to monitor the backlinks you’ve acquired, assess their quality, and identify opportunities for improvement. This will help you refine your good link building strategy and monitor its effectiveness.
Analyze metrics like organic traffic growth, search engine rankings for local keywords, and domain authority. Use tools like Google Analytics, Ahrefs, or Moz.
Not tracking metrics regularly can result in an outdated and ineffective strategy. The market and search engine algorithms are constantly evolving, and link building strategies must keep up with these changes.
Not just any link is a quality SEO backlink. It must meet specific criteria that directly influence the relevance, authority, and impact on the performance of your local backlinks strategy. After all, it connects your company to the geographic context and local audience, helping to improve visibility in region-specific searches.
Good backlinks should come from a site that is relevant to your business’ niche or geographic location. For example, for a local bakery, backlinks from food blogs or sites related to your city are much more valuable than generic links. Relevance shows search engines that the SEO link is natural and useful.
On the other hand, irrelevant backlinks — for example, a technology site linking to a flower shop — can look unnatural, which can damage your SEO. The same goes for the content. The text or article in which the backlink is inserted should be about a topic related to your product, service, or location.
The authority of the source website is one of the most important factors. Backlinks from trusted, high-authority websites (such as local newspapers or well-established directories) greatly improve SEO. Tools such as Domain Authority and Domain Rating can be used to check metrics.
This metric assesses the relevance and reliability of a website on the internet, based on several factors: number and quality of backlinks, valuable content, audience engagement, etc. These sites are more valued by search engines, and links also contribute to increasing the perception of credibility of your brand.
However, backlinks from low-authority or suspicious domains may have little or no positive effect. In some cases, they can even harm your website’s SEO. This is especially true if they come from domains with low authority scores, known for spam, or penalized by search engines.
For local backlinks, websites that are in the same geographic area as your business are extremely useful. They help search engines associate your business with the region where you operate.
Backlinks from sites that serve the same local audience are also seen as more relevant. This increases the likelihood of your business appearing in local searches, particularly on Google Maps and “near me” results.
But it is worth mentioning that backlinks from domains in unrelated or distant regions may have limited impact on local strategies. Links from sites in countries disconnected from your target audience and mass backlink building from multiple regions have no geographic or thematic relevance.
So, collaborate with local businesses and organizations, and list your company in local business directories, such as neighborhood associations.
For local backlinks, it is essential that the clickable text containing the link includes relevant keywords: the business name, location, or services offered. An example would be “best bakeries in Texas”. This way, the hyperlink that directs the user to another page or website becomes a high-quality backlink.
Use different combinations of keywords related to your niche and location to avoid manipulative patterns. Additionally, anchor texts like “click here” or “visit this site” don’t add value to SEO, nor does over-optimization, which repeats keywords excessively and unnaturally. Finally, links with anchor texts that are not related to the content of the landing page confuse users and algorithms.
Sites with good traffic and engagement (comments, shares, and visits) have a greater impact, they demonstrate to be active and influential. Therefore, such websites with well-produced content and active audience offers more valuable backlinks for local SEO.
They indicate to search engines that your content is trustworthy. So, the best sites are those with good SEO indicators (high domain authority, low bounce rate, original and updated content). Avoid sites with fake or purchased activity, such as automated comments and inauthentic interactions, and platforms that have been penalized for unethical SEO practices.
“Follow” and “nofollow” links are types of backlinks that tell search engines how they should interpret the relationship between the source site and the target site. And although “follow” links are more valuable for SEO, “nofollow” links are also important, even more for local SEO linking strategy.
The first ones mentioned allow the “link juice” (authority) to be transferred from the source site to the target site, positively impacting SEO. The second ones are indicated with an HTML attribute (rel="nofollow”), informing search engines not to transfer authority or “link juice” to the target site.
“Follow” links are essential for improving domain authority and helping to rank pages in search results. “Nofollow” links, although they do not transfer authority directly, can still generate qualified traffic and strengthen online presence. However, a backlink profile dominated by “Nofollow” links can suggest a lack of authority, while “follow” links from sites with a poor reputation can hurt your site’s SEO. Additionally, having only “follow” backlinks can indicate manipulation.
Local backlinks for SEO should be created with quality and relevance. You should avoid practices that could result in penalties from search engines. Some link schemes or types of backlinks are considered manipulative.
For example, buying backlinks from sites or networks that sell links directly can lead to devaluation of backlinks or even removal of the site from search results. Search engines severely penalize the purchase of links because it artificially manipulates rankings. The same is true for networks of sites created solely to generate backlinks between each other.
These networks are often detected by algorithms, resulting in massive penalties: the site being deindexed and losing its domain authority. Adding links to blog comment sections without context or relevance is also considered spam if done excessively.
Finally, practices such as “I link to you, you link to me” without real relevance, when used abusively, are seen as link manipulation. The same occurs when using automated tools to create backlinks in bulk, as this is easily identified as spam.
To improve your website ranking in local searches and attract qualified traffic, you need to choose the right strategies.
This service helps you list your business on specific directories, such as Facebook Business, Google My Business, TripAdvisor, and local pages. They can be one of the best backlinks for local SEO as they strengthen your local presence. The service connects your commerce with users searching for local businesses and provides backlinks based on citations and listings.
These SEO companies focused on local links build backlinks through partnerships, directories, and relevant content. They often have access to local resources and contacts, allowing them to get high-quality backlinks. These agencies understand the ins and outs of local backlinks and help businesses improve their rankings in regional searches.
Such agencies will typically provide a variety of backlinks designed to your local SEO needs, such as local citations, local news backlinks, partnership links, digital PR link service, and social media links. Package costs depend on the strategy and services, but can range from $300 to over $10,000.
Tools like SEMrush, Moz, or Ahrefs help you reach out to local blogs, businesses, and influencers to get backlink building by making it easy to identify specific local link opportunities and analyze competitors. These are online tools or services that help businesses connect with local blogs, influencers, websites, and other partners to build relevant backlinks and improve their local presence.
Some examples are Pitchbox, BuzzStream, NinjaOutreach, Traackr, Hunter.io. These platforms make it easy to create different types of backlinks, such as local guest posts, contextual links, influencer partnerships, news and PR backlinks, citations, and local listings. Costs start at $50 for monthly subscriptions and can go over $2,000 for custom campaigns.
Businesses that create high-quality content like blog posts, infographics, and case studies to attract backlinks naturally help build local authority. They address specific community issues and offer creative solutions to produce optimized materials aimed at local audiences.
This content can be articles, blog posts, infographics, videos or any other format that strengthens a company’s online presence and promotes the construction of quality backlinks. According to a SEMrush study, 53% of digital marketing specialists consider guest blogging the most effective way to build a backlink profile.
In this way, they attract natural links, promote guest posts, generate influencers interest and facilitate citations. The cost will depend on the complexity of the content, ranging from $50 for a simple blog post to $10,000 for broader services that include promotion and monitoring of the integrated content.
Local PR help promote your business on local news sites, newspapers, and community platforms, securing backlinks from reputable sources and increasing local visibility. They are available on platforms such as: PRWeb, Cision, Prezly, Pressat and OutreachPlus.
This SEO link building strategy create and run targeted campaigns to increase visibility in local communities. These services connect businesses with media outlets, providing links in local news articles, quotes in press releases, mentions on local blogs and websites, and backlinks from local events.
Links from high-authority review pages can help you build your local presence, and there are a few tools that can assist you manage feedback on local sites. Some popular names include Reputation.com, Trustpilot, Podium, Birdeye, and Grade.us.
In addition to enhancing your online reputation, these platforms can generate quality backlinks from high-authority, locally relevant websites. They can offer, for example, backlinks from business profiles, customer mentions, and reward systems.
Using backlinks, you have one of the most effective strategies for strengthening local SEO. Not only do these links help increase your business’ visibility in search results, but they also promote your authority in the local community and drive traffic from qualified customers.
High-quality backlinks, especially from local sources, are one of the most important factors considered by search engines. They help your business appear higher in local search results, such as Google Local Pack.
So, when a trusted local website, such as a newspaper, blog, or business directory, links to yours, search engines interpret this as a signal of authority and relevance.
Local backlinks direct visitors who are already searching for products or services in your area. This traffic is highly qualified, increasing the chance of conversions and sales. This also increases ROI, as more relevant traffic generates better returns on SEO and marketing investments.
SEO statistics for 2025 state that 40% of local SEO campaigns achieve a return on investment of 500% or more. Additionally, links from reputable local sites, such as newspapers, blogs, or trade associations, improve your domain authority.
Being associated with trusted local sites strengthens your brand. Quality backlinks from local sites increase your exposure, making your brand more familiar to local audiences by being mentioned and linked to on trusted sites in the local community.
Building backlinks for local SEO often involves collaborating with other businesses and influencers in the area. These partnerships can lead to co-marketing opportunities, mutual recommendations, and increased community engagement. Finally, collaboration can lead to new projects, events, and joint initiatives.
Local backlinks help your business be found in searches that include terms like “near me” or “in my city”, which are highly used by mobile users. In other words, they increase the geographic relevance of your website in search engines.
They can even direct users to helpful resources that guide them to content that meets their local needs. So, well-placed links make the customer journey easier, improving their overall impression of your brand. Additionally, Google prioritizes results that meet user intent, and local backlinks provide signals that your business is prepared to serve local needs.
Unlike short-term strategies like paid advertising, quality backlinks continue to provide local SEO benefits for years to come, as long as they are maintained and updated. For example, high-quality and relevant backlinks help maintain search engine rankings even as Google’s algorithms change.
Strong SEO based on authoritative backlinks attracts organic traffic. And as new backlinks are added, they amplify the benefits of existing links, creating a cumulative impact on domain authority.
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