3 Advanced Local Link Building Strategies

Building quality backlinks for local businesses, or big brands opening new local locations, is easier than you think.  To be quality links they should build brand awareness, have your local community on the websites they come from, and ideally be a mix of quality sites and local resources including .gov TLDs.  This is what we aim for when developing strategies for ecommerce stores, service providers, and non-profits.

Before we jump in, we do not consider the following quality local links as anyone can get them:

• Directories
• Pay to play awards like the top 25 marketers in your city, newly promoted executives, etc…
• Community event pages that allow anyone to list
• Forum postings, blog comments, and other community pages

These four have a time and place, but if you want to compete and win, you have to do the work that others won’t do.  Anyone and everyone can get the above, so you’re not building for long term success.

We do consider the following quality local backlinks and what we set as our goals:

• Schools, hospitals, and universities
• Clubs like an Audubon society that’s been around for 20+ years
• Groups that are established, have memberships, and provide value like a VFW
• Organizations like non-profits including food banks and ASPCA chapters
• Local governments, police, fire departments, and utility companies
• Media outlets like Washingtonian magazine here in DC and our local TV channels or newspapers like WJLA or WRC-TV
• Local businesses that are ideally in the same niche or similar industries and complement the company we’re link building for
• Religious institutions

Here’s three types of campaigns we have either run or built for other companies.  I’m sharing examples I’ve given for free while speaking at conferences vs. campaigns for clients as our clients keep us under NDA and they literally pay us for a unique strategy.  It wouldn’t be fair to share what they paid for with the world.  One of the campaigns is something we tried to push live but the client decided it wasn’t something they wanted to try, so I am sharing a part of that one.

Use Your Space and Staff

Local businesses have space, and if your insurance covers you, you can use this space to build links by creating community or educational spaces with your resources.  When done correctly, these events can get relevant backlinks as your business becomes a resource for other businesses and organizations within your community.

I’m going to use the medical space here which can work for med spas, psychology and therapy practices, urgent care facilities, primary care facilities, etc… The same strategy applies to retail stores like gift shops, lingerie stores, gyms, and even grocery stores or mini markets.

1. Look for the most common issues that require injections in your area.
   1. Diabetes
   2. Narcan (this could apply to parents with family members going through bad times, community centers with volunteers that get walk ins who need help, etc…)
   3. Adrenaline (epinephrine) shots which can include places where bees live more often (farms, honey producing states, warm weather year round climates, etc…) or peanuts are farmed that also have growing human populations.  The families moving in could have been low risk in their previous homes but now need to worry about giving these and need to learn as there is more exposure)
   4. etc…
2. Find where on your schedule you have slow times and have medical staff on hand like nurses each week.
3. Block this time off and have an assigned and licensed staff member give a class educating a maximum number of people each week on how to give an injection for medical purposes.
4. Set up an intake form and calendar on your website with credentials, directions to your office, who to ask for, etc…

Now is the part where you build links.

1. Create a list of pediatricians, primary care physicians, dieticians or nutritionists, hospitals, urgent care facilities, community centers, etc…
2. Reach out and let them know you’ve opened your space to help their patients, communities, and clients learn how to do the injection from a licensed nurse or medical professional and their clients can sign up for a free class or two.
3. Include a link to the calendar with available dates so they can see you’re legit, and ensure confidentiality or whatever is needed depending on the type of injection and class.
4. Look for media outlets like TV stations, local blogs, and media companies that cover “local heroes” or people doing good and pitch to get featured.
   1. You can do this before step 2, inline with it, etc…

I’ve done similar things with real estate companies and local service providers and was able to get media outlets to respond.  Once you have the local media covering you, getting complementary businesses on board and community centers is easier because the trust the media outlets built is there.

The reason why the above makes sense for the potential link is you’re providing value and a resource for their patients that they cannot.  And each one is directly relevant to your location or niche, and in many cases both.  Best of all they likely don’t give out links like a local directory.  That is why they are what we consider higher quality.  You got the links your competitors did not.

Create a Community Event That Becomes an Annual One

This is example is one I came up with while doing a live reviews session at an SEO and social media conference called Pubcon.  It was based on something I did actually do, but I took it about five levels deeper for our client.

The person who asked has a law firm in Denton Texas and wanted to know how he could get links.  I asked what Denton is known for and he said they are a small college town.  The idea here is to create an event that will benefit the community, and by being a founder for the event you can block competitors from being featured while allowing complementary companies in.

For him it would be complementary legal practices but not direct competitors.  I recommended he put together an “ask a professional” day for the community in Denton where college students, locals, and others can come and meet local experts and get their questions answered for free.

First is to set up different resource tables or tents in the town square with potential booths for:

• Emergency services – Police, fire, ambulance, nurses, poison control, etc…
• Lawyers for legal advice – Family, teen issues, real estate (college towns are notorious for landlord and tenant issues), relationship, etc…
• Local activist groups – Animal rescues, girl and boy scouts, community centers, etc…
• Life advancement – An HR professional, certified CPA, mortgage lender, judges, etc….
• Politicians – The mayor, senators and representatives, governors, city council, etc…

The goal is to get about 15 or 20 different stations where a licensed, certified, and/or trusted professional can answer questions to make people’s lives better.  Once done its time to plan the event.

1. Get the proper insurance, licenses, etc…
2. Secure a permit and the space in the town square.
3. Build the website for it, or host it on your own website as the official resource (and have the event name purchased too).
4. Once the website is live and each group has committed, reach out to the local media and let them know what you’re doing, the day and time, and how the community will benefit.  The goal here is to build buzz.
   1. TV stations
   2. Newspapers and magazines
   3. Local bloggers and community forums
5. Reach out to the universities, community centers, and places whose communities will benefit from attending.  For the ones that think it is a good idea, ask them for a link to your event page from their website so their community can find it.
6. After the event is over, look for mentions of your name or your brand and reach out to each asking for a link to your company’s website.  This is where the quality backlink building comes from, not the links to the event as the event is not topically relevant to your business.

Don’t Be Afraid to Pitch Media

I just had a call with a company in southern Virginia while writing this post that does sewage cleaning, hazard restoration from issues like floods, and rehabbing.  They’re expanding and were looking for advice.  I told them now is the time to be on the media and build their business.  They were surprised at that, so I shared some pitches off the top of my head.

• Flooding is inevitable with hurricanes, rainstorms, etc… and although you cannot stop it, you can do things to reduce damage and make the clean up easier.
• What to keep stocked in your home for when you can get back in so you can move home faster.
• How to prepare before evacuating to reduce the time you have to avoid being away from home.
• Strategies to try and protect or salvage important items before you have to leave.  For example, myth busting on water proof and fire proof safes.  They have examples from actual clients where specific protective items worked or failed.

Their faces lit up like “OMG, we are subject matter experts” and these topics will unfortunately come back each year.  This is information communities that are impacted annually want to know, and news stations will likely do segments once they think of it.  By pitching now they can become the go-to people to feature each storm season and get the backlinks.  Now back to the post.

And you’ll also want to ask each of the groups who will be participating to link to the official event page from their websites.  If the local government feels like it is a benefit to them, you may get .gov links.  It’s a lot of work the first time around, but if it takes off you become the power behind it and your event will likely continue to get links year after year.

More important, your customers and clients will be on the website and you’re building business.  This is the premise of all of our link building campaigns.  Get links from quality sites with your potential customers on them.

Local Influencers Who Get Coverage

This I have done multiple times and it is repeatable.  Each city and town has a group of people the community loves to feature, talk about, and looks up to.  It’s the “whose who” type of thing bloggers, local media, and others cover.

Host events or contribute your space to them for their events.  It can be store tours, makeup sessions, allowing their charities or organizations your space for their event.  The big thing is to get them on site and ideally with a publicly announced event.

As they share they’re there or will be there, or as community publications cover the event, your business is the host and will likely get mentions.  Reach out to each site and ask them to source your site via a link.  If it is open to the public, you can get backlinks as people will need to find it.

One example I gave at a conference was a storage company that wasn’t renting out all units or buildings.  I asked if there are charities like toys for tots in his city.  If yes, give these open storage units to them to do a holiday distribution featuring iconic holiday characters.  Chances are some of these local celebrities will want to participate because it is charity and they may get positive attention.

Just like above you can reach out to bloggers, local media companies, etc… and say you’re hosting a toy giveaway for people in need and the details.  People want a feel good story around the holidays, and the media companies may cover it because you’re now a “do gooder.”

This strategy applies to all season and multiple industries.  I’ve had clients host fashion events and let the influencers launch their new lines or brands.  Book signings, seminars and courses, etc…  And we’ve done pop ups in store so the companies participating would link and share where they would be.  Those local shares get engagement and the local community sharing which can build buzz and branded search engine searches for your company by name.

People seem really confused when I say we don’t do link building.  We don’t, we do things that lead to links and then fan those to the right people.  That is how we acquire backlinks for clients, and I hope this post helps you with your local SEO and new location SEO link building strategies.