{"id":3206,"date":"2016-12-08T00:07:47","date_gmt":"2016-12-08T00:07:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpmudev.whitespark.ca\/7-easy-local-link-building-tactics\/"},"modified":"2025-07-08T15:52:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T21:52:17","slug":"7-easy-local-link-building-tactics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/7-easy-local-link-building-tactics\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Easy Local Link Building Tactics You Should Be Using"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post is an excerpt from\u00a0a chapter that I contributed to the 2nd edition of the awesome Link Building Book<\/a> by Paddy Moogan<\/a>. On top of more content, this edition includes 8 new chapters, 2 additional case studies, checklists, and more! I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more about building link authority or who is looking for new ideas, inspiration, real-life cases, and processes they\u00a0can incorporate in their campaigns.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What\u2019s the difference between a regular link and a local link? Well, local links are links from local sources, typically, websites that are specific to a particular city. For example, a lawyer in Denver Colorado might have some local links from a local Denver newspaper, a local college, and a few other businesses within Denver.<\/p>\n

Before we dive into local building strategies and tactics, let\u2019s take a look at the two types of local results and discuss how local links help with the rankings in each.<\/p>\n

1) Local Organic Results<\/h3>\n

Local organic results are the local websites listed within the organic results of a search query with local intent. For example, if you search for \u201cdenver lawyers\u201d, you\u2019ll see the websites of actual Denver lawyers in the results. The presence of \u201cDenver\u201d in the search term gives the query local intent. These are the local organic results.\"\"Local organic results are primarily driven by traditional web ranking signals, which are on-page signals and link signals, so local links are very valuable for increasing your rankings in these results.<\/p>\n

2) Local Pack Results<\/h3>\n

\"\"Local pack results appear for queries with sufficient local intent and where there is enough inventory of quality businesses in Google\u2019s local database to fill a local pack. The number of results in the local pack will vary between 1 and 3 results. These results are driven by a combination of traditional web ranking signals (on-page and links), and local signals (citations, reviews, Google My Business listing).<\/p>\n

In July 2014, Google released a major update to the local search algorithm called Pigeon that heavily impacted local results. There is now more emphasis on organic results and traditional web ranking signals, including on-page and link based factors. The dial was cranked on Domain Authority, and gaining quality local links has become one of the most important difference makers in competitive local search results like the example above.<\/p>\n

One of the most challenging aspects of local link building is that often many small business websites aren’t very “linkable,” and many small business owners don’t have the budget to invest in exceptional content. You will see, however; based on the strategies outlined below that on the whole, small business websites can often be link worthy simply due to their local relevance. This gives them an edge over national brands that have more barriers in getting these local links.<\/p>\n

The majority of small business websites have no links other than directory links, which ends up working in their favour, because simply\u00a0acquiring a handful of quality local links can have a significant impact on their local rankings in less competitive local markets. David Mihm, one of local search\u2019s foremost experts, has said that the typical small business has less than 4 non-spam, non-directory links:<\/p>\n

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the over\/under on decent, non-spam, non-directory links a typical SMB is likely to have is 3.6<\/p>\n

\u2014 David Mihm (@davidmihm) June 4, 2012<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n