When people need something these days, their first stop is typically Google or some other search engine. In a majority of cases, what people are searching for are local businesses. Many people perform “near me” searches. So, how do you make sure that you show up in the search results page for consumers conducting local searches? SEO is crucial for ranking.
For local ranking, you need to optimize your local SEO. A big part of local SEO is link building. In fact, in any competitive niche it is hard to rank and compete unless you hire a link building service like Mckremie to focus on this for you. A good link building company will know how to build links the right way.
Fill Out Your Google My Business Listing
Your GMB page is what shows up with the map that offers suggestions for local businesses. When a prospective customer clicks on your name, they’ll get a little snapshot of your business. They’ll see what you are, your address, your phone number, and your hours of operation. They can even get a brief description of your business, pictures, and reviews. There’s also a link that will bring those potential customers right to your website. What’s more is that this link is from Google itself, which has extremely high credibility.
Get into Local Directories
You can help to boost your ranking even more by getting listed in other local directories. These directories include Yelp, Yellow Pages, Bing Local, and others. Check out to see what niche directories might be in your area as well. Don’t forget about your local Chamber of Commerce either. No matter where you create your listings, make sure that your NAP is the exact same for each one. You don’t want to be known as The Baking Company in one directory and Baking Company in another. While your links will be the same, which is important, consistency in your NAP also plays an integral role in your ranking.
Sponsor Local Events
If your business has the opportunity to sponsor a local event, take part! You’ll get your name listed on the event’s page and you’ll get credible links that lead can bring interested parties checking out the event to your page. Sponsoring events will also give you a great opportunity to get out there and meet potential and existing clients face to face, which can make a world of difference.
Check out to see what other local sponsor ships you can get involved in. There may be local teams, such as little league or football, that are looking for businesses to sponsor them. These are also great ways to get links on the team’s website.
Offer Scholarships for Local Colleges and Universities
Google loves a .edu address. And a link from a .edu website can give you an extremely credible boost. Check with your local colleges and universities to see what the process is for creating a scholarship. Not only will you get a great link back to your website, you’ll also be helping students to better afford their college tuition.
Get Press Coverage
Take advantage of local news sources. Look at local news sites and see if they have content that your business could fit into. Perhaps you have news that they could cover or you want to get your scholarship out for more people to see. Or, maybe you’re hosting an event of your own that the news source would be willing to cover. A link from a local news source is a great one. These sources are already optimized for the local area and they have a wide audience.
Create Local Resources
There may be times when people searching locally aren’t looking for a specific business. Instead, they’re looking for local information. If it is information related to your business, there’s a good chance that you can help. Create a local resources page or write blog articles with useful information. At the end of your post, you can create an internal link that goes right to your local landing page. Make sure that you use optimized anchor text. This way, your readers have a call to action and Google can see that you’re actually covering specific information in more detail.
Monitor Those Links
Just remember that once you build the links you need to monitor them. The best tool to monitor backlinks is Nightwatch.io. Not only will this tool monitor your current backlink but it also discovers when you get new ones too.
It’s not just that you get local backlinks. You need to make sure that your links are credible resources. With the right links, you’ll help to boost your ranking in the search results page and drive more customers to your website and storefront!
