Go local is the new Go global – reach the local market with smart link building
5 min readIn SEO, link building plays a key role in driving organic traffic from search engines. When you combine powerful SEO tactics such as great content, websites with a high user experience, authoritative links, and perfect on-page optimization, then it will increase traffic. There is an urgent need for quality content that is relevant and authentic. Now, after many years of being on the SEO strategy list, link building is getting all the credit it deserves.
But what is link building and how does it help? Read on to explore more about this key element for faster website downloads and trusted traffic.
Link building made easy!
Link building is an integral part of an SEO strategy that involves adding links to other websites to your website. The process is simple when done on a document – a hyperlink from one website to another. It is debated that linking is the most challenging tactic for website ranking, but it is undoubtedly the most rewarding when done right.
When one page links to another website, it breaks Google’s algorithm and ensures a higher relevancy ranking. Some of the other terms for linking are inbound links, backlinks, external links, and hyperlinks.
The more links you show to your website, the higher your search engine ranking will be. It doesn’t mean overloading your site with hyperlinks; you need to strategically place relevant links.
Link building – gaining credibility in SEO
Link building takes time, effort and smarts to see a significant increase in organic traffic. Good, trustworthy and up-to-date backlinks guarantee a higher ranking on Google and other search engines as well. You can either create a website that links to another website (that you own) to get double the credibility, or link to another website that provides deeper and more relevant information about the same. Adding backlinks to your website gives you an extra competitive edge.
Important elements for successful link building: Here are tips to consider for a successful SEO strategy:
Contextual Links: Build links that are relevant and have a huge impact on search engine rankings. You can positively link contextual links by changing the font color of specific text that stands out. This way the backlink breaks the page rank matrix. Conversely, if the hyperlink is present in inconspicuous areas, such as the footer or conclusion, where the likelihood of a click is slim, the page’s ranking is doomed.
Backlinks: Each hyperlink is unique and offers different benefits. Links are of three types – ‘nofollow, sponsored and UGC.’ Links that are ‘nofollow’ are eliminated from the ranking tactic because they don’t go through Google’s crawl. Sponsored links are paid authority links and therefore do not pass PageRank. However, UGC (User Generated Content) links come from forums, comments and user feedback and may not be legitimate. So he will oversee the assessment and fail.
Editorial Links: When a third party places a backlink willingly and without any payment against it, it is an editorially placed backlink. It’s a smart way to increase your position on the web.
Links from unique referring domains: Your SEO strategy must focus on link building campaigns from domains that are the latest in this concept. You can observe getting better rankings when creating hyperlinks with unique domains. Sometimes lower authority sites rank better just because of clever linking tactics.
Tropical Relevance: Keep the tone and pulse of your website by linking to relevant sites. Don’t deviate from the topic or you will lose your target audience.
Anchor text: Anchor text is text that links from one page to another web page. You can either use a keyword or use anchor text like “click here. Don’t overuse anchor text and instead opt for a mix of all types of linking methods.
Local link building tips for successful SEO
- Partnering with local businesses is one effective way to stay competitive. As the saying goes, ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer.’ This adage also applies in business – you need to know your local community to better understand the market and listen to what’s going on. You can do this by building a relationship with local authorities, supporting a local charity, linking all events to your website (blog post/social media) and working on upcoming projects.
- Host and invite community meetings to understand the pulse of the local market and competition. Hyperlink them to the relevant website and invite potential clients by creating brand awareness. You can also partner with local groups that organize similar meetings and support by sponsoring an event.
- You must join one of the local resource sites or create one. Get business links and share information with outsiders related to your business on the regional resource page. For example, your restaurant’s website may contain a hyperlink to a commercial website for purchasing fresh meat.
- Subscribe to local directories to take advantage of more local stores. Reaching urban areas is easy, but if you want to expand your business to remote locations, adding a backlink to local directories is ideal. For example, you can list your SEO company in India in one of the Asian directories to reach the global market.
Use Google interest categories to understand your business’s response to client impulses. Interest categories will help you with customer behavior towards similar businesses. You can try it by following these steps:
- Go to analytics.google.com
- Log in and click on Audience (left column)
- Click on interests
- Click on affinity categories
- Change the time period from the default 30 days to 3 months or 6 months.
This simple exercise will reveal a lot about your business. Observe the pattern of your trading position and then plan new tactics that take advantage of local opportunities. This process will help you connect with companies in similar genres and businesses in dependent categories.
All the best! Link building is one of the most overlooked SEO strategies. Make sure you don’t shy away from this tactic and synchronize your online business approach with it.