Local Link-Building Tips for Small Businesses

While those are all essential components, there’s one powerful tactic that’s often overlooked or misunderstood—local link-building.

Local link-building is the process of acquiring backlinks from locally relevant websites to improve your visibility in local search results, including the map pack and organic listings.

It’s not just about quantity—it’s about building meaningful relationships within your geographic or community niche.

According to a 2023 Whitespark Local Search Ranking Factors survey, backlinks remain one of the top three ranking factors for both the local pack and local organic search results.

This means your link profile can significantly influence whether your business appears at the top when someone searches for a service you offer in your city.

What makes local link-building so effective is its ability to send signals to Google that your business is an authoritative and trusted source within a specific location.

These links not only drive traffic from local websites but also help reinforce your relevance for location-based keywords.

If you’re running a plumbing business in Manchester, for example, getting a backlink from a Manchester-based blogger, chamber of commerce, or event site is far more valuable than a link from a generic directory with no regional context.

That’s the core idea behind this strategy.

In this guide, we’ll break down what local link-building really means, why it matters so much, and walk you through a full set of actionable tactics that have helped countless local businesses climb to the top of search results.

What Is Local Link-Building?

Local link-building is the practice of getting backlinks from websites that are either based in your geographic area or cater to a local audience relevant to your business.

These aren’t just any backlinks—they come from sources that Google sees as locally authoritative, such as city-specific blogs, news outlets, business directories, chambers of commerce, schools, or even event websites tied to your area.

At its core, a local backlink works like a digital vote of confidence from one neighborhood business or entity to another.

And because Google places a high value on trust, proximity, and relevance in local SEO, these local links carry more weight than a generic backlink from a global site.

The goal isn’t just to get on every link directory out there, but to appear in the online spaces where your customers and community are already active.

That could mean a local lifestyle blog featuring your business in a “Top Places to Eat in Brighton” roundup, or a backlink from a nonprofit you sponsored for a local event.

These types of links help Google understand two critical things:

1. Your business is real and active within a specific location.
2. Other relevant and credible local sources recognize your value.

It’s also worth noting that Google’s algorithms have evolved to place stronger emphasis on context and relationships.

A backlink from a site that frequently mentions your city or region can reinforce your own business’s connection to that location, even if the link isn’t from a high domain authority site.

So while traditional SEO often focuses on domain ratings and high-authority national sites, local link-building is about proximity, contextual relevance, and building digital trust within your own community.

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Why Local Link-Building Is Crucial for Local SEO

If you want to show up in the local pack—the top three business listings that appear in Google Maps—and rank well in local organic search results, backlinks are not optional.

They’re essential.

Google’s local algorithm places heavy emphasis on three core factors: relevance, proximity, and prominence.

While relevance and proximity are mostly determined by your business category and location, prominence—how well-known and trusted your business is—relies heavily on backlinks and online mentions.

Local backlinks contribute directly to this sense of prominence.

When multiple websites in your area are linking to your business, Google starts to see you as a trusted name in the local scene.

Think of it as a digital version of word-of-mouth. The more your business gets talked about—and linked to—by local sources, the more visible you become.

A study by Moz revealed that link signals account for nearly 16% of the local pack ranking factors, and even more when it comes to traditional organic rankings for local keywords. This includes things like:

• The number of inbound links
• The quality and authority of those links
• The relevance of the linking domain to your geographic location

Another reason local link-building is so powerful is that it strengthens both your domain authority and your local relevance at the same time.

A link from a local tourism site, for example, helps Google understand that your business is not only credible but also part of the local ecosystem.

It also builds real-world trust.

A customer reading a city blog or local magazine and seeing your business mentioned naturally feels more inclined to check you out, especially if you’re part of a “top picks” or community feature.

In short, if you want to dominate local search, your strategy needs to go beyond listings and reviews.

You need local links that position you as a relevant, reliable, and active business within your community.

Featured Article: What Is Local SEO, and Why Does It Matter?

How Many Local Backlinks Do You Need?

This is one of the most common questions businesses ask when starting their local SEO journey—and unfortunately, the answer isn’t one-size-fits-all.

The number of local backlinks you need depends on a few key variables: your industry, your competition, your geographic location, and the current strength of your backlink profile.

If you’re in a low-competition market—say, a boutique florist in a small town—you might only need a handful of quality local backlinks to outperform your competitors.

But if you’re a personal injury lawyer or real estate agent in a big city like London or Manchester, you’ll likely need dozens (or more) just to stay in the game.

Here’s a simple framework to help you gauge how many local backlinks you might need:

1. Run a competitor backlink analysis using tools like Ahrefs, Moz, or Semrush.
2. Look at the top 3 ranking businesses in your area for your target keywords.
3. Count the number of referring domains they have, especially those that are locally relevant.

If the top competitors have 40-60 referring domains with strong local relevance and community ties, that becomes your benchmark.

But don’t stop at the number. Quality matters much more than volume.

A link from a high-authority, locally recognized newspaper is far more valuable than ten spammy directories.

Likewise, a relevant link from a local partner’s blog post or sponsorship page can outweigh multiple unrelated mentions.

It’s also important to remember that local link-building is an ongoing process, not a one-time checklist.

Your competitors are always building, and local search results change frequently based on freshness, seasonal factors, and new business activity.

As a rule of thumb:

• Small/local businesses in low-competition niches might need 10–30 strong local backlinks.
• Mid-tier businesses in moderately competitive cities may need 30–70.
• High-competition niches in large metro areas often require 100+ referring domains, especially for broader service area keywords.

Proven Local Link-Building Strategies

Now that you understand what local link-building is and why it matters, let’s get into the good part—the tactics.

These strategies are broken down into three clusters: foundational tactics you can start with immediately, outreach-based tactics that require a bit more legwork, and content-driven strategies that offer long-term returns.

Each one is designed to help you earn backlinks from websites that are either physically located in your area or relevant to your local audience.

You don’t need to do all of them at once. Start with the easy wins and build your way up.

Foundational Tactics (Local & Easy Wins)

• Get listed on top local citations and business directories
  Local citations are one of the easiest and most effective places to earn links. Submit your business to well-known platforms like Yelp, Yell, Thomson Local, Bing Places, and others that are relevant in the UK or your region. Don’t overlook niche-specific directories either—think restaurant directories for a café or health-specific sites for a clinic.

  

• Claim unlinked brand mentions
  Sometimes your business gets mentioned online, but no link is added. Use tools like Google Alerts or Ahrefs Content Explorer to find these mentions. Reach out to the author and politely ask if they could link your business name to your website.
• Reclaim lost links
  Over time, links can break or disappear—pages get deleted, sites migrate, or URLs change. Use tools like Ahrefs’ “Lost Backlinks” report to find and fix these. You can 301 redirect old pages or reach out to the site owner to restore the link.
• Add internal links to location-specific pages
  Internal links aren’t technically backlinks, but they help distribute authority across your website and strengthen your local SEO. Link from your homepage or blog posts to city pages or service-specific local pages.
• Ask happy customers or partners for backlinks
  If you have vendors, partners, or loyal clients with websites, ask them to mention your business and link to you. Offer to write a testimonial they can publish on their site that includes a backlink to yours. It’s a win-win.

Advanced Outreach Tactics

Once you’ve handled the basics, it’s time to step up your game.

These outreach-based strategies require more effort but can earn you some of the most valuable and authoritative local links.

These aren’t links you’ll stumble upon—they’re the ones you go out and earn by building real relationships in your community or industry.

• Get links from other ranking sites in your area
  Look at the websites that already rank for local searches in your niche or adjacent industries. These might include bloggers, service providers, or local news sites. If they’re in your space but not direct competitors, reach out and explore collaboration opportunities—guest posts, partnerships, or mutual mentions.
• Find and replicate competitors’ backlinks
  Use backlink analysis tools to dissect your top competitors. Where are they getting their links from? Are they being featured in local roundups, sponsoring events, or contributing to news outlets? Once you identify those sources, approach them with a better pitch or unique angle to secure your own link.
• Outreach to local bloggers, schools, NGOs, and chambers of commerce
  This tactic works particularly well in community-focused areas. Reach out to local schools and offer to sponsor a program or provide a guest talk. Contact NGOs to collaborate on causes and get listed on their supporter pages. Chambers of commerce also often include member directories or event pages with backlink opportunities.
• Use HARO and digital PR to land local press mentions
  Help A Reporter Out (HARO) and similar platforms can connect you with journalists looking for quotes and sources. Respond quickly, especially if the story is regionally focused. Local journalists often seek quotes from business owners and local experts—this is your chance to be one of them.

  

• Sponsor or host community events and get media coverage
  From local marathons to charity drives and networking meetups, community events are excellent link-building opportunities. Not only can you get mentioned on the event’s website, but local newspapers and blogs often write follow-ups that include backlinks to sponsors or contributors.

Content-Driven Strategies

Content is one of the most powerful tools you can use to attract local backlinks, especially when that content is built around your community, customers, and regional relevance.

The right kind of local content can naturally earn mentions, shares, and links without aggressive outreach. Here’s how to do it right.

• Create location-based content
  Start by creating content that speaks directly to your city, region, or neighborhood. This could include city-specific service pages, local event guides, neighborhood highlights, or even “best of” lists. For example, a cleaning company in Leeds might publish a guide titled “Top 10 Places to Host an Office Party in Leeds.” These types of articles attract attention from both residents and local websites.
• Feature local roundups and community spotlights
  Write blog posts that showcase other businesses or people in your area. A gym could feature “5 Healthy Meal Prep Services in Birmingham,” linking out to each. After publishing, notify those businesses—you’ll often get a return link or social share in appreciation. This is a win-win for community engagement and SEO.
• Write guest posts for local websites
  Many local blogs, city magazines, or university websites accept contributor posts. Look for opportunities where you can provide insights related to your business while also linking back to your site. This helps build authority and places you in front of a highly targeted local audience.
• Leverage testimonials and social proof
  When you use a product or work with another business, write them a testimonial. Most companies are happy to feature testimonials on their website—and they often include a link back to your business as the source. This also builds goodwill, which can lead to future collaborations.
• Build a local resource hub or content library
  If you can become the go-to source of local information within your niche, others will start referencing and linking to you naturally. Create a well-organized content hub with city-specific tips, guides, stats, and FAQs. For example, a law firm might publish a “Manchester Tenant Rights Hub” that earns links from housing sites, bloggers, or nonprofits.

Should You Buy Local Domains or Businesses for Links?

This tactic sits on the edge of traditional link-building strategies—but it’s one that more advanced SEOs and larger local businesses are beginning to explore.

Buying a domain, or in some cases even a small business, can offer both SEO and branding advantages—if done strategically and ethically.

Let’s break down the two sides:

1. Buying Local Domains

   Sometimes, local blogs, businesses, or directories shut down and their domains expire.

   These domains may still carry authority, backlinks, and brand recognition. Purchasing one of these expired or available domains can allow you to:

   • Redirect existing backlinks to your site (via 301 redirects)
   • Republish their content as part of your blog or content hub
   • Rebrand the site to funnel traffic toward your business

   However, it’s not without risk. If the domain has a spammy history, toxic backlinks, or was used for manipulative SEO in the past, it could do more harm than good.

   Use tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, or Archive.org to assess the backlink profile and historical content before buying.

2. Buying Local Businesses (or Their Online Assets)

   In some cases, acquiring a small local business—especially if they’re exiting the market—can also mean acquiring their:

   • Website with backlinks
   • Google Business Profile
   • Social media presence
   • Existing traffic and domain authority

   From a pure SEO standpoint, merging two local sites through a proper 301 redirect strategy can consolidate authority and help your primary site rank better—especially if the acquired business was already visible in local search results.

   When does this make sense?

   • You find a closed business with a strong online presence
   • You’re in a competitive market and want a head start
   • The acquisition also makes sense from a customer base or service angle

Important Tip: Always prioritize quality and relevance. If the domain or business isn’t topically and geographically aligned with yours, the link equity won’t translate well—and might even confuse Google’s understanding of your brand.

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Tools to Help With Local Link-Building

While many local link-building tactics rely on outreach and creativity, having the right tools in your toolkit can make the entire process more efficient, targeted, and scalable.

These tools help with everything from finding link opportunities to tracking progress and identifying what your competitors are doing.

Here are some of the most valuable platforms to support your local link-building efforts:

1. Ahrefs / Semrush / Moz

   These are the go-to tools for backlink analysis. You can:

   • Audit your current backlink profile
   • Spy on competitors’ links
   • Track new/lost backlinks
   • Identify the highest authority local links pointing to others in your niche

   If you want to reverse-engineer your competitors’ local SEO success, these tools are essential.

2. Google Alerts

   Set up alerts for your brand name, services, or even your competitor’s name. This helps you:

   • Catch unlinked mentions of your business so you can request a backlink
   • Discover content ideas based on what others in your region are publishing

   It’s a simple tool, but great for passive link discovery.

3. Whitespark

   Whitespark is built specifically for local SEO and citation management. Use it to:

   • Discover new citation opportunities
   • Track your NAP consistency
   • Analyze competitor citation sources

   It’s especially helpful if you want to strengthen your local presence through directories and niche listings.

4. BrightLocal

   Another local SEO-specific platform, BrightLocal helps with:

   • Local SEO audits
   • Citation building and tracking
   • Monitoring your Google Business Profile performance
   • Benchmarking your backlink profile against competitors

   It’s great for agencies or business owners managing multiple locations.

5. HARO (Help A Reporter Out)

   HARO connects journalists with sources. You can:

   • Respond to local story requests
   • Land mentions in high-authority publications
   • Build relationships with reporters in your area

   It’s free to use and can lead to surprisingly valuable backlinks over time.

6. LinkMiner by Mangools

   This is a more budget-friendly alternative to Ahrefs or Semrush. It allows you to:

   • Find broken link opportunities on local websites
   • Analyze backlinks on a page-by-page level
   • Check link strength with a simple interface

   Especially useful for identifying easy wins like 404 replacements.

   These tools won’t build the links for you, but they’ll save hours of manual work and give you insights to prioritize the highest ROI opportunities.

Common Mistakes to Avoid in Local Link-Building

While local link-building can significantly improve your rankings, it’s also easy to head down the wrong path if you’re not careful.

A poor approach can not only waste your time and resources, but it can also harm your site’s reputation and rankings.

Here are the most common pitfalls to watch out for—and how to avoid them.

1. Relying on Low-Quality, Irrelevant Directories

   Submitting your business to every free directory you can find might seem like a quick way to build links, but Google’s algorithm is smarter than that.

   Many of these directories are low-authority or even flagged as spammy. Focus on high-quality, industry-relevant, and local directories instead of going for quantity.

2. Over-Optimizing Your Anchor Text

   Using the same exact-match keyword (like “best plumber in Glasgow”) repeatedly in anchor text can trigger Google’s spam filters.

   Instead, vary your anchor text naturally—include branded terms, partial matches, and generic phrases like “click here” or your business name.

3. Ignoring Local Relevance

   A link from a well-known site in another country may help with authority, but it won’t do much for local SEO.

   Google gives extra weight to links that come from websites within the same geographic area. Make local relevance a top priority.

4. Not Tracking Link Performance or Growth

   Many businesses build a few links and move on without ever tracking their impact. Use tools like Ahrefs or Semrush to monitor:

   • Which pages are gaining links
   • Whether those links are do-follow
   • How your rankings shift after link acquisition

   It’s also important to watch for lost or broken links that could be easily reclaimed.

5. Forgetting to Check Domain History

   If you’re purchasing a local domain for its link equity or redirecting an old business site to yours, always do your due diligence.

   Check the domain’s backlink profile, historical content (via Archive.org), and spam score. Redirecting a domain with a shady past can do more harm than good.

6. Building Links Too Fast

   Earning 50 links in a week when your site previously had none is a red flag for Google. Local link-building should be steady and natural.

   Focus on consistent growth over time instead of big spikes.

   Avoiding these mistakes will help ensure your efforts are not only effective but also sustainable for long-term local SEO growth.

Final Thoughts on Local Link-Building

Local link-building isn’t just about backlinks—it’s about becoming a part of your community’s digital ecosystem. The most successful local businesses don’t chase shortcuts or spam tactics.

Instead, they build relationships, contribute value to their local audience, and consistently show up in places that matter.

The beauty of local link-building lies in its long-term compounding effect.

Every quality link you earn today not only strengthens your rankings but also makes it easier to earn more links in the future.

Over time, your business becomes the go-to authority in your area, not just for Google, but for real customers as well.

The most effective approach? Start small, focus on relevance, and build from there. If you’re just getting started:

• Begin with citation building and internal links
• Reclaim and request easy wins like unlinked mentions
• Slowly branch out into content creation, outreach, and PR

It’s also important to keep your goals realistic. You won’t dominate local search overnight—but a steady, quality-first strategy will almost always outperform short-term hacks.

Lastly, remember that link-building is just one part of a larger local SEO strategy.

Combine it with strong on-page SEO, a well-optimized Google Business Profile, consistent reviews, and smart content targeting, and you’ll have everything you need to thrive in local search.

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