Small Business Local Link Building Strategies

Ranking at the top of a Google Search is something that all businesses aspire to. But when the first page of results is so often dominated by big names in the industry, it can be very hard for small businesses to compete.

Climbing your way to the first page is no easy task, but there are tons of SEO strategies you can take to boost your small business’s web presence. One of the most important components of a solid SEO portfolio is link-building.

As you might have realized, search engine algorithms have grown smart enough to determine the relative strength of your links. A link on “Bob’s Favorite Sites” will not give your site anywhere near the boost that would come from a link on a prestigious website like Forbes or NY Times.

Unfortunately, it is next to impossible to have your local business mentioned in a national publication or Fortune 500 website. Stick to the smaller, more manageable links and work your way up.

The days of paying for links on directories are over. If a site wants to charge you $19.99 to list, chances are it’s a waste of your time and money. There are thousands of directories out there and if your SEO campaign is based on slapping your name into generic directories, your website can be penalized by search engines – falling even farther back in the search results and ultimately hurting sales.

We should also note that you should avoid link exchanges. Tons of small businesses make the mistake of believing search engines work like they did in 2006. Instead, you should steer clear of any website that offers a reciprocal link from their site to yours. Google will soon catch on and realize you’re trying to cheat the system, resulting in penalization once again.

If you want to build links the right way, it takes a great deal of effort, but the results will pay off tremendously.

If you want to boost your SEO performance on Google, Yahoo, or any other search engine, you should start with the interior of your site and ensure it is SEO-ready. This is the first and most important step of making your business’s website. Label each page with an appropriate meta title, meta description, and remember not to stuff each page with keywords.

Quality content is a prerequisite for link-building.

Once your domain looks solid from the inside, you can start with external local SEO. This is where link-building comes in and is crucial to ranking your site.