Category: SEO Management
If you’ve ever had an email offering “100 high quality backlinks for £50”, you’ve met one of the oldest tricks in search engine optimisation. Links from other websites to yours still matter to Google. They’re one of the ways it judges whether a business is real, trusted and worth showing. That’s exactly why people try to sell them.
The trouble is that bought links rarely do what they promise. Google is very good at spotting links that have been paid for or created purely to manipulate rankings, and its spam policies say so clearly. At best, those links are ignored. At worst, they can drag your website down.
The good news for local businesses is that you don’t need hundreds of links. A handful of genuine links from real websites in and around Salisbury can be worth far more than a pile of junk ones. And many of them come from things you’re probably already doing.
What makes a good link
A good link is one that someone chose to give you because your business is genuinely relevant to their website or their readers. A local news site mentioning your business, a supplier listing you as a stockist, a community group thanking you for your support, a trade body including you in its directory.
For a local business, two things matter most. The link should come from a real website that people actually use, and it should make sense. A link from a Salisbury community website to a Salisbury business makes sense. A link from a random overseas blog about casinos does not.
Start with the links you’re owed
Most businesses have links waiting for them that they’ve never asked for.
Think about the suppliers and manufacturers you work with. Many have a “find a stockist” or “approved installer” page. If you’re on it, check the listing links to your website. If you’re not and you should be, ask.
Think about trade bodies, associations and accreditation schemes you belong to. Most have member directories, and most of those include a link. Check yours are there and up to date.
Think about local business groups and networks. If you’re a member, you’re probably entitled to a listing.
These are some of the easiest links you’ll ever get, because they’re simply recognising a relationship that already exists.
Get involved locally
Local businesses have an advantage that national websites don’t: they’re part of a real community. That community has websites.
Sponsoring a local sports team, a school fete, a charity fun run or a village event often comes with a mention on their website. So does donating a raffle prize, supporting a local charity or helping out with a community project. Do these things because they’re worth doing, but don’t be shy about asking whether the organisers can include a link to your website when they thank their sponsors.
As we said in our local SEO tips a few years ago, even your local netball team’s website can help, if it can link back to you. That’s still true.
Be worth mentioning
Local news websites, community magazines and village newsletters are always looking for stories. If your business has something genuinely interesting going on, there’s a chance they’ll write about it, and often link to you.
That might be a milestone, such as ten or twenty years in business. It might be a new service, an award, a new member of staff with an interesting background, an unusual project or a charity fundraiser. It might be useful advice tied to the season, such as a heating engineer’s tips before winter or a roofer explaining what to check after a storm.
Keep it local and keep it genuine. A short, well-written note to the right person, with a decent photo, stands a much better chance than a generic press release.
Create something worth linking to
Sometimes the best way to earn links is to have something on your website that other people want to point to.
For a local business, that doesn’t need to be anything elaborate. A genuinely useful guide to something your customers often ask about. A page explaining local rules that affect your trade. A list of local resources, such as recycling centres for builders’ waste or the best walks near your café. Content like this gets shared and linked to because it helps people, and it also helps your website rank for the questions people actually ask.
Work with other local businesses
Local businesses often work alongside each other. A wedding venue recommends caterers, florists and photographers. A builder works with electricians and plumbers. An estate agent recommends solicitors and surveyors.
If you have genuine relationships like these, it’s perfectly reasonable for each of you to mention the other on your websites, as long as it’s useful to your customers. What you want to avoid is swapping links with anyone and everyone purely for the sake of it. Google can spot link swapping schemes too.
What to avoid
Avoid anyone selling links in bulk, offering guaranteed rankings or promising a set number of links every month. Avoid directories that exist only to sell listings and have nothing to do with your area or your trade. Avoid paying for articles on websites that publish anything for a fee.
If you’ve used services like this in the past and you’re worried, it’s worth having your link profile checked. Most of the time, low-quality links are simply ignored, but it’s better to know.
Be patient
Earning links takes longer than buying them. You might pick up a few a month, or a few a year. But each one is real, each one is relevant, and each one carries on helping your website long after you’ve earned it.
If you’d like help building your local reputation online, the friendly, experienced team at Spire Digital help businesses in Salisbury and the surrounding area with search engine optimisation (SEO), and our monthly reports include a review of your link risk profile. Give us a call on 01722 320 500.