Out-of -the-Box Local Link Building

[Colan Nielsen]

Hi Folks,

I'm very curious as to what type of out-of-the-box or creative link building techniques people are engaging in these days.

I recently read about a guy who was leveraging Groupon to build back-links

What are you doing these days to get back-links?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Colan, looks like Miriam and I both liked your post but had nothing to add.
I don't deal with link building at all and avoid it like the plague BUT it's important.

I'll Tweet this now and see if we can get some ideas flowing.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

You Rock!

 

[Linda Buquet]

No YOU rock!

 

[Linda Buquet]

Eric Ward the Link Guru just posted this which may offer some ideas.

Where Link Building is Heading in 2013 - Search Engine Watch (#SEW)

 

[djbaxter]

Here are some more suggestions. I certainly don't use all of them and some I find annoying but I think the key is to take what works for you and leave the rest.

Link Building | SEOmoz YouMoz

131 (Legitimate) Link Building Strategies - Search Engine Watch (#SEW)

This one is annoying if you follow up the first email with nags or reminders - if the webmaster doesn't want to use your link, leave him/her alone: How to Use the Broken Link Building Strategy to Get Links | Search Engine Journal

Some of these are dubious to me: 7 Advanced Link Building Strategies for a Competitive Edge

Why Link Building Strategies Fail | SEOmoz

Five Link Building Strategies That Work | Copyblogger

The bottom line, though, is keep your focus firmly on the long term and create content that will attract links naturally over time. This is the route to longevity and authority.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Thanks Linda & David!

 

[Nick.SEOSpark]

Thanks for starting this post Colan, as it's certainly important to get links (even in Local) and can really give the edge.

I personally like to combine "Local" and "Link Building" together where I can: so leveraging the local businesses (usually low resources) to still acquire high value links. I am a big fan of using any events that the business is running to get valuable links. See this excellent post on this topic:

The Complete Guide to Link Building with Local Events | SEOmoz

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks for that link Nick. I have a post brewing that shows some cool event related link building for Local.

Plus I've been meaning to do a separate post about this link but will go ahead and drop it here. I don't really do or deal with link building and admit I have not read the whole post below but since it's from Distilled Live I bet there are some gold nuggets.

DistilledLive | Where is Link Building going in 2013?

 

[Nick.SEOSpark]

Thanks for sharing the Distilled video Linda.

I personally think that "events link building" can be very powerful. I also really like how it can have dual benefits: publicity for the event + quality local links.

You can also take this a stage further and get a "Press Release" written around the event in question. After doing this, you can attempt to get it published by local newspapers (and their online sites). The difficulty here can be: getting it published in the first place + getting them to include a juicy link. They certainly don't have to do this for you so you can't hold your breath too much.

As an additional tip, I would recommend to try and include the NAP as part of the Press Release content (e.g Phone Number) so that (even if you don't get the link), you will get a powerful unstructured citation from a local source.

 

[Linda Buquet]

HINT - part of what I started researching but I don’t remember all the details now and don't have time to write it up yet...

BUT some of those sites like Event Brite, let you add a bunch of DO-FOLLOW links AND you could easily put NAP in the event description. And some I recall are PR 6 - 9. I think a grabbed a couple really good examples but I can't remember which sites they were.

So I'm thinking even like for a Dentist. Announce in-office introductory seminars on Cosmetic Dentistry. Probably no one would come but...

 

[Nick.SEOSpark]

Great tips Linda - Isn't Eventbrite fantastic? Great having those "follow" links and control over the content. There are actually local government sites (.gov) in the UK that list events "locally" that have Domain Authority of 100. Some nice links to have.

Would anyone recommend using this site?

Home - Evvnt

I don't see there being any problem in it's service if you have genuine events. It's like a "citation burst" but for events.

 

[Marie Ysais]

Well, I was going to mention Event Brite but Linda beat me to it! I first found it while researching a competitor a year or so ago. The links are great and as mentioned you can do a lot with that description. So, create it......and make sure Google finds it.

---------- Post Merged at 11:47 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 11:43 AM ----------

Also, I forgot to mention I found really good back links for events the competitor was going to attend. They were also dofollow. For instance they signed up in event brite to the events they would attend and linked it back to their website.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Great points Marie!

Would anyone recommend using this site?

Home - Evvnt

I don't see there being any problem in it's service if you have genuine events. It's like a "citation burst" but for events.

That's a pretty hot tip especially if you check who they submit to and find that many of them are do-follow. But even no-follow links help!

Just be sure to get CITY + Main KWs in title of the Event.

"Dallas Cosmetic Dentistry Seminar - Options for New Smile Makeovers"

 

[Jason Kamara]

A few good posts I've come across on the subject:

How to make your content local

5 Ridiculously Sneaky Citations Most Small Business Never Think to Get!


I was thinking of creating geotargeted Pinterest boards and sharing the pins with social to create some high DA (nofollowed) links to inner site pages. It may not have much effect on local ranking, but may be helpful in boosting organic rank. I would be curious what kinds of evergreen, niche-specific content members have created for their clients.

 

[Nick.SEOSpark]

A few posts above, I gave the name of an "Event Submission" service:

Home - Evvnt

However, this is specifically for the UK.

Does anyone know of any equivalent "event submission" websites/services in the US?

My brothers run a business in the US, and would benefit from using an Events submission service similar to evvnt.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Nick.SEOSpark]

Everyone, I am just bumping this thread....as I am still in need of a service that will help me with my above post - Event Syndication..

Can anyone help with this??

 

[Phil Rozek]

Everyone, I am just bumping this thread....as I am still in need of a service that will help me with my above post - Event Syndication..

Can anyone help with this??

Hey Nick,

Didja see my post on this from last year?

Best "Events" Sites for Local Search Citations, Links, and Visibility

Graced by a photo of your Sir Richard Branson

 

[Nick.SEOSpark]

Thanks so much Phil for coming to the rescue!

Ha - and nice to be graced the presence of Sir Richard Branson

You know, I've gone through every single one of your Blog posts (including that one) and I love them all! It's good to get a reminder about that one, as it's especially relevant now, as we need US event sites.

I know it's lazy of me, but I'd love a US version of evvnt.com to submit them all in a few clicks. Do you know any services in the US?

 

[Phil Rozek]

You know, I've gone through every single one of your Blog posts (including that one) and I love them all! It's good to get a reminder about that one, as it's especially relevant now, as we need US event sites.

You are a patient man, Nick