If your competitors keep showing up above you in local results and you can’t see why, links are often part of the answer. Local link building means earning links from websites in your own area or trade: suppliers, partners, clubs, local news, schools and community groups. The good news is that a local business needs far fewer links than a national brand, and the best ones usually come from relationships you already have.
This guide covers where local links come from, how to ask for them, how Google treats sponsored and paid links, and which tactics to stay away from.
Why Local Links Matter for Local SEO
Google says local results are based mainly on three things: relevance, distance and prominence. Prominence is about how well known a business is. Google’s own guide to improving your local ranking lists links from other websites among the signals it uses for prominence, alongside reviews.
Links also help your website rank in the normal blue-link results under the map pack. For many local searches, people see both. A plumber’s service page and a dentist’s location page compete in the organic results too, and links help there in the usual way.
Local links do something a random national link can’t. They connect your business to a real place. A link from the town’s business association, the local paper or a nearby school tells Google, and real people, that you are part of that community.
In my experience, a handful of strong local links beats a long list of weak directory links every time. I’d rather a business earned five links from real local organisations than fifty from sites nobody in town has heard of.
What Counts as a Good Local Link
Before you start asking, it helps to know what you are looking for. A good local link usually has most of these traits:
- A real local connection. The site is about your town, region or trade, or the organisation is based near you.
- A real reason to exist. The link is there because you sponsored something, supplied something, were covered in the news or helped someone.
- Real visitors. People in your area actually read the page. If it could send you a customer, it’s probably a good link.
- Editorial choice. Someone decided to link to you because it was useful to their readers, not because you paid for a ranking boost.
Don’t get hung up on third-party authority scores. A small community site with a tiny score can still be one of the most relevant links you’ll ever get for a local business.
Start With the Relationships You Already Have
The easiest local links are hiding in your contacts list. Every business works with other businesses, and many of them have websites with partner, stockist or customer pages.
Suppliers and Manufacturers
Many suppliers list where to buy their products or which installers they work with. If you’re an approved installer, stockist or dealer, ask to be listed with a link. Look for pages called “where to buy”, “find a dealer”, “find an installer” or “stockists”.
Local Business Partners
Think about the businesses you refer work to, and that refer work to you. A wedding venue works with florists, caterers and photographers. A builder works with electricians, plumbers and architects.
If you genuinely recommend each other, a “recommended suppliers” page on both sites makes sense for customers. Keep it to real partners. Google’s spam policies call out excessive link exchanges and partner pages made only for cross-linking, so a page with forty unrelated links swapped with strangers is a problem.
Testimonials for Tools and Services You Use
Local software providers, accountants, sign makers and web agencies often publish customer stories. If you’re happy with a service, offer a short, honest testimonial. Many will add your name and a link. I only do this for services I’d recommend anyway, because the review needs to be true.
Chambers of Commerce and Local Associations
Chambers of commerce, business improvement districts, trade bodies and professional associations often have member directories. These pages are local, trusted and read by people looking for businesses in the area.
Most of these come with a membership fee. My rule is simple: join because the membership is worth it for your business, such as networking, events, referrals or credibility. The directory listing is a side benefit. If the only reason you’d pay is the link, that starts to look like buying a link, and I’d skip it.
Places to check:
- Your local chamber of commerce and town business groups
- Trade associations for your industry, including their regional branches
- Professional bodies that list accredited or certified members
- Local tourism boards, if you serve visitors
- Council or city pages that list local services, where they exist
Sponsorships, Events and Google’s Rules on Paid Links
Sponsoring a youth sports team, a charity run, a school fair or a local festival is one of the most common local link ideas. The organiser often lists sponsors on its website with a logo and a link. It’s good for your brand and genuinely helps the community.
But here’s what many guides leave out. A sponsorship is a payment, and the link is part of what you got for it. Google’s spam policies list buying links for ranking purposes as link spam, and that includes exchanging money, goods or services for links.
Google is also clear that paid links are fine when they are qualified. That means the link carries a rel attribute that tells Google not to pass ranking credit:
rel="sponsored"is Google’s preferred value for advertising, sponsorships and other paid placements.rel="nofollow"is still acceptable for paid links.rel="ugc"is for user-generated content like comments and forum posts.
So should you still sponsor local events? Yes, if the sponsorship makes sense for your business. A sponsored link still brings direct visitors, brand awareness and often coverage elsewhere. Local news might write about the event, a blogger might post photos, or the team might thank you on social media. Those follow-on mentions are often where the real value is.
What I wouldn’t do is ask the organiser to remove a sponsored or nofollow tag, or pick sponsorships only by how strong the website looks. That’s paying for ranking credit, which is exactly what the policy is about.
Hosting Your Own Events
Running something yourself changes the picture. A free workshop, an open day, a charity drive or a local meetup can earn links you didn’t pay for. Event listing sites, local news, community calendars and partners may all mention it.
Some ideas that suit different businesses:
- A garden centre runs a free planting session for local schools.
- An accountant hosts a tax-deadline Q&A evening for small business owners.
- A gym organises a charity fun run with a local cause.
- A café hosts a monthly meetup space for a local club.
Give every event its own page on your site with the date, location and details. That gives people something to link to.
Local News and PR
Local news sites, community magazines and neighbourhood blogs need stories. Many are short on reporters, so a clear, genuinely local story can get picked up.
Stories that tend to work locally:
- A new opening, a move or an expansion that adds jobs
- A business anniversary or milestone in the community
- A charity effort, fundraiser or volunteer project
- Local expert comment on something affecting residents, like a new rule or seasonal problem
- Useful local data you collected yourself, such as a survey of your own customers
Keep your pitch short. Say what happened, why it matters to local people and who they can talk to. Include a photo they can use and your contact details.
Not every article will include a link, and that’s fine. Coverage still builds prominence and trust. If an article mentions you without a link, a polite note asking whether they’d add one is reasonable, but never make it a condition of talking to them.
Become the Local Expert
Reporters and bloggers come back to people who are helpful and quick. If you’re an electrician, you’re the person to ask about storm safety. If you’re a vet, you’re the person to ask about pets in hot weather. I’d send a short note to local editors offering to help on topics in your field, then reply fast when they get in touch.
Create Community Resources People Want to Link To
Sometimes the best way to get links is to make something your area actually needs. Local resources get linked by schools, councils, community groups and residents because they are useful, not because you asked.
Examples that fit real businesses:
- A removals company publishes a guide to parking permits and moving rules in each nearby area.
- A bike shop maps safe cycling routes around town.
- A wedding planner lists local venues with capacity, parking and accessibility details.
- A pest control firm writes a seasonal guide to common pests in the region.
- A dog groomer keeps an up-to-date list of dog-friendly parks, cafés and walks.
The key is to make it genuinely local and keep it current. A generic article with the town name dropped in won’t earn anything. Once it’s live, tell the people who would find it useful: local groups, schools, the council’s community team or neighbourhood newsletters.
Scholarships used to be a popular version of this, but many were set up only for links and schools got flooded with requests. I’d only do one if you’d fund it anyway, and I wouldn’t expect a link from it.
Local Citations vs Local Links
People often mix these up. A citation is any online mention of your business name, address and phone number (often called NAP). A link is a clickable connection from another site to yours. Some citations include links, and many links come with no citation details at all.
| Local citations | Local links | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A listing of your business details | A clickable link to your website |
| Typical sources | Directories, data providers, map apps, review sites | Partners, news, associations, community sites |
| Main job | Confirm your business is real and details are correct | Show that others know and trust you |
| How you get it | Usually you add or claim it yourself | Usually someone else chooses to add it |
You need both. Get your core citations right first, with the same name, address and phone number everywhere. Then focus your effort on links, which are harder to get and more valuable. If you’re still setting up the basics, my local SEO checklist walks through citations, Business Profile setup and on-page work in order.
One warning: mass directory submissions are not link building. Google’s spam policies name low-quality directory and bookmark site links as an example of link spam. A few well-known, relevant directories are fine. Hundreds of junk ones are not.
How to Do Local Link Building Outreach
Most local links come from a simple, human ask. You don’t need fancy templates. You need the right person, a clear reason and a polite message.
Before reaching out, find your opportunities. These are the places I check first:
- Your own customer, supplier and partner lists
- Search Google for your town plus words like “sponsors”, “members”, “local businesses”, “events” or “resources”
- Look at who links to local competitors, using any backlink tool you have
- Search for your business name to find mentions that don’t link to you yet
- Local event calendars, news sites and community group pages
Then keep a simple spreadsheet with the site, the page, the contact, what you asked and when. Follow up once after a week or two, then let it go.
When you write the message, keep it short and specific. Here’s a simple structure I use:
Subject: Our listing on your installer page
Hi [Name],
We've been an approved [Brand] installer in [Town] since [year].
I noticed your "Find an installer" page doesn't list us yet.
Could you add us? Here are our details:
[Business name], [address], [phone], [website URL]
Happy to send anything else you need.
Thanks,
[Your name]
[Business name]Notice what it doesn’t do. It doesn’t ask for specific anchor text (the clickable words in a link), doesn’t offer money and doesn’t pretend to be anything it isn’t. In my experience, the more natural the request, the more often people say yes.
The best outreach usually happens offline. If you meet someone at a chamber event or sponsor their club, mention it in person. A link request from someone they already know almost never feels like a cold email.
What to Avoid: Google’s Link Spam Rules
Local businesses are often targeted by sellers promising “local backlinks” in bulk. Most of these break Google’s rules. Google’s link spam policy covers links created mainly to manipulate rankings, and its examples include:
- Buying or selling links that pass ranking credit, including swapping goods or services for links
- Excessive link exchanges (“link to me and I’ll link to you”)
- Using automated programs or services to create links
- Paid guest posts or advertorials with keyword-rich links that aren’t marked as sponsored
- Low-quality directory or bookmark site links
- Keyword-rich, hidden or low-quality links spread across many sites, such as in footers or widgets
- Forum comments with keyword-rich links in the post or signature
- Requiring a link in a contract or terms of service without letting the site owner qualify it
That last one catches some local businesses out. A web designer who forces a followed “designed by” link onto every client site, with no choice to qualify it, is on the wrong side of this list.
Google started rolling out its August 2025 spam update on 26 August, and it was still rolling out when I wrote this. That is a good reminder that spam systems keep changing. Shortcuts that seem to work for a while can stop working at any time.
Also be careful with keyword-stuffed anchor text. If ten sites link to you with “best emergency plumber Leeds”, that doesn’t look natural. Real local links mostly use your business name, your web address or plain words like “their website”.
How to Measure Local Link Building
Links take time to make a difference, and you won’t see a neat cause and effect from each one. I look at a few things over months rather than weeks:
- The Links report in Search Console. It shows which sites link to you and which pages they link to. It’s also the starting point for a backlink audit.
- Referral traffic. Good local links send real visitors. Check referral sources in your analytics.
- Business Profile activity. Watch calls, direction requests and website clicks. My guide to the Business Profile performance report explains what each metric means.
- Local rankings. Track your main service and location keywords, both in the map pack and the organic results. My guide to local SEO reporting covers what else to track.
If a link sends no visitors, has no local relevance and you can’t explain why it exists, it probably isn’t helping much. Spend your time on the ones that would still be worth having if Google didn’t exist.
Conclusion
Local link building isn’t about volume or tricks. It’s about turning the relationships, events and expertise you already have into a few strong links from sites your community actually uses. Start with suppliers and partners, join the associations that make sense for your business, mark sponsored links properly and give local media a reason to write about you.
Pick three opportunities from your own contacts this week and send a short, polite request to each. Once those are done, move on to one community resource or event you could own in your area.
