Greg Gifford specialises in local search. He started his talk by explaining that local search is different from usual SEO practises as domain authority and follow/nofollow aspects are not important for local SEO.
Greg highlighted some top tips for improving local SEO rankings, as well as some angles to tap into for local search, as well as his personal process and how he would approach a local link-building campaign.
Tips include
- put in hard work – no miracle formula
- Think of it like links are votes for your website
- pay for local sponsorships
- get involved in local community
- share truly useful information
- be creative to get mentioned
- take advantage of relationships you already have for link opportunities
Here’s some examples of different angles you can tap into local SEO networks for local link-building.
- local meetups – meetup.com – use your business space
- local directories
- local review sites
- Event sponsorship
- local resource pages
- local blogs
- local newspapers
- local charities
- local clubs and organisations
- local calendar pages
- local interviews
- local business associations
- local food banks, shelters
- local schools
- ethnic business directories
- local art festivals
- local guides
- homeowners associations
- neighbourhood watch sites
Greg’s local link-building process looks a little like this:
- pull links from tool of choice
- pull competitors links
- if a competitor has a link, easy to get that link
- pull links from similar businesses in other cities
- create spreadsheet with all your local link opportunities
- present this list to your client
- rinse and repeat every quarter
He also offered a great link worksheet for free download, which is available on bit.ly/badass-link-worksheet
@greggifford
