Most local businesses treat link building as an afterthought.
They set up a Google Business Profile. They get listed in a handful of directories. They maybe get a mention in a local news story once or twice. And then they wonder why their competitor — who appears to have a similar website and similar Google profile — is ranking above them.
The answer is almost always links.
Specifically, local links. Links from websites that are geographically relevant to your market. Links that signal to Google that your business is part of a real, established local business community — not just a website that claims to serve a particular city.
This guide covers what local link building actually means, which sources matter most, how to find local link prospects in any market, and how to approach outreach for local links specifically.
Local link building is not just link building for businesses that serve a local area.
It is about earning links from websites that are local themselves — websites that are recognised by Google as belonging to your geographic market.
A link from the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce carries local authority for Phoenix businesses. A link from the Chicago Tribune carries local authority for Chicago businesses. A link from a Boston University alumni page carries local geographic relevance for Boston businesses.
These links do two things:
This is why a personal injury lawyer in Dallas who has links from the Dallas Bar Association, the Dallas Business Journal, and the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce will usually outrank a competitor who has the same number of generic links from unrelated websites.
Local relevance is a ranking signal. Local links are how you build it.
The local chamber of commerce is the single most reliable local link source in most US cities and towns.
Chambers are established, authoritative, non-commercial organisations. Google trusts them. They exist specifically to support local businesses. And membership in most chambers includes:
Chamber websites typically have DRs between 40 and 70 depending on the city. The Greater Houston Partnership (DR 61), the Chicago Chamber (DR 62), the NYC Chamber of Commerce (DR 64) — these are meaningful links.
Every single local business that cares about local SEO should be a chamber member. It is also genuinely useful for networking. The link is a side benefit that happens to be very valuable.
Business Improvement Districts are another underused local link source.
BIDs are hyper-local organisations managing specific commercial areas — a downtown district, a shopping street, a business corridor. They have websites. Those websites link to the businesses in their district.
If your business is physically located in a BID area, you may already be entitled to a listing. Many businesses simply never claim it.
BID websites tend to have lower DRs than chamber sites, but the geographic specificity is extremely high. A link from the "Downtown Austin BID" or the "Brooklyn Navy Yard BID" is a very specific local signal.
Find BIDs in your area at DowntownAlliance.org or by searching "[your city] business improvement district."
City and county government websites are among the highest-authority local domains that exist.
A link from cityofboston.gov, nyc.gov, or chicago.gov is essentially an endorsement from one of the most trusted institutions in that geographic market. These sites have DRs in the 70–85 range.
How to get links from municipal websites:
These links are not easy to get for every type of business. But for businesses in sectors cities care about — healthcare, legal services, education, employment, small business support — they are attainable.
Local newspaper websites, regional news sites, local TV station websites, and city-focused digital publications are some of the best link sources available for local businesses.
A link from the Denver Post's website (DR 83), the Miami Herald (DR 84), or the Seattle Times (DR 82) is a genuine, authoritative, geographically-relevant link.
Getting into local press requires having something actually worth writing about:
The formula is simple: identify the reporters and editors who cover business, lifestyle, or your specific industry for local publications. Build a media list. Pitch stories that are genuinely newsworthy — not thinly-veiled press releases.
For expert commentary specifically, platforms like HARO (Help a Reporter Out) surface local journalist queries regularly. Responding quickly and helpfully to local media queries builds both links and ongoing media relationships.
Universities are link building powerhouses. The average US university website has a DR between 65 and 85. Top universities (Harvard, MIT, Stanford) are in the 90s.
University websites link to local businesses in several contexts:
The strategy: identify your local universities and colleges, figure out which of their programs are relevant to your business, and pursue the specific relationship (recruiting partnership, alumni listing, research collaboration, community partnership) that creates the link opportunity.
Beyond chambers, local markets have dozens of industry-specific and community associations with websites and member directories.
Examples of high-value local association links:
Membership in these organisations is often meaningful beyond just the link. But the link is real, relevant, and authoritative.
Sponsoring local events is one of the most reliable ways to earn links from local organisations.
When you sponsor a local 5K run, a charity golf tournament, a local school fundraiser, or a community festival, the event organisers almost always list their sponsors on their event page — and link to the sponsor's website.
These links tend to come from:
The DR varies. A link from a major local museum's gala sponsorship page is a completely different proposition from a link from a local PTA bake sale page. But even lower-DR local links contribute to the overall local relevance signal.
Be strategic: prioritise sponsorships with organisations that have established websites with real authority in your local market.
You cannot outreach what you have not found. Here is the systematic approach to prospecting for local links in any market.
Step 1: Map the local link landscape of your top competitors.
Use an SEO tool (Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz) to pull the link profiles of the 3–5 businesses ranking above you in your target market. Filter for links from domains with the same city name in their URL or content. These are your immediate targets — if they link to your competitor, they can link to you.
Step 2: Search for local directories and resource pages.
Use these search operators:
[city] business directory[city] local resources[city] best [your category][city] [industry] association[city] [industry] resourcesStep 3: Check what organisations are already linking to businesses like yours.
Search for 10–20 businesses in your category in other cities. Pull their link profiles. The local link sources that appear consistently — certain types of associations, certain types of directories, certain types of media — are the same types of sources you should pursue in your own city.
Step 4: Build a prospecting spreadsheet.
For each prospect: the website, the specific page you would want a link from, the DR, the contact information for the relevant person, and the angle you will use to pitch.
Local link outreach is different from general link building outreach in one important way.
You are a local business approaching a local organisation. That gives you a relationship hook that does not exist in generic link building.
The best local outreach:
For press outreach specifically, treat it like PR:
We have published detailed playbooks on specific local link building approaches:
These playbooks go deeper on specific tactics than this page does. They are worth reading if you are planning to run a local link building campaign yourself.
If you want someone to run this for you, that is what our link building services are designed for.
A local link building campaign from us typically involves:
Every link we build is documented. Every campaign is reported.
If your business depends on local search rankings, you cannot afford to ignore local link building.
The businesses at the top of local search results in your market have links you do not have yet. That gap can be closed.
Get in touch with us to talk about your local market, your current situation, and what a focused local link building campaign would look like for your business.