May 8, 2025 • 22 mins
Why Backlinks Are Essential for SEO Success
In this episode we dive into the world of backlinks, breaking down what they are and why they’re a game-changer for small business SEO. Learn what backlinks are in SEO in plain English, with practical tips to help you earn quality backlinks and boost your Google rankings. Whether you’re a business owner or marketer, this episode offers actionable steps to grow your online presence.
Key Episode Takeaways:
- Backlinks are links from other websites to yours, acting like votes of confidence that boost your site’s credibility.
- Quality matters more than quantity—credible backlinks from trusted sites (like local news) have more impact than low-value links.
- Passive backlinks can be earned by listing your business on directories like Yelp, Google Business Profile, or your local Chamber of Commerce.
- Proactive backlinks require outreach, such as asking vendors or partners to link to your site from their web pages.
- Local links, like those from a local sponsorship or community group, strengthen your local SEO even if they’re not topically relevant.
Get the full scoop on backlinks and how to start building them at https://luminatelocal.com/what-are-backlinks/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:19):
Hey everyone.
Welcome back to illuminate local.
I'm your host Jesse Dolan.
And for the last 25 years, I've been helping small and local businesses get found onlinethrough smart and effective SEO strategies.
If you've been tuning in or diving into SEO for your business lately, you've probablyheard the word backlink toss around quite a bit.
(00:40):
Do you know what backlinks are?
What the heck is a backlink?
Why do backlinks matter?
And how do you get one right for your business or for your website?
That's what we're to talk about in today's episode.
And hopefully by the end, you'll understand what a backlink is in plain English, how abacklink will impact your rankings in Google or other search engines.
(01:01):
And hopefully a few ways to start building backlinks and getting backlinks for yourbusiness, uh, starting today.
So let's dive in.
So you are sitting there right as you're maybe you're a local business owner, a marketingmanager.
webmaster creator, whatever it is, you're trying to rank higher in Google and in searchengines to bring in more leads, grow your business online, things like that, right?
(01:28):
That's the case.
You're in the right spot.
you've been learning SEO, maybe working on your website and you're ready to level up,right?
What are these backlinks and how do I take advantage of this?
You know, what's important again, you've probably heard about them, by now, uh, it be alittle fuzzy though, right?
So
Maybe you're not where you want to be in search engines.
You're not getting the rankings ah that you think you should be getting.
(01:51):
Maybe you've done some other optimizations thinking that maybe backlinks is going to bethe key for you.
But again, you just don't understand what they are, how to get them.
It's confusing.
ah What are the behind the scenes things that only these tech wizards are big brands whereyou don't really know how to do and use.
That's not what backlinks are.
They're not magical for results.
(02:15):
they're not magical to create, but it is frustrating because, uh, SEO has a ton of movingpieces, you know, why does something like backlinks, which sounds very technical, you
know, have to matter.
Um, it's not that hard and we're gonna, we're gonna break it down here.
like I said earlier, I've been doing this SEO, for over 25 years now and helped a lot ofbusinesses and business owners and managers, just like you understand this and implement
(02:41):
strategies that actually move the needle.
uh
I can tell you that backlinks don't have to be again, mysterious, right?
Or magical, they're pretty easy to understand and uh you can do it.
I'll show you how here.
So let's start with a plan first.
What is a backlink?
(03:02):
Okay.
So a backlink is just a link from web, from a website that points back to yours.
So think about it like if you're going to
You're on your website and you're typing in, uh, maybe you want to, um, show people wherethis podcast came from.
When you want to say, Hey, go visit Luminate local to check out this episode.
(03:23):
If you were to go to our website, illuminate local.com and just copy that web address andput that into your website and make it a link, right?
Where people, once you publish it, people click on that link on your website and they canvisit Luminate local.
That's a backlink, right?
That's a backlink for Luminate Local because it comes to Luminate Local when you click onit.
(03:48):
So if you understand that analogy, a backlink is that for your business.
It's a link on another website that will bring people to your website, whether it be yourhomepage, an inner page, a landing page, whatever it is.
A backlink is just a link from one website to another.
(04:08):
Now you can also have that uh be internal linking, right?
So when we say backlink, we typically mean, you know, from one website to another, wedon't mean, you know, within your website, linking from one page on your website to
another page on your website.
That's more of what we call like an inner link or just a link, but a backlink refers toanother website linking to yours.
(04:32):
Um, it's basically saying within the business, uh, website world, if you will.
that, this business is worth checking out.
And that's how Google sees it.
I like to say it a lot.
It like helps you, uh you know, show that you're cool, right?
The more uh websites that link to Luminae Local, Google sees Luminae Local as beingimportant and prominent and authoritative for something, right?
(04:59):
So Google likes to see these backlinks.
It's a signal that
kind of in the real world, maybe helps to show edification or authority on, on topics.
The more credible the backlinks that you have pointing to your site, the more trustworthyand authoritative you're going to appear in the eyes of search engines.
And what do mean by credible?
(05:21):
You know, if you were to get a link from, let's say your local news agency, whatever theyare, channel four, channel nine, channel 13, whatever.
Um, if a local news station were to link from their
any page to your website.
That's pretty credible, right?
uh Google, AI, search engines, they're all going to know of the entity of that local newsstation and trust it.
(05:45):
uh That's going to be a credible backlink.
Now, if I just whip up a brand new website today that nobody's ever heard of, and I justthrow up a page and have a link on that page to your website, well, that's not very
credible, right?
It's a brand new website.
Nobody even knows it exists.
Nobody uh
has left reviews for it, right?
(06:07):
There's just no like tangible real world credibility for that website.
So even though that's a backlink to your website, just like the backlink from the newsoutlet to your website is a backlink, know, one is more credible than the other.
So I hope you understand that.
You don't wanna just get backlinks for the sake of getting backlinks.
(06:28):
The credibility, excuse me, and the authority of that backlink.
has a lot to do with uh the value there, right?
So again, the more trustworthy and authoritative that that website is, which is thenlinking to you or giving you that backlink, the more credible, the more authoritative, the
(06:49):
more trustworthy you are in the eyes of search engines.
So keep that in mind as we dive deeper into how to get backlinks, what are they, why dothey matter?
That's a big part of it is quality, credible backlinks.
So.
Why do backlinks matter for SEO?
Backlinks are one of the most important ranking signals within Google.
(07:11):
It doesn't mean just getting a backlink is going to drag your rankings up.
uh But it's one of the most uh important signals because they're, they're like votes ofconfidence, right?
uh The more high quality, credible, relevant websites that are linking from themselves toyour website.
(07:32):
the more Google assumes that your content is valuable.
uh And the higher you can rank and search for that, right?
They're like, they're like boats for you on that topic, if that makes sense.
um The backlinks, like I said, are not created equal.
So there is an inverse.
you, maybe there's a, an X rated website that's linked into yours.
(07:54):
And if you're not in that space, that could be a bad backlink, right?
That could actually bring some, some negative side.
Uh, effects to your website.
So, uh, just like you want trustworthy, incredible links to help you, you want to avoidlow quality backlinks that may hurt you.
Um, you know, they can just be sketchy.
can be considered spam, things like that.
(08:16):
Um, I guess moral of the story on this where I'm really trying to go is that quality isgoing to win over quantity for backlinks, you know, just one or two good quality links
from an authoritative and trusted website.
you know, could do some great things for your site.
You know, if you got a hundred crappy backlinks from websites, nobody to trust or hasheard of, it probably isn't going to do anything for you and may actually hurt you.
(08:42):
So again, quality over quantity for sure.
When we're talking backlinks, how do we get backlinks?
Right?
So let's talk about two approaches, passive and proactive, passive backlinks.
those are easy wins that you can.
control a little bit.
Let's start with some of the basics.
(09:03):
So add your website to different directories.
Yelp is one that I use a lot.
uh People know what Yelp is depends on your industry, if it makes sense for you, but youcan understand what Yelp is.
think we all know.
Doesn't mean I'm a fan of Yelp necessarily.
There's some, some business practices there that a lot of marketers want to avoid withthem trying to upsell you with paid promotions and things like that.
(09:27):
But everybody's familiar with Yelp.
So when you list your business in a directory like Yelp or the Yellow Pages or maybe yourlocal Chamber of Commerce, whatever it is, right?
You're have a profile, maybe your name, a little bit about your business, maybe somephotos, phone number, things like that.
Well, you're also gonna have a spot to put your website and that will link back to yourwebsite, right?
(09:51):
So that is a back link from Yelp or a back link from the Chamber of Commerce, okay?
So you can add your business to all those directories.
What directories should you be putting yourself in?
That's up to you.
If you are completely unsure, just do some searches for your competitors, type in theirbrand name and see where they show up, right?
(10:13):
See if the local chamber of commerce shows up, see if Yelp shows up ah and just startmaking a list from there.
You're going to want to be in the same place as they are.
And then some, another one that people.
kind of miss sometimes as being a backlink is your Google business profile, your GBP.
Within your GBP, you have a spot to add your website and that's going to be a link, youknow, back to your website.
(10:35):
uh Getting listed in your GBP is super important for your business in general to show upin maps and in local searches.
But that's also an opportunity to get a link back to your website.
All of your social media profiles is another great opportunity to get backlinks.
Facebook,
ah LinkedIn, things like that.
I don't know if Instagram, if that'll show up and be a link, but you get the idea reallyany property that's not your website that you are managing or being listed in, make sure
(11:05):
you're having a link back to your website from there.
These are foundational backlinks that are easy to set up ah and still send great signalsto Google.
In addition to that too, just bear this in mind for best practices.
This is good to get backlinks.
But this is also good to connect your website, right?
For people, if somebody's on Facebook and maybe they want to patronize you, maybe theywant to call you, maybe they want to learn more and make sure they have a link to your
(11:29):
website so they can take that next step.
They're not just trapped in social.
You want to roll out the red carpet.
Like here's my website, take the next step, contact us.
So multiple reasons, not just for the backlink here, right?
Now, so those are fairly passive, uh easy to do and set up and you're probably alreadymanaging a lot of these portals and directories.
Now, another one, which is like I a little more
(11:50):
proactive is going to require some outreach, maybe even some relationship massaging orsome relationship building.
And here's some examples.
Do you have vendors, right?
uh Any partners, things like that.
Who, who interacts with you, who collaborates you, who partners with you?
(12:11):
uh Where do you have those relationships that are strategic?
uh Can you get listed on their web pages?
Maybe there's a
a particular page on a website, right?
When I say a vendor, for example, it doesn't have to be like, here's all of our outletswhere you can find us, which would be great.
If your vendors have a page like that, you for sure want to show up in their directoriesor where to buy our products type things.
(12:34):
But maybe they don't have that.
ah Maybe you can find a page on their website that just seems like this is a great fit forthem to mention you and push traffic and opportunities to you.
Approach them with that.
Say, here's a page.
was wondering,
Can you put a little blurb on my website?
Maybe you already mentioned my name, right?
And maybe in a weird scenario.
I also want a link to my website there.
And same with any other partners or collaborators or contractors that makes sense.
(12:58):
And maybe even clients in some cases, right?
uh If they'd be willing to link to your website.
Now, oftentimes if you were to just call somebody or send an email, they may not know whatyou're talking about here.
So it's always important to make this as easy as possible with them.
Here's maybe the page that I'm identifying.
You know, maybe even here, if they need a paragraph or some text to kind of go with it,supply that to be prepared for that, make it very easy where they can just, you know,
(13:27):
ideally, if you will just copy and paste this and put it on their website, hit publish andboom, you're done.
Try to do as much work as possible for them because if they haven't already listed andlinked your website, ah now you're creating some work for them.
They're not.
Probably gonna get a whole lot of benefits unless there's something else to therelationship here They're really doing this for you So do as much of the work as you can
(13:47):
and you're have the best results possible Not everybody's gonna say yes to this don't bedeterred right where if you have ten or a hundred targets in mind as you're hearing this
and watching this Not everybody's gonna say yes, and that's fine.
This is a numbers game We want to get as many as possible and a good quality and you knowcredible backlinks, but not everybody's gonna say yes
(14:09):
That's okay, we'll take the yeses and just move on from the nos.
But again, making it as easy as possible for them is gonna get you more yeses.
uh Another thing that's maybe not as effective or common now, but I do wanna mention isguest blog posting.
This is something that was done a little bit more in years gone by.
But if you have a connection to a website that needs some content, maybe you've been askedto write an article for somebody, whatever it is.
(14:40):
If you're ever providing content for somebody else, either they've asked you or youidentify a need and you approach them.
Um, when you write that content, see if there's a way for you to include a link back toyour website, whether that be just straight up, Hey, this is who wrote it.
And you can find their website here, or if it makes sense to work it into the content ofthe article.
Um, again, here, I'd make sure that they understand that you're doing that.
(15:02):
Don't don't try to sneak that in or hide it.
Um, but that is a uh great way of guest blog posting.
guest article writing or things like that.
uh Again, in all this, I gotta underscore for your time, for your energy, and for thevalue of doing this, make sure you're going for things that are relevant and credible,
(15:26):
right?
uh One solid backlink can make a big difference.
Again, spending your time and energy for a bunch of crappy backlinks that aren't gonnamake a difference, you just wasted your time and they're really there, right?
Make a list, do some outreach and just take it one by one and again, quality overquantity.
(15:48):
So now that you know what backlinks are and some tips on how to get them, actually, let meback up.
completely forgot.
uh In addition to things that are more business related like that, something that a lot ofclients will miss often is uh local support networks or
(16:08):
wherever you're contributing or donating, think like local T-ball team, right?
Or baseball team or volleyball team, or your, you know, a church mission that yousupported, Wherever you're donating money, donating time, whatever you're a member of as a
business, things like that.
Ask if they have directories, ask if they have listings, ask if they have sponsor pagesagain, like in the local T-ball team type deal, right?
(16:33):
You don't want to just have your logo on the shirt.
ask them, hey, do you have a webpage that you can list my business on and put a link backto my website?
And in some cases they may say, no, you say, hey, can I help you develop one?
Right?
It's going to be worth it for you to get that.
Um, where backlinks are valuable for you is not just in the relevance, right?
(16:56):
Um, if you're a local business, you know, getting a link from the chamber of commercethat's relevant, right?
Um, now if you're a local business, you can get a link from the,
local T-ball team, that's not as relevant.
You know, what is, what is the youth athletic association have to do with my business?
Well, not so much on the topic relevancy there, but for sure on the local relevancy.
(17:18):
That's an undertone for all of this is we're talking local SEO.
want to be found locally for our businesses, right?
So when we get backlinks, it doesn't have to be something that's great for the keyword onthe product, the service or the business type.
but just those local links are great.
So getting the links from the local.
T-ball sponsorship you did, uh even though it may not push a ton of traffic to you or evenbe seen by a lot of people, it does send a signal to Google and all the other bots that
(17:46):
you're local and related to this geographical area, right?
So still pretty valuable and worth your time.
ah Okay, so now you know what backlinks are, we've talked about how to get them, someideas, things like that.
There is a...
other parts to SEO that are important.
And I want to take the opportunity here to remind everybody that you can do a free SEOaudit using our website.
(18:13):
Go to illuminatelocal.com, click on the yellow button, and you're to list your webpage andtype in a keyword that you want to get a SEO score on for that page, do an audit.
And it'll give you a score on a lot of key SEO factors, including backlinks.
uh Show you where your
doing well, where there's room for improvement, things like that.
(18:35):
It's fast, it's free, and it's a great first step for smarter and more effective SEO.
So take advantage of that completely free, and again, ah continue your SEO journey.
So I also wanna take the opportunity here to read a review if you've listened to any ofour other episodes or watched them on YouTube.
You know that we value reviews from you, our audience.
(18:58):
helps us know for putting out the right content.
It helps us know for bringing value.
And it's the way that we just know the show was working and resonating with everybody.
So we'll ask for you to leave us a review.
If you're so inclined, go to illuminatelocal.com scroll to the bottom, click on the linkfor reviews.
can read reviews there.
can also click the buttons to leave us a review on whatever your outlet of choices, Applepodcast, Google, Facebook, whatever.
(19:22):
Uh, and then we read them.
here on the show.
So this one here I have is from Sherry Monson.
SEO has always been scary for me when it comes to my business website.
I've been paying my website designer for this service, but I'm not sure I like herchoices.
Sorry about that.
(19:42):
Jesse made SEO less scary and more understandable for me.
I've already made some changes to my website, SEO using keywords that I'm using in mypackaging on my website and other selling platforms.
Great five star review on Google.
Thank you very much for that everybody else again You're getting value out of this show inthese topics.
We would love to get a review from you and we'll read it on the show All right, so back toour steps here so Take action if you don't Like I say all the time your competitors are
(20:15):
right if you ignore backlinks uh There's plenty of other tips uh tricks strategies
things to check off on your list for SEO, okay?
But backlinks are important and this may help you to get unstuck or move the needle fasterthan some other SEO tactics are going to.
Your competitors are probably actively getting backlinks.
(20:38):
If they're authoritative, they may be getting them passively through people sharingcontent.
uh Whatever the case is for them, for you, you're gonna need to actively go out and getmore backlinks, okay?
uh Backlinks will continue to help.
climb, help you climb the search engine ladder, help get more visibility.
Again, in addition to wherever you got that backlink, you have a red carpet rolled out.
(21:03):
You know, if somebody is on the local T-ball page, they can go right to your website nowtoo, right?
It's not just the backlink signal.
The backlink is also now a way for them to connect and get to your website as a humanbeing.
Right.
So pull in more leads, get more business opportunities, get in front of more people.
uh Get more backlinks, okay?
(21:24):
If you fail to do that, your competitors are gonna keep doing it and you're just gonnastay put right there.
All right, so in closing, I think that's enough for this episode.
Hopefully backlinks don't feel so mysterious to you anymore.
You know what they are and hopefully left you with some ideas on how to go get some andstart earning them.
(21:45):
Again, be sure to take our free SEO audit on our website.
Learn more about your current SEO situation, backlink profile, what's working, what's notworking.
And as always, if you have a question you would like us to address on this show, reachout.
We'd love doing that.
Go to illuminatelocal.com, scroll to the bottom, click the link for questions.
If we use your question on the show, we're going to send you a swag bag with someIlluminate Local gear, which is great.
(22:09):
I think that's it for today, everybody.
Thanks again for tuning in.
I appreciate you and we'll catch you on the next episode.
Take care.
Hey everyone.
Welcome back to illuminate local.
I'm your host Jesse Dolan.
And for the last 25 years, I've been helping small and local businesses get found onlinethrough smart and effective SEO strategies.
If you've been tuning in or diving into SEO for your business lately, you've probablyheard the word backlink toss around quite a bit.
(00:40):
Do you know what backlinks are?
What the heck is a backlink?
Why do backlinks matter?
And how do you get one right for your business or for your website?
That's what we're to talk about in today's episode.
And hopefully by the end, you'll understand what a backlink is in plain English, how abacklink will impact your rankings in Google or other search engines.
(01:01):
And hopefully a few ways to start building backlinks and getting backlinks for yourbusiness, uh, starting today.
So let's dive in.
So you are sitting there right as you're maybe you're a local business owner, a marketingmanager.
webmaster creator, whatever it is, you're trying to rank higher in Google and in searchengines to bring in more leads, grow your business online, things like that, right?
(01:28):
That's the case.
You're in the right spot.
you've been learning SEO, maybe working on your website and you're ready to level up,right?
What are these backlinks and how do I take advantage of this?
You know, what's important again, you've probably heard about them, by now, uh, it be alittle fuzzy though, right?
So
Maybe you're not where you want to be in search engines.
You're not getting the rankings ah that you think you should be getting.
(01:51):
Maybe you've done some other optimizations thinking that maybe backlinks is going to bethe key for you.
But again, you just don't understand what they are, how to get them.
It's confusing.
ah What are the behind the scenes things that only these tech wizards are big brands whereyou don't really know how to do and use.
That's not what backlinks are.
They're not magical for results.
(02:15):
they're not magical to create, but it is frustrating because, uh, SEO has a ton of movingpieces, you know, why does something like backlinks, which sounds very technical, you
know, have to matter.
Um, it's not that hard and we're gonna, we're gonna break it down here.
like I said earlier, I've been doing this SEO, for over 25 years now and helped a lot ofbusinesses and business owners and managers, just like you understand this and implement
(02:41):
strategies that actually move the needle.
uh
I can tell you that backlinks don't have to be again, mysterious, right?
Or magical, they're pretty easy to understand and uh you can do it.
I'll show you how here.
So let's start with a plan first.
What is a backlink?
(03:02):
Okay.
So a backlink is just a link from web, from a website that points back to yours.
So think about it like if you're going to
You're on your website and you're typing in, uh, maybe you want to, um, show people wherethis podcast came from.
When you want to say, Hey, go visit Luminate local to check out this episode.
(03:23):
If you were to go to our website, illuminate local.com and just copy that web address andput that into your website and make it a link, right?
Where people, once you publish it, people click on that link on your website and they canvisit Luminate local.
That's a backlink, right?
That's a backlink for Luminate Local because it comes to Luminate Local when you click onit.
(03:48):
So if you understand that analogy, a backlink is that for your business.
It's a link on another website that will bring people to your website, whether it be yourhomepage, an inner page, a landing page, whatever it is.
A backlink is just a link from one website to another.
(04:08):
Now you can also have that uh be internal linking, right?
So when we say backlink, we typically mean, you know, from one website to another, wedon't mean, you know, within your website, linking from one page on your website to
another page on your website.
That's more of what we call like an inner link or just a link, but a backlink refers toanother website linking to yours.
(04:32):
Um, it's basically saying within the business, uh, website world, if you will.
that, this business is worth checking out.
And that's how Google sees it.
I like to say it a lot.
It like helps you, uh you know, show that you're cool, right?
The more uh websites that link to Luminae Local, Google sees Luminae Local as beingimportant and prominent and authoritative for something, right?
(04:59):
So Google likes to see these backlinks.
It's a signal that
kind of in the real world, maybe helps to show edification or authority on, on topics.
The more credible the backlinks that you have pointing to your site, the more trustworthyand authoritative you're going to appear in the eyes of search engines.
And what do mean by credible?
(05:21):
You know, if you were to get a link from, let's say your local news agency, whatever theyare, channel four, channel nine, channel 13, whatever.
Um, if a local news station were to link from their
any page to your website.
That's pretty credible, right?
uh Google, AI, search engines, they're all going to know of the entity of that local newsstation and trust it.
(05:45):
uh That's going to be a credible backlink.
Now, if I just whip up a brand new website today that nobody's ever heard of, and I justthrow up a page and have a link on that page to your website, well, that's not very
credible, right?
It's a brand new website.
Nobody even knows it exists.
Nobody uh
has left reviews for it, right?
(06:07):
There's just no like tangible real world credibility for that website.
So even though that's a backlink to your website, just like the backlink from the newsoutlet to your website is a backlink, know, one is more credible than the other.
So I hope you understand that.
You don't wanna just get backlinks for the sake of getting backlinks.
(06:28):
The credibility, excuse me, and the authority of that backlink.
has a lot to do with uh the value there, right?
So again, the more trustworthy and authoritative that that website is, which is thenlinking to you or giving you that backlink, the more credible, the more authoritative, the
(06:49):
more trustworthy you are in the eyes of search engines.
So keep that in mind as we dive deeper into how to get backlinks, what are they, why dothey matter?
That's a big part of it is quality, credible backlinks.
So.
Why do backlinks matter for SEO?
Backlinks are one of the most important ranking signals within Google.
(07:11):
It doesn't mean just getting a backlink is going to drag your rankings up.
uh But it's one of the most uh important signals because they're, they're like votes ofconfidence, right?
uh The more high quality, credible, relevant websites that are linking from themselves toyour website.
(07:32):
the more Google assumes that your content is valuable.
uh And the higher you can rank and search for that, right?
They're like, they're like boats for you on that topic, if that makes sense.
um The backlinks, like I said, are not created equal.
So there is an inverse.
you, maybe there's a, an X rated website that's linked into yours.
(07:54):
And if you're not in that space, that could be a bad backlink, right?
That could actually bring some, some negative side.
Uh, effects to your website.
So, uh, just like you want trustworthy, incredible links to help you, you want to avoidlow quality backlinks that may hurt you.
Um, you know, they can just be sketchy.
can be considered spam, things like that.
(08:16):
Um, I guess moral of the story on this where I'm really trying to go is that quality isgoing to win over quantity for backlinks, you know, just one or two good quality links
from an authoritative and trusted website.
you know, could do some great things for your site.
You know, if you got a hundred crappy backlinks from websites, nobody to trust or hasheard of, it probably isn't going to do anything for you and may actually hurt you.
(08:42):
So again, quality over quantity for sure.
When we're talking backlinks, how do we get backlinks?
Right?
So let's talk about two approaches, passive and proactive, passive backlinks.
those are easy wins that you can.
control a little bit.
Let's start with some of the basics.
(09:03):
So add your website to different directories.
Yelp is one that I use a lot.
uh People know what Yelp is depends on your industry, if it makes sense for you, but youcan understand what Yelp is.
think we all know.
Doesn't mean I'm a fan of Yelp necessarily.
There's some, some business practices there that a lot of marketers want to avoid withthem trying to upsell you with paid promotions and things like that.
(09:27):
But everybody's familiar with Yelp.
So when you list your business in a directory like Yelp or the Yellow Pages or maybe yourlocal Chamber of Commerce, whatever it is, right?
You're have a profile, maybe your name, a little bit about your business, maybe somephotos, phone number, things like that.
Well, you're also gonna have a spot to put your website and that will link back to yourwebsite, right?
(09:51):
So that is a back link from Yelp or a back link from the Chamber of Commerce, okay?
So you can add your business to all those directories.
What directories should you be putting yourself in?
That's up to you.
If you are completely unsure, just do some searches for your competitors, type in theirbrand name and see where they show up, right?
(10:13):
See if the local chamber of commerce shows up, see if Yelp shows up ah and just startmaking a list from there.
You're going to want to be in the same place as they are.
And then some, another one that people.
kind of miss sometimes as being a backlink is your Google business profile, your GBP.
Within your GBP, you have a spot to add your website and that's going to be a link, youknow, back to your website.
(10:35):
uh Getting listed in your GBP is super important for your business in general to show upin maps and in local searches.
But that's also an opportunity to get a link back to your website.
All of your social media profiles is another great opportunity to get backlinks.
Facebook,
ah LinkedIn, things like that.
I don't know if Instagram, if that'll show up and be a link, but you get the idea reallyany property that's not your website that you are managing or being listed in, make sure
(11:05):
you're having a link back to your website from there.
These are foundational backlinks that are easy to set up ah and still send great signalsto Google.
In addition to that too, just bear this in mind for best practices.
This is good to get backlinks.
But this is also good to connect your website, right?
For people, if somebody's on Facebook and maybe they want to patronize you, maybe theywant to call you, maybe they want to learn more and make sure they have a link to your
(11:29):
website so they can take that next step.
They're not just trapped in social.
You want to roll out the red carpet.
Like here's my website, take the next step, contact us.
So multiple reasons, not just for the backlink here, right?
Now, so those are fairly passive, uh easy to do and set up and you're probably alreadymanaging a lot of these portals and directories.
Now, another one, which is like I a little more
(11:50):
proactive is going to require some outreach, maybe even some relationship massaging orsome relationship building.
And here's some examples.
Do you have vendors, right?
uh Any partners, things like that.
Who, who interacts with you, who collaborates you, who partners with you?
(12:11):
uh Where do you have those relationships that are strategic?
uh Can you get listed on their web pages?
Maybe there's a
a particular page on a website, right?
When I say a vendor, for example, it doesn't have to be like, here's all of our outletswhere you can find us, which would be great.
If your vendors have a page like that, you for sure want to show up in their directoriesor where to buy our products type things.
(12:34):
But maybe they don't have that.
ah Maybe you can find a page on their website that just seems like this is a great fit forthem to mention you and push traffic and opportunities to you.
Approach them with that.
Say, here's a page.
was wondering,
Can you put a little blurb on my website?
Maybe you already mentioned my name, right?
And maybe in a weird scenario.
I also want a link to my website there.
And same with any other partners or collaborators or contractors that makes sense.
(12:58):
And maybe even clients in some cases, right?
uh If they'd be willing to link to your website.
Now, oftentimes if you were to just call somebody or send an email, they may not know whatyou're talking about here.
So it's always important to make this as easy as possible with them.
Here's maybe the page that I'm identifying.
You know, maybe even here, if they need a paragraph or some text to kind of go with it,supply that to be prepared for that, make it very easy where they can just, you know,
(13:27):
ideally, if you will just copy and paste this and put it on their website, hit publish andboom, you're done.
Try to do as much work as possible for them because if they haven't already listed andlinked your website, ah now you're creating some work for them.
They're not.
Probably gonna get a whole lot of benefits unless there's something else to therelationship here They're really doing this for you So do as much of the work as you can
(13:47):
and you're have the best results possible Not everybody's gonna say yes to this don't bedeterred right where if you have ten or a hundred targets in mind as you're hearing this
and watching this Not everybody's gonna say yes, and that's fine.
This is a numbers game We want to get as many as possible and a good quality and you knowcredible backlinks, but not everybody's gonna say yes
(14:09):
That's okay, we'll take the yeses and just move on from the nos.
But again, making it as easy as possible for them is gonna get you more yeses.
uh Another thing that's maybe not as effective or common now, but I do wanna mention isguest blog posting.
This is something that was done a little bit more in years gone by.
But if you have a connection to a website that needs some content, maybe you've been askedto write an article for somebody, whatever it is.
(14:40):
If you're ever providing content for somebody else, either they've asked you or youidentify a need and you approach them.
Um, when you write that content, see if there's a way for you to include a link back toyour website, whether that be just straight up, Hey, this is who wrote it.
And you can find their website here, or if it makes sense to work it into the content ofthe article.
Um, again, here, I'd make sure that they understand that you're doing that.
(15:02):
Don't don't try to sneak that in or hide it.
Um, but that is a uh great way of guest blog posting.
guest article writing or things like that.
uh Again, in all this, I gotta underscore for your time, for your energy, and for thevalue of doing this, make sure you're going for things that are relevant and credible,
(15:26):
right?
uh One solid backlink can make a big difference.
Again, spending your time and energy for a bunch of crappy backlinks that aren't gonnamake a difference, you just wasted your time and they're really there, right?
Make a list, do some outreach and just take it one by one and again, quality overquantity.
(15:48):
So now that you know what backlinks are and some tips on how to get them, actually, let meback up.
completely forgot.
uh In addition to things that are more business related like that, something that a lot ofclients will miss often is uh local support networks or
(16:08):
wherever you're contributing or donating, think like local T-ball team, right?
Or baseball team or volleyball team, or your, you know, a church mission that yousupported, Wherever you're donating money, donating time, whatever you're a member of as a
business, things like that.
Ask if they have directories, ask if they have listings, ask if they have sponsor pagesagain, like in the local T-ball team type deal, right?
(16:33):
You don't want to just have your logo on the shirt.
ask them, hey, do you have a webpage that you can list my business on and put a link backto my website?
And in some cases they may say, no, you say, hey, can I help you develop one?
Right?
It's going to be worth it for you to get that.
Um, where backlinks are valuable for you is not just in the relevance, right?
(16:56):
Um, if you're a local business, you know, getting a link from the chamber of commercethat's relevant, right?
Um, now if you're a local business, you can get a link from the,
local T-ball team, that's not as relevant.
You know, what is, what is the youth athletic association have to do with my business?
Well, not so much on the topic relevancy there, but for sure on the local relevancy.
(17:18):
That's an undertone for all of this is we're talking local SEO.
want to be found locally for our businesses, right?
So when we get backlinks, it doesn't have to be something that's great for the keyword onthe product, the service or the business type.
but just those local links are great.
So getting the links from the local.
T-ball sponsorship you did, uh even though it may not push a ton of traffic to you or evenbe seen by a lot of people, it does send a signal to Google and all the other bots that
(17:46):
you're local and related to this geographical area, right?
So still pretty valuable and worth your time.
ah Okay, so now you know what backlinks are, we've talked about how to get them, someideas, things like that.
There is a...
other parts to SEO that are important.
And I want to take the opportunity here to remind everybody that you can do a free SEOaudit using our website.
(18:13):
Go to illuminatelocal.com, click on the yellow button, and you're to list your webpage andtype in a keyword that you want to get a SEO score on for that page, do an audit.
And it'll give you a score on a lot of key SEO factors, including backlinks.
uh Show you where your
doing well, where there's room for improvement, things like that.
(18:35):
It's fast, it's free, and it's a great first step for smarter and more effective SEO.
So take advantage of that completely free, and again, ah continue your SEO journey.
So I also wanna take the opportunity here to read a review if you've listened to any ofour other episodes or watched them on YouTube.
You know that we value reviews from you, our audience.
(18:58):
helps us know for putting out the right content.
It helps us know for bringing value.
And it's the way that we just know the show was working and resonating with everybody.
So we'll ask for you to leave us a review.
If you're so inclined, go to illuminatelocal.com scroll to the bottom, click on the linkfor reviews.
can read reviews there.
can also click the buttons to leave us a review on whatever your outlet of choices, Applepodcast, Google, Facebook, whatever.
(19:22):
Uh, and then we read them.
here on the show.
So this one here I have is from Sherry Monson.
SEO has always been scary for me when it comes to my business website.
I've been paying my website designer for this service, but I'm not sure I like herchoices.
Sorry about that.
(19:42):
Jesse made SEO less scary and more understandable for me.
I've already made some changes to my website, SEO using keywords that I'm using in mypackaging on my website and other selling platforms.
Great five star review on Google.
Thank you very much for that everybody else again You're getting value out of this show inthese topics.
We would love to get a review from you and we'll read it on the show All right, so back toour steps here so Take action if you don't Like I say all the time your competitors are
(20:15):
right if you ignore backlinks uh There's plenty of other tips uh tricks strategies
things to check off on your list for SEO, okay?
But backlinks are important and this may help you to get unstuck or move the needle fasterthan some other SEO tactics are going to.
Your competitors are probably actively getting backlinks.
(20:38):
If they're authoritative, they may be getting them passively through people sharingcontent.
uh Whatever the case is for them, for you, you're gonna need to actively go out and getmore backlinks, okay?
uh Backlinks will continue to help.
climb, help you climb the search engine ladder, help get more visibility.
Again, in addition to wherever you got that backlink, you have a red carpet rolled out.
(21:03):
You know, if somebody is on the local T-ball page, they can go right to your website nowtoo, right?
It's not just the backlink signal.
The backlink is also now a way for them to connect and get to your website as a humanbeing.
Right.
So pull in more leads, get more business opportunities, get in front of more people.
uh Get more backlinks, okay?
(21:24):
If you fail to do that, your competitors are gonna keep doing it and you're just gonnastay put right there.
All right, so in closing, I think that's enough for this episode.
Hopefully backlinks don't feel so mysterious to you anymore.
You know what they are and hopefully left you with some ideas on how to go get some andstart earning them.
(21:45):
Again, be sure to take our free SEO audit on our website.
Learn more about your current SEO situation, backlink profile, what's working, what's notworking.
And as always, if you have a question you would like us to address on this show, reachout.
We'd love doing that.
Go to illuminatelocal.com, scroll to the bottom, click the link for questions.
If we use your question on the show, we're going to send you a swag bag with someIlluminate Local gear, which is great.
(22:09):
I think that's it for today, everybody.
Thanks again for tuning in.
I appreciate you and we'll catch you on the next episode.
Take care.
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