● The short answer
Earn links by turning real-world relationships into online ones. Ask suppliers, partners, associations and event organizers to list you with a link. Pitch local press with genuine news or data. Sponsor community events and get listed (marked as sponsored). Create one useful resource others want to cite. And reclaim mentions of your business that do not link yet.
Key takeaways
- Start with links you already deserve from suppliers, associations, partners and event organizers.
- Reclaim unlinked mentions by asking editors who already named you to add a link.
- Community sponsorships and local press produce relevant links, which should be marked sponsored when paid.
Start with links you already deserve
Most small businesses have a pile of unclaimed links sitting in their real-world relationships. Before anything creative, collect these. They are relevant, legitimate and usually just an email away.
- Suppliers and manufacturers with "where to buy," dealer or installer pages.
- Associations and memberships: your chamber of commerce, trade association, BID or neighborhood group.
- Customers who are businesses: some publish vendor or partner pages, case studies or thank-you posts.
- Venues and event organizers you have worked with.
- Schools, nonprofits and teams you support.
- Local "best of" lists and guides that already mention you without a link.
That last one is called link reclamation. Search your business name in quotes, find pages that mention you but do not link, and send a short, friendly note asking the editor to add a link. It works more often than you might think, because the editor already decided you were worth mentioning.
The how is where we come in.
What we walk through with you, for your business:
- A step-by-step plan for the next 90 days
- What to avoid
- Our take
Every business is different, so the plan is too. Tell us where you want to show up and we will show you what it takes.
Talk to usMore questions
Are directory listings worth it for backlinks?
A handful are worth it for visibility and consistency, not link value: Google, Bing, Apple, Yelp, your chamber and the main directories in your industry. Bulk submission to hundreds of generic directories is the kind of low-quality linking Google's policies call out and adds nothing. Choose directories a real customer might use.
Is guest posting still okay?
Writing a genuinely useful article for a respected industry or local publication is fine and can build reputation. Guest posting purely to place keyword-rich links back to your site is listed in Google's spam policies. If you would write the piece even without a link, you are probably on the right side of the line.
Sources
Want us to check this for your business?
Send us your URL. We will show you where you are found, trusted and missing across AI answers, search, maps and reviews, in plain English.
Get a free visibility check