When another website links to yours, Google reads it as someone vouching for you. A link from the local paper, your trade association or a supplier says your business is real and worth sending people to. Links are the slowest part of a website to build. In most local markets the bar is low, so a little effort goes a long way.
In this article
- 1. What a backlink is, and why it counts for a local business
- 2. The four things we check about the links to your site
- 3. Common gaps on New Zealand business websites
- 4. Where to find your first links, today, this week and this month
What a backlink is
A backlink is when another website links to yours. If the Otago Daily Times writes about your cafe and links to your site, that is a backlink. So is your listing on Healthpoint, NoCowboys or your trade association's member directory, as long as it carries a link to your website.
Google reads those links as votes. The number of separate websites vouching for you counts for far more than the number of links any one of them sends. Ten sites linking to you once each beats one site linking to you ten times.
Why it matters for a local business
Links help decide whose website Google trusts enough to show when someone searches for what you do in your town. A dentist in Hamilton with links from the local business chamber, two referring GPs and the dental association's find-a-dentist page looks more established than one with none.
You do not need hundreds. A handful of genuine local links, from people who actually know your business, is what most owner-operators are missing.
What we check
The links to your site are the third part of Website Health in Marketbase, beside the basics, how your pages are built and your search traffic. We check four things, each set against the other businesses in your trade and city.
| What we count | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Separate websites linking to you | How many different sites vouch for you. This is the count that matters most. |
| Pages linking to you | How many routes there are into your site from around the web |
| Every link | The total, including repeat links from the same site |
| How your links are spread | Whether they come from many sites or pile onto a few, and whether the mix looks earned rather than bought |
That last check catches a profile that looks big and does little. Thousands of links from a handful of sites, usually one directory network or one partner, add up on a count and say little about your reputation. A healthy profile also has a natural mix: some links count as a recommendation and some, like most social and directory links, do not. Both kinds belong.
Key point
Never buy links. Packages of hundreds of links for a few dollars come from sites nobody visits, and Google is good at spotting them. The links worth having come from people who know your business.
Common gaps
1. A website on its own
Plenty of New Zealand business websites have no links at all. Nothing points at them, so Google has no outside reason to trust them. Your listings on Finda, NoCowboys, your trade association and your local chamber of commerce are where to start.
2. Everything from one place
Some businesses have hundreds of links that all come from one directory network or one supplier's site. It looks big on a count and does little, because Google cares how many different sites vouch for you.
3. Mentions without a link
Local news stories, sponsorship pages and club newsletters often name a business without linking to it. Each one is a link you are owed for a polite email.
4. Listings that went stale
Directories change format, close down, or drop the link when a listing goes unclaimed. A profile you set up three years ago is worth a five-minute check.
Picture this
A physiotherapist in Tauranga finds one website linking to hers in her free Marketbase report: her old university's alumni page. Most clinics in her market have several.
Over a month she completes her clinic's Healthpoint page, joins the local business chamber's member directory, and asks the two GPs who refer patients to her to add a link on their sites.
No campaign and no agency. She made sure the people who already knew her business also linked to it.
How links fit the rest of your website
Links work alongside the other three parts of Website Health. A site that opens cleanly and says what you do gives people a reason to link to it. Those links then help Google trust it enough to send visitors, and that shows up in your search traffic.
Build your first links
15 minutes today
- Google your business name in quotes and note every site that mentions you
- Check your directory listings carry a working link to your website
30 minutes this week
- Claim or update your listing with your trade association and local chamber
- Ask two or three suppliers or referral partners to link to you
- Email any site that mentions you without a link and ask for one
Ongoing this month
- Find one new local site a month: a club you sponsor, a supplier's stockist page, a community event
- Write the one page customers always ask about, like a price guide, which earns links without asking
Where Marketbase comes in
Your free Marketbase report already shows how the links to your website compare with every business in your trade and town, beside the other three parts of Website Health. Find your business by name to see what is working and what could move first. Sort it yourself, or hand it to us and we'll do it for you.