Backlink testing for Local Listings?

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I am really good at organic rankings and can pretty get anything I want in Google. Now I want to really improve my local listing skills for all my offline clients. I know everyone says the formula is Reviews+Citations=good rankings but I am wondering if anyone has tested out actually trying to backlink their actual local listings page?


I would like to hear from people who have tested it because I found a couple people that have said they have had success, but there isn't concrete that I have seen yet. Any info and insight would be great appreciated.
#search engine optimization #backlink #listings #local
  • Would you please explain what "Reviews+Citations=good rankings" means ... I appreciate it.
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  • If you get just citations and reviews, you might have some luck but it probably won't last too long. There's a whole lot more to local listings than just those two factors. And even those two factors should be broken down into more, for example with reviews; the review quality, frequency and source.

    Wish I had the time to write a 50 page guide to explain how to do it.
    • [1] reply

    • I definitely understand there is a lot more to it. Just as there is a whole lot more then just getting backlinks for good organic rankings.

      Now back to the topic of backlinks for the local listings.
      • [1] reply
  • See an example below



    Plastic Surgeon in Scottsdale
    • [1] reply
    • OK ... that looks great! Have you posted somewhere on the steps you take to get these local results? I'd love to see them. Thanks!!! *huGs* Suzanne
  • I am going to be doing some extensive testing to see how the local listings respond.
    • [1] reply
    • Hi rocketguy ... I can't pm you here ... I tried to send you a message via your contact form and I got a 404 error message. I'd love talk to you about the google maps results you're getting - are you willing? *SmiLes* Suzanne

      mail [at] suzannefranco [dot] com
  • Here are two different ways to link to your profiles in the maps. I am doing testing and should know within a week if this is working well or not. I guess only time will tell.



    Zed Electric Inc - Google Maps


    san diego electricians
  • I am also going to do some testing with citations as well and see if they work well only for the most popular directories that everyone is already using or if they work on just about any website.
  • I have been doing some testing over the last few days and no changes so far. I know if I would have been doing this much backlinking to my website it would have probably already been ranking on the first page.

    So far it looks like backlinking to your local listing isn't working yet. I will keep testing.
    • [1] reply
    • Thanks for the valuable update ... let us know how it goes
  • I am also going to be testing citations on the non traditional websites. Meaning non from your standard local business directories. I want to see how well that works as well.
  • Hey Rocketguy... kindly update us regarding your experiment, okay? Thanks for sharing!
  • I don't have any evidence of the effectiveness but I can say that I am seeing it done on a more regular basis through my directory. I think it's a good play considering the placement and emphasis Google is putting on the local listings these days.
  • So far no major change and I sent a lot of links. If this would have been done to a website it would have already been the number one spot in google for organics.
    • [1] reply
    • Google updates their local listings/places less way less frequently than the organic listings, at least that is the case in my experiences. Instead of taking a week to see your work, it might take a month or two. Just throwin it out there, although they have been really working their "local" team lately, so maybe they can update things a bit faster. I'd love to read your results on this matter over time, thanks!
      • [1] reply
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    Backlink testing for Local Listings?

    I am really good at organic rankings and can pretty get anything I want in Google. Now I want to really improve my local listing skills for all my offline clients. I know everyone says the formula is Reviews+Citations=good rankings but I am wondering if anyone has tested out actually trying to backlink their actual local listings page?