Is this true about link building or just B.S.

19 replies
  • SEO
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I was talking with a prospect today and she has a local directory for restaurants and is considering SEO companies.

I have a VA that lives in the Philippines and does manual link building. She said that a company told her that if you have links coming to your site from countries other than your local area, that the links are bad.

What they told her is, if you want to rank locally, then all the links coming to your site have to be local, otherwise your site will not rank in the search engines. Regardless if your site is optimized with local keywords and tags.

Is this true?

Thanks

Bennette
#building #link #true
  • Profile picture of the author LovesIM
    I've never heard of that. I've only heard the quality of the site linking to you is important, not where the IP is. I'd be curious to hear what others say.
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    • Profile picture of the author Bennette
      Me too. I was searching online to try and find an answer...so I figure I would ask the Pro's.
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  • Profile picture of the author LiamP
    Sounds like nonsense to me. I could get rid of my local google.co.uk SERPS competitors by creating links to their sites from Russian websites?

    What does make sense to me is to include a decent amount of .uk links in my backlinks profile if I'm trying to rank in the UK. As that's what you'd expect a good UK website to have.
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    • Profile picture of the author Bennette
      Originally Posted by LiamP View Post

      Sounds like nonsense to me. I could get rid of my local google.co.uk SERPS competitors by creating links to their sites from Russian websites?

      What does make sense to me is to include a decent amount of .uk links in my backlinks profile if I'm trying to rank in the UK. As that's what you'd expect a good UK website to have.
      Ok thanks for clearing that up for me.

      I always thought if you build links from sites that have high PR's and stay away from the porno sites, optimize in local directories, and target with your KW's and local city and state that the link building was a bonus.
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      • Profile picture of the author Jryan774
        yeah thats a load of rubbish I outsourced all me SEO to the Philippines in the beginning and rank well on all sites they worked on.
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    • Profile picture of the author scott g
      NOT TRUE!

      Sure Google can see the IP that a link is coming from... But that server could be anywhere... This is simply not true.

      Make yourself available on Google Places and build backlinks for the keywords you're trying to rank for and you're golden.

      CHEERS!
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      scott g
      "Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve."

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      • Profile picture of the author Bennette
        Originally Posted by scott g View Post

        NOT TRUE!

        Sure Google can see the IP that a link is coming from... But that server could be anywhere... This is simply not true.

        Make yourself available on Google Places and build backlinks for the keywords you're trying to rank for and you're golden.

        CHEERS!
        That's what I recommended as well as sigining up for other local directories and optimizing their profiles with pictures, video and keywords to help dominate the competition.

        In addition to that I recommend:
        articles
        videos
        facebook / twitter
        local classifieds (depending on the business)
        email marketing
        reviews
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        • Profile picture of the author scott g
          Originally Posted by Bennette View Post

          That's what I recommended as well as sigining up for other local directories and optimizing their profiles with pictures, video and keywords to help dominate the competition.

          In addition to that I recommend:
          articles
          videos
          facebook / twitter
          local classifieds (depending on the business)
          email marketing
          reviews
          Make sure to mix it up with backlink anchor text as well. St. Louis Flower Shops Flow Shops in St. Charles Missouri Flower Shops Flowers St. Peters Flowers Ofallon (this is where I live for example - surrounding cities/counties).

          Google isn't stupid - If you've got your Google places set up and have backlinks that look like that... They're going to put two and two together and you will receive credit where credit is due.

          CHEERS!
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          scott g
          "Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve."

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          • Profile picture of the author Bennette
            Originally Posted by scott g View Post

            Make sure to mix it up with backlink anchor text as well. St. Louis Flower Shops Flow Shops in St. Charles Missouri Flower Shops Flowers St. Peters Flowers Ofallon (this is where I live for example - surrounding cities/counties).

            Google isn't stupid - If you've got your Google places set up and have backlinks that look like that... They're going to put two and two together and you will receive credit where credit is due.

            CHEERS!
            Yes I do that now. I will usually target the main city and then the surrounding areas with the keyword like you demonstrated above.
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  • Profile picture of the author dadamson
    That's nonsense.

    Building links can never hurt you, or hurt your competitors.

    As long as you have some quality local backlinks, backlinking from around the world can only help your rankings (if not as much locally than other places).

    The best way to rank locally is to build local backlinks. Building backlinks from other parts of the world will not hurt you, it will also help you rank locally, just not as much as the local links.

    Cheers,
    Dave
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    • Profile picture of the author thecableguy
      If offpage factors could influence another website it would be really, really easy to knock off the competition, not that I'd ever do that mind you
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    • Profile picture of the author Bennette
      Originally Posted by dadamson View Post

      That's nonsense.

      Building links can never hurt you, or hurt your competitors.

      As long as you have some quality local backlinks, backlinking from around the world can only help your rankings (if not as much locally than other places).

      The best way to rank locally is to build local backlinks. Building backlinks from other parts of the world will not hurt you, it will also help you rank locally, just not as much as the local links.
      That's what I was thinking.

      The company told her that this is according to Alexa and how they view rankings. I tried searching online for information to verify what the company was telling her but I couldn't find anything.

      I try to learn as much as I can about SEO, but if I don't know something I believe in asking instead of giving people the wrong information, just to make a sale.

      Thanks to everyone that helped clarify this for me, I really appreciate your time
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  • Profile picture of the author chiwawa
    I am just hearing or reading about this for the first time. I think its false, its not true. Quality is what is needed for link building.
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  • Profile picture of the author ckweb
    A link is a link is a link. While Google *may* hold other local links to a higher degree, you definitely don't need them to link well. If you have both, your destined to win.
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  • Profile picture of the author erikoro
    It could be true recently I heard to rank high on other countries you have to get backlink from those countries google is just starting to organize the links more better but then again It could just be bs. I have MY DOUBTS ON THIS THOERY!!!
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    • Profile picture of the author scott g
      Originally Posted by erikoro View Post

      It could be true recently I heard to rank high on other countries you have to get backlink from those countries google is just starting to organize the links more better but then again It could just be bs. I have MY DOUBTS ON THIS THOERY!!!
      This is when domain extensions come into play....
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      scott g
      "Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve."

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      • Profile picture of the author Bennette
        Originally Posted by scott g View Post

        This is when domain extensions come into play....
        Scott if I understand you correctly are you saying that when I search for Italian restaurant without my local city and state that a domain with "Houston Italian restaurant" will out rank a domain with just "Italian restaurant" given that they both have the same amount of links?
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        • Profile picture of the author scott g
          Originally Posted by Bennette View Post

          Scott if I understand you correctly are you saying that when I search for Italian restaurant without my local city and state that a domain with "Houston Italian restaurant" will out rank a domain with just "Italian restaurant" given that they both have the same amount of links?
          Google knows the relative location that you are searching from and will give you local results when you search for terms that Google has determined to be "local" searches - Local to your area. Shops, restaurants, theater, doctor offices, pharmacies, grocery stores (anything store), hospitals, etc. - These searches will ALL bring up A-G on the Google Places map on Page ONE.

          If you search for "Italian Restaurants," there's probably like three search results before the Google Places results... So yes it is possible. Google ranks websites and keyword searches differently for different regions.

          If you are targeting a specific keyword that pulls Google place results when you search for that term... First thing you should probably do is create your Google Place... Because unlike Amazon and eBay and Target... It's much more challenging to out rank Google Place results WITHOUT a Google place....

          Does that make sense?! I kind of confused myself! Lol! I'm tired - I'm outta here!

          CHEERS!
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          scott g
          "Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve."

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          • Profile picture of the author Bennette
            Yes it does. I appreciate your time and your attention to detail. No worries. Get some rest.
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