The city of Vancouver is surrounded by breathtaking mountains, coastal sights, and diverse architecture. There’s a reason that people refer to it as one of the best cities to live in. People from around the globe visit Vancouver to see Stanley Park, Granville Island, and the VanDusen Botanical Garden.
But what if you’re looking to draw users from all over the internet to your website? You want better rankings, more conversions, and higher site traffic. What you need to do is improve your search engine optimization.
Part of any successful SEO strategy is link building. But what does that mean, exactly? We’re going to explore how building links can help rank your Vancouver website:
The SEO Benefits Of Link Building
First, let’s clear up what a backlink actually is. Anytime a post on another site includes a link to your own, it counts as a backlink. If you want better rankings, your goal should be to increase the number of backlinks your site has; they’re a significant ranking factor.
The number of high-quality backlinks that your site has directly correlates with its rankings and domain authority. Quality is an important word to take note of here. You shouldn’t spam your website URL on every website possible. Instead, you’ll see greater benefits by working with sites that are reputable and trusted by Google—in other words, sites with high rankings of their own.
How To Build Links In Vancouver
Now that you’re sold on the importance of link building, the next step is figuring out how to do it. You aren’t the first business in Vancouver to get this idea; how do you ensure that you acquire more backlinks than your competitors and rise to the top of search results? We’ve put together a few tips for you:
Write Content For Others To Link To
Imagine that you could acquire backlinks without sending a single email—that’s the power that high-quality content has to offer.
Start by identifying what kind of content you can offer that others are searching for. If you’re a woodworker, maybe that’s a listicle of the best and worst handsaws in Vancouver. A financial advisor might compile a few high-interest savings accounts that locals can take advantage of.
If you work with data, consider making an infographic or research project. Compiling statistics into a comprehensive post is a useful resource, and a great way to naturally acquire backlinks.
Use Local Directories
When people in Vancouver are searching for the next restaurant, computer store, or hair salon to visit, they often turn to popular directories. Some websites are industry-specific, while others focus on local businesses in Vancouver.
If you create a profile for your business on a local directory, you net a free link out of it. Better yet, it helps fellow Vancouverites find you.
Finding High-Quality Link Opportunities
When you’re looking for candidates to reach out to, prioritize the following:
- Local relevance. Reaching out to other businesses in Vancouver can score you a link on another local site. This is a huge boon for local SEO.
- Similar industries. It doesn’t make much sense to get a link from a beauty how-to website if your business offers landscaping services.
- Site authority & traffic. What separates the high-ranking sites from the ones filled with spam? Oftentimes, it comes down to domain authority. Look for sites with high DA ratings.
You might have to sift through dozens or hundreds of sites before finding a good link opportunity. But if you’re hoping to climb the rankings in Vancouver search results, you’ll need to find high-quality sites to pitch to.
Offer Something Valuable
High authority websites get dozens of pitches each day from link builders like you; your email will just be another fish in English Bay unless you find strategies that differentiate your pitches from your competitors.
There are more than a few ways you can go about this. Here are some suggestions:
- Find broken links on a blog that are posted on the website you’re targeting. Then, pitch your own content instead. Make sure to highlight the advantages of your content, like how it’s more recent, well-researched, or original than the other piece.
- Look for articles that have broken links. Write content that fills that niche, then bring the broken link to the attention of that publisher. Offer to link your blog instead!
- Write a genuine and personalized pitch. Reach out to the website owner or blog manager directly, and let them know that you are interested in being part of the conversation.
We suggest using a blend of outreach strategies to get a diverse variety of links.
Working With An SEO Agency
Finding link opportunities, writing pitches, and creating content are all pretty time-consuming tasks. No one said that link building would be easy, and when you’re already managing a business in Vancouver, this might be too much to handle.
At First Rank, that’s what we’re here for; we offer Vancouver SEO services for local businesses like yours. When you contact us, we’ll help you substantially increase your rankings in search results.
Jacob Kettner is the owner and CEO of First Rank Inc., a digital marketing agency based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He currently sits on Manitoba Chamber of Commerce Small Business Advisor Council which assists people grow their small businesses in Manitoba.
