How many backlinks does a small business website need?
A handful of real links beats hundreds of bought ones. Where good ones come from and which to avoid.
See the templatesThe short answer: fewer than you think. A local business with ten real links from places that make sense will outrank one with five hundred bought ones, and the bought ones can get the site removed. Think of links as references, not a count.
Links that help
- Your Google Business Profile
- Your Facebook and Instagram, with the address in the bio
- Free directories: Yell, FreeIndex, Scoot, Thomson Local, Bing Places
- Your trade body, if you are in one: Gas Safe, NICEIC, the Guild, the chamber of commerce
- Suppliers who list stockists
- Local press, the community council, a sponsored football strip
- Other businesses you work with: the builder who recommends your tiling, and you recommend them back
Links that do nothing
Comments on blogs, forum signatures, "web directory" sites nobody uses, and links from sites in other countries about other things.
Links that get you penalised
Anything you paid for by the hundred. "500 high authority backlinks for £20" is the same as "we will get your site removed for £20". Google has been catching this since 2012.
What we do
Every site we build and host links back to us in the footer, and we tell clients which directories are worth ten minutes. The rest is real relationships, and nobody can do those for you.
Want to see yours? Pick a website template and fill it in for free. You only pay when you want it live. Already have a site? Bring it in and we fill a template from it.