Backlinks
Real links. Earned, not bought.
A backlink is a link from another website to yours. Links from real sites with a reason to mention you, like your trade association, a supplier you work with or a local organization, help Google trust your website and send you visitors. Backlink building is part of Total Growth.
- Total Growth only
- No bought links
- No ranking promises
What makes a link worth having
Search engines treat a link as a sign that a site is worth sending people to. A few links from sites that make sense for your business count for more than piles of links from sites nobody reads.
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A real site
Run by a real business or organization, with real visitors. Not a site built only to hand out links.
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A relevant one
Connected to your trade or your area: a supplier, an association, a local group, a site your customers already read.
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Earned
There because you're a member, a partner or worth recommending. Not because someone paid for a link.
The links we go after
Local and relevant first. Every business is different, so the list we work from is built around who you are and who you already know.
Local
Local organizations
Your chamber of commerce, business associations, community groups, and the teams or events you support.
Partners
People you work with
Suppliers, manufacturers with dealer or installer lists, builders, property managers and other businesses that refer you.
Industry
Your trade
Trade associations, licensing and certification lists, and industry sites that list their members.
Press
Local news and community sites
When there's a real story: a big project, an anniversary, work you do in the community.
Resources
Pages worth pointing to
Useful guides on your site, from your blog posts, that local and industry sites with resource lists can link to.
Foundation
Your citations
Many of the directory listings in your 25 citations link to your website too. They're part of Growth and Total Growth.
What we won't do
Google's spam policies call these link schemes. They can get your links ignored or your site ranked lower, and cleaning that up takes longer than doing it right.
If someone offers you hundreds of links for a low monthly price, this list is usually how.
- Buy linksor pay sites to add them
- Private blog networkssites built only to link out
- Mass directory submissionshundreds of junk directories at once
- Comment spam and link swapslinks dropped in comments, forums and “you link me, I link you” deals
- Automated link softwaretools that create links for you in bulk
- Promise a number or a rankingno “20 links a month”, no “page one guaranteed”
Realistic timelines
Backlinks are slow. Other sites decide on their own schedule, and search engines take time to notice. Here's how the work runs.
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First
We look at what you have.
The links already pointing to your site, your citations, and the people and organizations you already work with.
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Every month
We reach out, one site at a time.
With a real reason to link: a membership, a partnership, or a page on your site worth pointing to. Your two blog posts a month on Total Growth give them something to link to.
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Monthly call
We go over it with you.
On your strategy call: what we asked for, what came through, and who you know that we should ask next.
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Over months
It adds up.
Expect it to build over months, not weeks. We can't tell you how many links you'll get in a given month, because the other site decides. Anyone who promises a set number is usually buying them.
What we need from you
- Suppliers, manufacturers and builders you work with
- Businesses that send you work, or that you send work to
- Memberships: chamber of commerce, trade associations, licenses, certifications
- Teams, events or causes you support
- Anything newsworthy: a big project, an anniversary, a new service
- A quick introduction to a partner when it helps
- Photos of real jobs, for pages worth linking to
Which plan includes it
Backlink building is in Total Growth only. Growth has the groundwork: local SEO, your Google Business Profile and 25 citations.
Questions
Which plan includes backlink building?
How many links will I get?
How long until it helps?
Do you buy links?
What about domain authority scores?
Can I help?
See it on your own business
Fifteen minutes. We'll show you the receptionist and the CRM, and talk through what Total Growth would cover for you, links included.