How do links affect local search results?

The importance of link building in organic SEO campaigns is well known. But is it has the same effect on Local Pack hits? SEO expert Joy Hawkins conducted a series of tests to find out, and the results were surprising.

What is a Local Pack?

Google search results for searches like "plumber near me" often show a three-item map block (Local Pack) at the top of the results. This includes the name of the business, reviews and contact details. The list below is the traditional organic results.

Two different algorithms

It is important to understand that organic and Local Pack results work with different algorithms. There is overlap between the ranking factors, but the weight of each element differs. The impact of link building should therefore be considered separately.

An experiment to test the impact of link building

Joy's team conducted a simple experiment: a piece of link has been placed from their own website (sterlingsky.ca) to a sub-page that had previously not ranked well in the results, had poor content and a "Home" title. The link with keyword anchor text was equipped with. The aim was to see what effect this single link had on organic and local results.

Results

• Organic hits: The site jumped from 10th to 3rd place in several positions - just a few weeks after the link was placed.
• Local Pack: Only improved by one position the local ranking.

What does this mean for local businesses?

If your business is mainly Local Pack gets customers from hits, you don't need to spend a lot of money on link building - local factors are more important (e.g. ratings, Google My Business optimisation, local relevance). If, on the other hand organic results for your website bring you the majority of customers, it's worth greater emphasis on link building. In this case, keyword links, valuable content and high quality links can significantly improve your organic rankings.

Conclusion

Link building is still an important tool for organic ranking, en less weight than local SEO. Keyword anchor text still matters, and a single well-placed link can have a significant impact. If you want to know more about local SEO, try Moz Local, a tool to help you improve your visibility in map results.