Building links to citation sites ?

[a-jani]

If I build backlinks to my yelp, merchants circle, etc pages will it help it rank better in google? Lets say I want to blog comment it with just the keyword, will it help it will it hurt it or will it be a net zero? anyone have any comments on it, I see sometimes in small markets the review sites ranking above a business's domain.

 

[dheer]

If you are in to local business then yes building citations helps a lot. Make sure that you always type the full address zip and other related information about the local business while making citations.

 

[the_demon]

Will it help, most likely. That is, so long as the site links back to your main site. However, be aware that using spammy links may cause complaints and result in the site like Yelp taking your listing down and possibly pressing charges for damages to their reputation. With that said, high quality links are probably best for this type of scenario. Guest posting for example would be an ideal choice as that would have both high relevancy and quality so it's unlikely to draw complaints or negative attention from the citation sites.

Of course, moderation is key with such a tactic because powering up a sub page on an authority domain could inadvertently cause that page to outrank your business's main site.

 

[rplumber]

I actually do this with great success. I have a local home services business and we build tons of links to our Yelp!, Angie's List, Yahoo Local, and Google + page.

Our main page has solid SEO and ranks above them for our main keywords. There are keywords however that we haven't yet "attacked" or rank for and this is where Yelp, Facebook and Google have huge authority and show up on page one. Since we're a local business, it helps us tremendously by giving the customer our phone number and website.

Plus I've had success with building huge amts of links to these sites. They seem to take the beating and rank well.

Just my experience..

 

[gamnaking]

I actually do this with great success. I have a local home services business and we build tons of links to our Yelp!, Angie's List, Yahoo Local, and Google + page.

Our main page has solid SEO and ranks above them for our main keywords. There are keywords however that we haven't yet "attacked" or rank for and this is where Yelp, Facebook and Google have huge authority and show up on page one. Since we're a local business, it helps us tremendously by giving the customer our phone number and website.

Plus I've had success with building huge amts of links to these sites. They seem to take the beating and rank well.

Just my experience..

I've been trying this strategy out recently for local search, so its good to hear of a success story

 

[rplumber]

I've been trying this strategy out recently for local search, so its good to hear of a success story

I could be wrong, as I'm nowhere near as experienced as some of the people on here.. but since doing this my main site rankings have improved as well. I've backlinked to tons of citations, all the very relevant ones at least.

 

[mirajkadam]

Go for it!

 

[Adam718]

As long as the link is d.o.f.ollow, it should act as any other tier 1 link you have, except it probably wont get penalized if it's yelp, yahoo, etc.

 

[escism]

I was actually just about to ask this same question. Glad to hear some people are already doing this. I'm working with a lot of local clients and I have a good source of citations built already so now I'm trying to juice those up.

 

[Parrotfish2005]

Thanks everyone

 

[sam3724]

Building backlinks helps a lot but be sure to use it effectively.

 

[sam3724]

IN local business, it may help. Other places you have to be cautious.

 

[Execute]

Yes it definitely helps them rank as you are building authority for those individual pages, just make sure that you are building quality links and you will see great results.

 

[freelanceronline]

everything helps if it done in proper way. building links need correct NAP on GP and citations and on website as well. removing dupes, correcting already listed wrong NAP citations which is mess if already listed for your client. I have done 1000+ clients local SEO and citations is 2nd big factor in Local SEO.