Are You Taking Advantage Of Local SEO?

[hipcat]

My question developed out of all the spam I deal with on a constant, daily, basis. The amount of spam posts I delete from spammers using the same, boring, ineffective early 2000's setup of "Some service IN Somewhere" is mind numbing, and is made worse by adding more modern AI to the content.

So, a typical spam post will be AI generated about some kind of service, like dentistry, with a link to "Dentists in Melbourne", for example. It seems obvious that it's either a bot program, or perhaps some misguided SEO "expert" manually spamming for backlinks for a client who has no clue the negative impact it will have on their ranking.

It serves no purpose at all. We all know by now, or should, that only a FEW highly quality RELEVANT backlinks are needed for effective SEO....not spam links, not 1000's of backlinks....just GOOD links. Especially on a forum, unless the members live IN Melbourne and need dental work, you're just wasting your time. People posting those kind of links are hoping it will have some positive effect, but it doesn't.

If you REALLY want to find customers looking for your service in wherever, then you should be focusing on local SEO in that area. The benefits are clear and obvious. First, because that is where your customers are, but perhaps more importantly, and something many people may not know, is that it's FASTER to rank locally. Lots of people complain that SEO is so slow to show any meaningful results, but I've seen many examples where local SEO efforts pay off faster and with more immediate results.

Two examples just in my own area even surprised me. One was a guy around the corner who threw up a crappy website offering outdoor camping spots at a whopping $235 per night that got ranked and on the map within 30 days to the point where he ended up booked solid 6 months in advance and was turning away bookings. He even had someone show up at his doorstep looking to rent a spot before he was even ready! The 2nd was a doggy daycare I suggested that a woman down the road should start because she was already looking after my dog, and pet services are always in demand, so why not? She threw up a quick page offering her service and was showing on Google the following week, before she was even fully prepared to take on clients!

Anyway, food for thought. If you have a service specific for a certain area, then your efforts are better spent concentrating on that area, than posting irrelevant links to your site all over the internet.

What is your opinion? What has been your own results with local SEO? Sound off here!

 

[silentwolf]

You're absolutely right—these spammy links aren't high quality. They only hold value if they’re relevant to your niche. However, in some less competitive industries, low-quality links like those from general forums, Web 2.0s, and similar sources can still help improve rankings, at least in the short term. In my experience, especially in toolbases and informational niches, these kinds of links can have some effect (though not sustainable in the long run).

That said, links from low-quality, spammy sites—such as pages linking to adult content, casinos, gambling, or escort sites—are a different story. If your site is linked from such a page, especially one with hundreds of outbound links, it’s not useful at all and could even cause harm. These types of links come from a bad neighborhood and could get your site into trouble.

On the other hand, links from sites with fewer outbound links but with a good neighborhood, decent traffic, and authority (whether they’re forums, Web 2.0s, or even comments) can still be beneficial. It’s all about context and relevance—links from these sources, even if not top-tier, can help move the needle when they come from reputable, well-maintained pages.


It's my experience; maybe I can be wrong.