As a business owner, you naturally want to see your business grow. Growing your business can mean expanding internationally and improving your search engine rankings in specific target markets. By doing so, you can increase relevant website traffic and improve brand credibility within those target regions. If you want to expand your business internationally, you should leverage country-specific link building as it allows you to tap into localized search results and earn trust from local audiences.
Country-specific link-building will help your business make more sales in specific regions of the world.
Read on to learn more!
What is Country-Specific Link Building?
Before we dive deep into how country specific link building can help your business, it’s essential to understand what country-specific link building entails. In simple terms, country-specific link building is the process of acquiring backlinks from potential websites with ccTLDs, also referred to as country-code top-level domains, such as “.de,” “.fr,” and “.uk,” which represent Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, respectively.
Essentially, country-specific link building is a targeted SEO strategy that focuses on acquiring backlinks from websites located in specific countries or written in particular languages. In contrast to casting a wider net for backlink acquisition, this approach establishes relevance by connecting with high-authority local domains that your international target audience already trusts.
Benefits of Country-Specific Link Building
Now that you have a basic overview of what country-specific link building is about, let’s explore its importance for your business website’s SEO. It wouldn’t be wrong to state that country-specific link building is great for international SEO, as it can help significantly improve your local search rankings in country-specific results.
For instance, by obtaining backlinks from high-authority local domains, you can send a strong signal to Google that indicates geo-relevance. Suppose you want to promote and sell your products or services in France. Then, securing a backlink from a French news website can tell Google that your content is irrelevant to the local French people or French users.
Establish Local Trust and Authority
With country-specific link building, you can establish local trust and authority not only with the search engines but also with users. People are more likely to click on your website and convert when they detect familiar, local websites that engage with or mention your business. The same applies to Google, as Google will view these backlinks as a sign of credibility within that specific global region.
An essential tip that can help you establish trust and build authority with country-specific link-building comes down to creating high-quality content in the local language that can help you target the country’s audience. Subsequently, you should seek backlinks from reputable websites within that region.
Watch Out for Signs That Indicate Your Business Needs Country-Specific Link Building
It doesn’t matter whether your business has been running for quite some time now or you just launched your small business; you should watch out for signs that indicate that your business needs country-specific link building. Some of the signs include a declining ranking in specific countries, a stagnant ranking in specific countries, a lack of local website traffic, a lack of relevant website traffic, and missed opportunities to target new and less competitive markets.
With that said, if your business website targets an international audience but doesn’t have a strong online presence in the key regions, then leveraging country-specific link building is in your best interest as it can noticeably improve your brand recognition and search visibility in those key regions.
Stagnant Rankings in Certain Countries
As a business that targets an international audience, you must establish good rankings in the key countries or regions. However, if you detect a decline or stagnant website rankings in those specific countries, then it’s an indicator that your existing backlink profile isn’t strong enough to compete with other businesses in those localities.
Also, if you detect a drop in your organic website traffic from a specific country that previously had a strong presence, you should treat it as an indication that there has been a decline in your search engine rankings for those localities. Subsequently, it is treated as a sign that you need localized link-building efforts to improve your rankings in those key countries.
The Importance of Finding New Opportunities
Another potential indication that you need to leverage country-specific link building is when you are indeed attracting website traffic from a specific country, but the conversion rates are relatively low. This aspect indicates that your website or content isn’t optimized for the regional market, which is where building local backlinks can prove a great benefit.
If your business has an international target audience, it’s in your best interest to identify untapped markets with high search demand. While you might have a limited presence in those markets right now, these markets still represent a great opportunity for growth through targeted regional link-building. Also, with country-specific link building, you can increase brand recognition and awareness in new markets, which will make your business more visible and trustworthy.
