Backlinks will continue to play a crucial role in local SEO in 2026, but only if you focus on the right ones. Securing links from authoritative, locally relevant websites is far more valuable than amassing dozens of backlinks from unrelated regions; for example, 100 links from Australian sites won’t help a restaurant based in the UK. In this article, we’ll show you exactly where to target, how to earn high-quality backlinks, and the essential steps to take before launching a link-building campaign, setting your business up for success in both local SEO and AI-driven visibility. Let’s make your local business stand out to the audience that matters most.
Are Backlinks Still Important for Local Businesses in 2026?
It's a bit confusing right now. For local businesses, backlinks have become both less important and more important at the same time. How? Because "local search" has split into three different battlegrounds, and each one has different rules.
1. The Google Local Pack (Google Maps)
When you search for "plumber near me," this is the map and list of 3-5 businesses that pops up. For this area, backlinks are not very important anymore. They might act as a tie-breaker, but that's about it. What matters most here is:
- Proximity: How close the searcher is to your business.
- Your Google Business Profile (GBP): Is your profile 100% complete? Did you pick the right categories? Are you posting updates?
- Your Customer Reviews: How many reviews you have, how often you get new ones, and what customers say in them.
You can do well in the Map Pack by just focusing on these things. But that's only one piece of the puzzle.
2. Regular "Organic" Google Results
These are the normal "blue link" search results that appear below the map. For this area, backlinks are still the #1 most important factor. While your Google Profile helps you get "near me" searches, a strong backlink profile helps your website (your blog posts and service pages) show up for searches like "best tankless water heaters" or "how to fix a leaky faucet." This is how you prove you're an expert.
3. New AI-Powered Answers
This is the new, high-stakes area. Think of Google's new AI Overviews or AI chatbots that give you one direct answer instead of a list of links. For this area, backlinks are quite critical! The goal here isn't to get a click. It's to "be the source" that the AI trusts and recommends. AI engines create one simple answer by pulling from websites they think are the most credible and trustworthy. Backlinks are one of the main ways AI decides if you're a trustworthy expert. Without good backlinks, your business will be invisible to AI, which is quickly taking over a lot of traditional searches.
What Kinds of Backlinks Do Local Businesses Need in 2026?
A good backlink profile is like a balanced diet; you need a healthy mix. Think of your links in three main groups.
High-Trust Local Links
These are the best links. They prove you're a real, trusted part of your local community.
- Local Media: Links from your local newspaper, a local TV or radio station's website, or a popular city blog. The best articles to be featured in are listicles, like for example, “The Top 10 Restaurants in New York City”
- City & Community Groups: Links from the official city government website, the Chamber of Commerce, or a local non-profit you support.
- Local Events: A link from a local festival, a charity 5K, or a school sports team that you sponsor.
- Local Directories: Sometimes, there are local directories available. These niche directories are worth looking into and creating a listing.
Basic "Who You Are" Links
These links are the foundation. They confirm your business's name, address, phone number, and what you do.
- Important Directories: Don't submit your site everywhere. Focus on the ones that matter:
- Industry-Specific Sites: (like Avvo for lawyers, Zocdoc for doctors, or Yelp for restaurants).
- High-Trust Directories: Some business directories, such as TripAdvisor, Yelp, Facebook (and of course Google), fall under high authority websites (high domain ranking, strong brand recognition) and are a must for your business to be listed on.
- Local Partners: Links from other local businesses you work with (but don't compete with). For example, a wedding planner could link to a local florist they recommend.
Links You Earn with Great Content
These are links you get "passively" because you created something useful. This is the best long-term strategy because it creates a cycle that keeps bringing in new links.
- "Best of" Guides: (e.g., "The Ultimate Guide to Dog-Friendly Patios in [Your City]").
- Neighborhood Guides: A detailed guide to a local neighborhood (schools, parks, etc.) that a local realtor or apartment blog would want to link to.
- Local Event Calendars: A simple, up-to-date calendar of local events.
- Local Reports: A simple report using local data (e.g., "The 2026 [City] Home Remodeling Cost Report").
How Can You Get Good Backlinks in 2026?
Here is a modern game plan for getting the links that matter.
1. Act Like a Local Expert
This plan helps you earn those high-trust Tier 1 links by becoming a go-to source for local news.
- Share Real News: Only send out a press release if you have actual news: a grand opening, a new high-profile hire, winning an award, etc.
- Be the Expert Source: Build relationships with local journalists and bloggers. Offer to give them a quote for a story (e.g., a local accountant commenting on new city taxes).
- Ask for Links When You're Mentioned: If a local blog mentions you without linking, send a polite email, thank them, and ask if they can add a link to "make it easier for their readers to find you."
2. Get Involved in Your Community
This plan shows you're a real, active part of your town, which helps build Tier 1 links.
- Sponsor Local Teams or Events: This is one of the easiest ways to get good links. Sponsor a local festival, charity, or youth sports team. The important part: Make sure your sponsorship agreement includes a link to your website from their "sponsors" page.
- Host a Local Event: Use your office to host a free workshop for the community or a local meetup. This is an easy way to get links from local event calendars.
- Use Testimonials: Give a great testimonial to a local partner or supplier. Ask them to post it on their website with a link back to yours.
3. Create Helpful Local Content
This is the long-term plan for earning Tier 3 links.
- Step 1: Find the Gap: Look at local Facebook groups or subreddits. What questions do people ask over and over?
- Step 2: Create the Best Resource: Make a guide or blog post that is way more helpful than anything else out there.
- Step 3: Share It: Email your new, helpful guide to local bloggers, journalists, or realtors who you think would find it useful for their own readers.
Bad Links Can Hurt Your Business
It is much safer to have no links than to have bad links. Not building links means you just stand still. Building bad links means you could get a penalty from Google that wipes out all your rankings.
Avoid these high-risk tactics at all costs:
- Shady Link Networks (PBNs): These are networks of "fake" sites built only to link to you. Google knows this trick, and it's a fast track to a penalty.
- Buying Links: Paying for links is against Google's rules and can get you in big trouble. We have come across websites with over a million backlinks and still a domain authority of below 10, which is insanely bad given the high amount of links.
- Spamming Directories and Comments: Submitting your site to hundreds of low-quality directories or spamming blog comments is useless and looks like spam. It’s no longer a best practice in 2026.
- Links from Unrelated Websites: A link from a website that has nothing to do with your business or location (like a local plumber getting a link from an online casino) is worthless.
How Can Obenan Help With Local SEO and AI Visibility?
Backlinks are only one piece of the local visibility puzzle. Obenan takes care of everything else. Founded by a local business owner who has lived these challenges firsthand, Obenan understands exactly what business owners, managers, and marketers deal with every day. With Obenan, you get your time back. No more juggling multiple tools or platforms. Manage all your locations from one intuitive dashboard, make updates with a single click, and get round-the-clock support from your AI coworker, Obi. Obenan brings it all together, simply, efficiently, and is built for real local businesses.
This is what Obenan and Obi will tackle for you:
1. Business Information Management
Keep your business details accurate across every platform. Update all locations with a single click and maintain consistency everywhere. Say goodbye to logging into multiple platforms hundreds of times. Obenan does it all for you.
2. Automated Content Creation
Generate and schedule months of engaging content in minutes. Let Obi craft compelling, SEO-optimized captions tailored for both local SEO and AI visibility, tasks that would normally take hours to do manually.
3. Smart, On-Brand AI Responses
Obi is pre-tuned for business communication. You define your brand voice, and Obi drafts personalized, professional, on-brand replies without manual intervention. He learns from your edits to improve over time. Automated responses are supported on Google, TripAdvisor, UberEats, HappyCow, and more.
4. Automated Review Generation
Stop waiting for feedback. Obenan simplifies review collection with smart campaigns: create QR code campaigns for signage or receipts, launch follow-up email campaigns, or integrate directly with Formitable.
5. Centralized Dashboard
Forget juggling multiple logins. Manage and respond to reviews from Google, Facebook, Yelp, TripAdvisor, and more, all from a single dashboard.
6. AI-Powered Sentiment Analysis
Go beyond individual reviews. Obenan’s EmotionAI analyzes all your feedback to reveal actionable trends. Instantly see what customers love (e.g., “atmosphere”) and what they dislike (e.g., “wait times”), enabling data-driven improvements based on thousands of reviews you couldn’t manually analyze.
Level up your local presence! Curious to give Obenan and Obi a try?
