Top 10 Ways to Get Backlinks for the Local Lead Generation Business | Backlink Vendors, Link Circles, & Do-Follow Citations

1. Buy backlinks from a backlink seller

Link building agencies excel in building relationships with publishers and securing website masters valuable link placements on those publishers websites.

Getting backlinks from a reputable link vendor is one of the most straightforward and scalable methods to acquire high-quality backlinks for local lead generation websites. You don’t need to reach out to website owners in your niche or negotiate backlink prices. You just pay a predetermined price for a specified number of backlinks that meet ‌certain criteria and point those links to your local lead generation website.

One SEO professional on Reddit claims that buying backlinks is the best strategy to get backlinks.

I’ve partnered with a premier backlink wholesaler that builds backlinks for some of the top companies in the world to offer my readers the highest quality backlinks at wholesale prices . You can buy one-time backlink packages for a quick boost or ongoing link subscriptions to automate long-term off-page SEO efforts.

Buying links from a link building agency costs anywhere from $5-$4,000+, according to Authority Builders. High-quality links from mid-tier websites that actually improve your website rankings typically range between $200-$600 per link.

2. Participate in link circles

Link circles are groups of website owners targeting the same niche or geographic location that agree to link to each other. They coordinate link building with strict rules to avoid detection by Google and strengthen the backlink profiles for participants.

Getting backlinks through link circles requires access to a large group of website owners, typically through a private group.

As the largest local lead generation community on the internet with thousands of students, our private Facebook group offers unmatched opportunities to participate in link circles. Students just post their criteria, like target niche and website authority (according to SEO tools like Mangools and Ahrefs), and students comment to join the link circle.

Link circles offer a free method of acquiring high-quality, relevant links that boost rankings for local lead generation websites.

3. Get listed in online directories

Local and niche directories like Angi’s List, Yelp, and Thumbtack are often used for building citations for local lead generation properties. Citations are a common component of an off-page local SEO campaign alongside backlinks. The purpose of building citations is to show Google that your business has consistent NAP (name, address, and phone number) across the internet.

Many directories allow you to include your website URL as part of the citation. Although most directories use no-follow links, some designate your website as a do-follow link. No-follow links typically don’t impact SEO efforts, while do-follow links do. Brown Book (brownbook.net) is an example of an online directory that gives you a do-follow backlink.

To quickly determine whether a citation includes a no-follow or do-follow backlink, download the NoFollow Google Chrome extension. Any link highlighted in red is a no-follow link.

Since you’re going to build citations for your local lead generation websites anyway, you might as well find some directories with do-follow backlinks to your website. That way, you can get some free or ultra low-cost backlinks for the same effort.

4. Perform guest post outreach

Getting backlinks from guest posts entails connecting with relevant website owners and pitching them on linking to your local lead generation website.

First, you need to research websites with the potential to strengthen the backlink profile of your local lead generation website. One method is to search your target niche in different cities to create a list of website owners in your niche. Another method is to search for your niche + “write for us” to find websites with a high probability of accepting your guest post request.

Leverage a tool like Ahrefs to help infer whether the website has the level of authority you need to help you outrank your competition.

Metrics like Ahrefs domain rating (DR) provide a quick snapshot of a website’s authority. However, you should also look at factors like the website’s organic traffic, publishing frequency, and reader engagement because SEO tools aren’t always accurate.

Then, you need to contact these website owners, typically through cold email or form fill if they have a designated “write for us” page. In your communication, pitch some potential content ideas for their website, clarify that they will provide a do-follow backlink, and verify whether there is a cost for the guest post backlink.

Typically, you provide the guest post blog content and pay the webmaster a fee for linking to your website. The average guest post link is $220, according to BuzzStream. Higher-authority websites charge $600+ for guest posts.

5. Request niche edits

A niche edit is a backlink added to an existing piece of content already published on a website.

Getting a niche edit requires the same research and outreach process as guest posts, but with a few minor differences. himself,

Instead of pitching a new blog post idea, you find a relevant article on your target website and ask the website owner about updating the section and adding your website link.

Niche edits are typically cheaper than guest posts. Niche edits cost between $50-$365, depending on the quality of the website. Niche edits can also provide more immediate SEO impact than a guest post because the piece of content is already indexed and potentially ranked by Google.

6. Do broken link building

Broken link building involves looking for websites with broken backlinks and asking the website owner to replace the backlink with a link to your website instead.

To find broken backlink opportunities, use an SEO tool like Ahrefs Broken Link Checker to quickly highlight any broken backlinks on a website you want a backlink from.

If you already have a relevant page or plan to create a relevant page to link to, reach out to the website owner to inform them of the broken link on their website. Suggest your content as a replacement.

Broken links are bad for SEO, so website owners should be interested in fixing this simple issue. Receptive website owners may even give you the backlink for free since you provided them value by bringing it to their attention.

7. Pay for a local chamber of commerce listing

A chamber of commerce is a business and networking organization that serves business owners in a specific city or region. Most local chambers of commerce have a high-authority website with a member directory. Local business owners can pay to get listed in this directory, which often includes a do-follow backlink to the business’s website.

To find a chamber of commerce for your local lead generation website, search your target city name + “chamber of commerce”.

The Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce is one example of a local chamber of commerce that provides a do-follow backlink.

Chamber of commerce membership fees typically cost between $200-$600/year. For example, the basic membership for the Tampa Bay Chamber is $590/year.

8. Create a link-worthy piece of content

Attract backlinks naturally from website owners in your niche by creating a high-quality piece of website content.

Website owners often add external links to their content when citing sources or just want their readers to have easy access to a resource. Some content ideas that local business owners might want to link to include:

• Industry statistics pages (e.g., Plumbing Industry Statistics 2025)
• Local cost guides (e.g., How Much Does a Concrete Driveway Cost in Arizona?)
• Niche tool or material comparison posts (e.g., PEX vs Copper Pipes: Which Should Plumbers Use?)
• DIY safety guides (e.g., 7 Plumbing Fixes You Can Do Yourself + 3 You Shouldn’t Touch)
• Case studies (e.g., Solar Case Study: How This Homeowner Saved $3,500/Year)

9. Create a free micro-tool for your niche

Get small business owners to link to your website naturally by incorporating a free tool or software that supports the niche. You can hire a programmer to create the mini-tool for you or leverage a generative AI tool like ChatGPT to help you create a simple tool.

Some ideas for local lead generation website micro-tools include:

• Cost calculators
• Material quantity estimators
• Safety compliance checklists
• Maintenance schedulers
• Do it yourself or hire a pro decision tree

10. Buy expired domains

Obtain an expired domain from a relevant website in your industry and add a backlink to your local lead generation website. Many expired domains have valuable link juice that you can pass to your own website.

Search for expired domains through online marketplaces like Spamzilla, Dynadot, or Sedo. Many of these expired domain marketplaces work as domain auctions where you bid on a domain to acquire ownership.

Analyze the quality of an expired domain before purchasing it. One way to analyze this is by looking at the backlink profile. SEO tools like Ahrefs can often still see the backlink profile of an expired domain if it’s recently expired. Look at the quality of the backlinks to make sure there are backlinks you want to pass link juice from and not majority spammy backlinks.

When you buy an expired domain, none of the original website’s content will be included. That means you need to create new content for the website or use Wayback Machine to rebuild the site with its original content. At the very least, fix the website URLs that the high-quality backlinks you bought the domain for point to. An SEO tool like Ahrefs highlights the target URL that a backlink points to.

Most expired domains sell for between $30-$500 at auction. However, premium domains or domains with strong backlink profiles can sell for substantially more.

5 ways of getting backlinks you should avoid

• Buying backlinks from Fiverr - The cheap backlinks you can buy on Fiverr are generally from low-quality, spammy websites that can destroy your website’s reputation.
• Linking between your own local lead generation assets - If your sites have low PageRank value, you need to acquire links from better websites to improve your online reputation. Also, you want to avoid leaving a trail that Google can potentially follow to penalize your local lead generation assets.
• Private blog networks (PBNs) - PBNs are against Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. Google actively searches for PBNs and penalizes the websites that receive links from them if they uncover a PBN.
• Press releases - Most press releases have low SEO value because they are from low-value websites that use no-follow links.
• Blog comments - Most blog comments are no-follow so they don’t pass link juice. Google may label blog comments as spammy and penalize the site the backlink points to.

How much do backlinks cost when running a local lead generation business?

Backlinks cost $0-$3,700+ when running a local lead generation business. Some local lead generation websites can rank without backlinks.

One student in our private Facebook group mentions ranking their website without backlinks by targeting low-competition opportunities and writing high-quality content.

Participating in link circles is a reliable method to get backlinks for free if you are well connected in the SEO community. Data from PrestigeLinks highlights that the average cost of a quality backlink is approximately $370. Although the number of backlinks to rank depends on a wide range of factors, you can rank with around 10 backlinks for many low-competition, local lead generation opportunities.

Is a local lead generation business profitable despite the cost of backlinks?

Yes, a local lead generation business is profitable despite the cost of backlinks. Each local lead generation website can generate $500-$3,000+/month. Backlinks for a low-competition lead generation opportunity might cost $0-$500/month until you rank. Backlinks for higher competition lead generation opportunities where the profit potential is closer to $3,000+/month might cost $1,000-$2,000/month until you rank.

Backlinks are by far the most expensive cost of running a local lead generation business. The other major costs are website domains, hosting, and call tracking phone numbers. A website domain costs around $15/year, hosting and website management with Snapps costs $15/month, and a CallSling phone number costs $15/month.

Conclusion: Is getting backlinks for your local lead generation business worth it?

Yes, getting backlinks for your local lead generation is worth it because backlinks are a primary Google ranking factor. Internal Google Search documents that were leaked on GitHub in 2025 confirmed that backlinks are essential to rank well on Google. Specifically, a diverse backlink portfolio from relevant websites. Leading digital marketing agency First Page Sage estimates that backlinks make up a 13% weight in Google’s ranking algorithm.

We cover ways to get backlinks and rank digital assets in depth in our local lead generation training program.