Local Link-Building for Clinics: Simple Strategies That Boost Your Google Rankings

Local link building might sound technical, but at its core it is about relationships, reputation, and smart healthcare marketing. In this episode, Darcy breaks down how clinics can earn high quality local links that boost visibility in Google Search and Google Maps without turning link building into a full time job.

You will learn what local link building actually is, why it matters so much for clinic websites, and where to find realistic link opportunities in your own backyard. From referral partners and community organizations to local media and resource guides, you will walk away with a practical plan you can start using right away.

In this episode of The Clinic Marketing Podcast, you will discover how to:

• Turn existing professional relationships into safe, sustainable links
• Use local directories, associations, and community involvement to support local SEO
• Create simple content that naturally attracts local links
• Evaluate which link opportunities are worth your time and which to skip

If you handle healthcare marketing for a clinic and want more “near me” visibility, stronger rankings, and more of the right patients finding you online, this episode is for you.

>> Episode webpage and blog: https://propelyourcompany.com/local-link-building/

NEW Webinar: How to dominate Google Search, Google Maps, AI-driven search results, and get more new patients.

>> Save your spot 🎉

In this 1-Hour SEO Planning Session, you’ll learn what it takes to thrive online and convert online traffic into foot traffic.

Plus, Get a Free Patient-Centered SEO Action Plan to Kickstart Your Strategy!

🎉 NEW Webinar: How to dominate Google Search, Google Maps, AI-driven search results, and get more new patients without spending a dime on ads

https://propelyourcompany.com/learn

📞Book a discovery call - Book a discovery call with Propel to see how smart SEO and website design can help your clinic get found online.

https://propelyourcompany.com/

Let's Stay Connected:

• Website - https://propelyourcompany.com/
• Free SEO Training 🎉 - https://propelyourcompany.com/learn
• Instagram
• Facebook
• YouTube

Chapters

• 0:00 Why You’re Not Ranking Yet
• 3:51 Link Building Explained Simply
• 6:14 Local Links And Why They Matter
• 8:31 Myths, Mistakes, And Red Flags
• 12:26 Quick Wins From Existing Relationships
• 17:28 Directories And Associations That Count
• 19:59 Create Useful Local Content That Earns Links
• 22:38 Media Outreach And Community Proof
• 24:58 The Four-Week-At-A-Time 90-Day Plan

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 2:21

If your clinic is doing everything right on your website and Google Business Profile, but you are still not ranking as well as you want in Google search maps and AI searches, there is a chance that you do not have enough high-quality local links pointing to your website. That's what we're gonna fix today. Hey there, it's Darcy Sullivan from Propel Marketing and Design, and you're listening to the Clinic Marketing Podcast. Today we are gonna talk about something that feels technical, but really comes down to relationships, local link building strategies for clinic websites. If you have ever wondered how do I get more authority with Google without turning into a full-time CEO person, this episode is for you. We are going to walk through what link building really is, why local links matter so much for clinics, and then I'm going to give you a handful of strategies you can start using right away. By the end, you will know exactly where to look for link opportunities, what to ask for, and what to avoid so you don't get yourself in trouble with spammy tactics. Alright, let's jump in. What is link building and why does it matter for clinics? First, let's lay some foundation. I always like to give the high school example. Let's say that you were a freshman in high school and you were walking into high school for the first day and you know absolutely no one. In fact, people might even think you're a little bit of a dork. But your older senior brother is the varsity football star. And he walks through the hallway and he gives you a high five. All of a sudden, you're cool by association. That's the way I like to describe link building. When other websites link to your website, meaning that a website is linking to your website, not you, not your website linking out, but a website linking to your website. Google sees those links as votes of confidence. It's like other sites saying, hey, this clinic is a trusted source. You might want to pay attention to them. Now, not every vote is equal. A link from a local hospital, a respectable community organization, or a popular neighborhood blog is going to mean a lot more for a clinic than a random link from a directory from the other side of the country. That's where local link building comes in. Local link building is simply the process of earning links from other websites that are in your area and relevant to your patients or your services, or both. These local links help improve your organic rankings, strengthen your visibility in Google Maps that is controlled by your Google Business Profile listing, and what some people still refer to as Google My Business. They help support you in near me searches like near me name of service or service plus the name of the city, those types of rankings online. They help build trust with search engines and human visitors. The more relevant and reputable local sites that point to you, the easier it is for Google to believe that you are an important player in the community. Now, while local link building is one SEO strategy, there are a lot more SEO strategies. In fact, if you haven't taken the time to check out our free training on propelyourcompany.com, please do so by visiting there and watching the free webinar or free training where we go over all of the basics when it comes to SEO, including link building. But let's start to talk about some common mistakes and myths that clinics make when it comes to link building. Because before we dive into strategy, I want to clear up a few of these myths and mistakes that I see all the time. Number one, link building is just directory submissions. Directories are one piece of the puzzle. In fact, you've heard us talk a lot about quality directory submissions from your Google Business Profile listing to your Apple Maps listing to your Yelp listing, and the listings go on and on. We want those listings, and those are quality references that add to the mix, but we want to move on from there. You absolutely want to include those, but there's more to link building than just that. A myth that I oftentimes hear people say is that they just need more links. More links are always better, right? No, not necessarily. Quality is better than quantity, and having a handful of strong local links from trustworthy sites will usually be a hundred low-quality links from spammy or irrelevant sites. Here's another myth I hear is people thinking that they need to hire somebody to build links for them. In fact, when we do our discovery calls with clinics, oftentimes I hear them say, oh, well, we were working with this SEO company and they were working on building links, and really we don't know what they did or if it even did anything, but yeah, they were really focused on link building. And we go in and we look, and the links that are coming to their website are garbage. You do not want garbage links coming to your website. You can get a ton of traction just by organizing the relationships that you already have through referral partners, local businesses, charities, events you support, profession, professional associations, and local media. A big part of this episode is about how to turn those existing relationships into safe, sustainable links. Which leads us to the biggest issue I see. Again, when we talk to clinics on our discovery calls, can you hear them saying how they were working with companies that were quote unquote getting them tons of backlinks? If someone emails you or contacts you promising hundreds of backlinks for cheap, that is almost always a red flag. These are often low quality, automated, and part of a link network. You do not want your clinic associated with that. The other mistake I see is ignoring the local ecosystem. Many clinics do great work in the community and never ask for a link. They sponsor a team, they donate to a raffle, they host an event, they might even speak at a local organization. All of those are missed link opportunities if no one mentions or links the organization's website to yours. So, with those myths and mistakes out of the way, let's walk through specific strategies you can start to use right away. And it starts with relationships you already have. These are going to be your quick wins. This is often where clinics can pick up several good links in the next few weeks without a lot of extra work or effort. So grab out a piece of paper or your notes app, or if you're like me, grab your closest sticky note and make four mini lists. I want you to make four mini lists that include professional partners, local businesses, organizations and groups, vendors and tools. Let's break these down. Professional partners. These are people you already share patience with or who regularly refer you. Maybe it's another chiropractor or specialist or physical therapist or massage therapist, acupuncturist, personal trainers, midwives, dualists, nutritionists. Really, it depends on what your clinic offers. The biggest thing to ask yourself is do they have a website? Do they have a resource page or a partner page or a blog? If yes, this is where you can suggest something like a trusted partners or referral network page where you both list each other. A co-created blog post. For example, chiropractic and PT share five ways to recover faster from sports injuries with links to both clinics, or a simple line on their website, like we refer to insert your name of your clinic for chiropractic care in name of location and link to your site. You can help the outreach, super simple. For example, you can reach out to them and use this. We love sending patients your way for fill in the blank. And we get great feedback from them. If you ever have a place on your website to list us as a trusted partner, we would be honored to be included. If it helps, here's a short description you can copy and paste and a link you can use. You can also offer to list them on your website in a similar way. This makes a win-win for both sides. Next up, local businesses and organizations. So think about businesses and groups that share your ideal patient audience, even if they are not medical providers. For example, gyms and fitness studios, yoga and Pilates studios, local running or cycling shops, CrossFit gyms, corporate wellness partners, sports clubs, youth leagues, dance studios. Many of these businesses have partners or Friends of the Gym page, blog posts featuring local experts, event recap posts that list sponsors or presenters. If you are already collaborating, teaching workshops, or offering their members a discount, or offering their members a free workshop or anything of the sort, you can ask to be listed on their website with a link back to your site. If you are not collaborating yet, a simple way to open the door is to propose a joint workshop. A clinic comes to you injury prevention talk, a guest blog post tailored for their audience. You've got tons of ways to pitch this. The next part is to make sure that that pitch includes we would love to be featured on your website as a partner with a link back to our clinic site so your members can find us with these. Next up, we have organizations and groups. Think about your Chamber of Commerce, business networking groups, local rotaries or clubs, neighborhood associations, local schools or universities, especially if you're a if you sponsor an event or volunteer. Now, one thing that I kind of want to take a note about here is that sometimes people don't realize that if you're doing a sponsorship, especially if it's for like an EDU, a school, university, even if you're paying for that sponsorship and they're linking back to your site, that is still a local link that's coming in. And what I love about this segment, the organizations and the groups, is most of these have websites where they list members, sponsors, community partners, event speakers, etc. You want to make sure that your clinic profile is complete and it includes a link to your homepage or your main services page. Next up, we have vendors and tools, which is a category that really not that many people think about. So if there are tools, software, or products that you use, hand love. Sometimes you can get listed as a case study or featured customer. Think practice management software, online booking tools, or specialized equipment. You might reach out and say, We use your software in our clinic and we have seen fill-in-the-blank improvement. If you ever create case studies or customer spotlights, we would be happy to share what's working for us. If they feature you, that often comes with a juicy link. Now let's talk about directories and professional associations. These are more structured, but we want to be selective. You want to select listings that are reputable, relevant, often niched, and sometimes even location-based. Some examples could include your state or national professional associations, specialty associations for sports, pediatrics, prenatal, etc., local business directories from your city or county, Chamber of Commerce directories, quality healthcare specific directories. And a few quick tips for this. Make sure that your clinic name, address, and phone number and website are consistent with your Google Business Profile listing and your other listings online. Fill out your profiles completely where it matters. Use your main website URL or key service page if the directory allows that. This part is less glamorous, but these are the foundational links that validate your business info and support local SEO. So far, we've talked about asking for links based on relationships. Now let's shift to earning links by being genuinely useful for your local community. Think of this as creating content that others want to reference or share. Here are some ideas that work well for clinics. Creating local resource guides. An example could be the ultimate guide to back-friendly workspaces in Name of City, or new to whatever city you're in, 10 Places to Move Your Body and Reduce Stress, or a Parent's Guide to Youth Sports Injury Prevention in Name of City. In these guides, you naturally highlight and link to other local businesses, parks, trails, studios, and organizations. Once the guide is live, you can email that business or group you mentioned to let them know you featured them. You might say something like, We included name of business in our new guide to whatever the topic is in whatever the location is. Thanks for being such a great resource for the community. If you want to share with your audience, here's the link. Some of them will share on social media. Some may add it to their website, which can give you a link. This is also a really great resource to share if you're in some of those Facebook groups. Next up, we have event recaps and community spotlights. So if you sponsor a race, host a wellness fair, or do a talk for a local organization, you can write up a short recap that you add to your website, include photos, short recap, links to the event organizers or partnered businesses, then send the link to those partners and say, here's a recap of the event we did together in case you want to share the link to it. You are making it easy for them to reference you and your clinic. Another idea is to create a local how-to and seasonal content. Example, how to stay injury free during a specific event, or how to prepare your body for Boston's marathon, or how to protect your back during snow shoveling, right? These are great items to include as blog posts or content on your website. If these become the go-to resource for local events, organizations, and blogs, you are more likely to be linked from those to your website. Also, you can work with local media and blogs. So this might sound intimidating, but many local outlets are hungry for expert content and practical tips, especially around health and wellness. Here are a few places to look: local newspapers and magazines, both print and online, community lifestyle blogs, neighborhood news websites, local mom blogs or family-focused sites, and as always, university or community college blogs and newsletters. You can pitch a recurring health column, a one-time article on a timely topic, expert quotes for a story that they are already writing, or a QA style from a local expert. When you send your pitch, be sure to make it about their readers and what they will gain. Here's an example of a pitch. With Back to School Coming Up, I would love to share an article with three simple posture and backpack tips for kids in Louisville, Kentucky. I run a clinic that focuses on pediatric chiropractic care, and we see a lot of preventable issues that come from poor backpack habits. I can provide a short practical article that your readers can put into action right away. If they feature you, it often includes a short bio and a link back to your clinic's website. You can also keep an eye out for journalists and bloggers in your area who frequently write about health, lifestyle, or fitness, make a short list, follow them, and look for moments where they are clearly looking for local voices. Many clinics are already very active in the community. The missing link is the offline activity never translates into online signals. Here's a quick checklist of community involvement that can often become links. Sponsorships. And with sponsorships, even if you're paying for that sponsorship, it still counts as a link to your website. So sponsoring sports teams, donating to a school auction, supporting a charity event, hosting a blood drive, a health fair, or a wellness day, providing gift certificates for raffles, doing free talks or workshops. For these, ask, does the organization have a website? Do they have a sponsorship page, donor page, or event page? Will they list our clinic as a sponsor with a link back to our site? And if they see yes, be ready to send them your logo, a short description of your clinic, and the correct website URL. You can also document your involvement on your own website, for example, with a community page that highlights events and partnerships. That page then can be linked out to the community and organizations that you partner with, and you can send that to them as well. Before you chase every link possible, it helps to have a simple filter. When you're deciding whether a link is worth pursuing, ask yourself, is it relevant? Does the website have a logical connection to your clinic, your patients, or your local community? Is it reputable? Does it look like a real organization with real contact information and content, or does it look spammy? Is it local or is it niche relevant? Local organizations, professional associations, and niche health and wellness sites are usually great targets. And finally, would I want my patients to see us featured here? If the answer is no, skip it. If something feels shady or sketchy, such as we will link to you from hundreds of our websites if you pay us, run, run, run. In fact, many times, many, many times when we talk to clinics who book a discovery call, they might say that they had hired a company to do link building for them. And it ends up being such a mess because oftentimes they're targeting the wrong links. There's shady links that are coming into your website. And you want to make sure that you don't pay for a shady system like that. Now let's make it practical. I don't want you to leave this episode thinking I should do link building, and then nothing happens. So together, let's quickly map out a 90-day plan you can use. Month one, focus on quick wins. Make your four list partners, local businesses, organizations, and vendors. Identify 10 to 20 high priority contacts where a link would be logical. Draft a simple email template for each type of contact, and reach out to three contacts per week. Month two, focus on directories and content. Audit your existing directory listings, fill in any missing profile information, key associations, and local business directories are key for this. Create one local resource guide or one strong blog post that is specific to your city or neighborhood. And share, that's the most important part. Share that relative content that you made with local partners. And again, it's also a great resource to share in Facebook groups. Month three, focus on community and media. Identify two or three community events to support or get involved with. Okay, let's recap. Local link building is not about gaming the system. It's about showing Google that your clinic is a trusted part of your local community, turning real-world relationships and activity into online authority, and creating content and partnerships that genuinely serve your patients and neighbors. You can start by tapping into your existing referral network and partners, making sure your directories and association listings are complete, create useful local content that others want to reference, and leverage your community involvement and work with local media. You do not have to do this all at once. Pick a few strategies that start easy and build from there. That's it for today's episode. I hope you enjoyed it.