You want more search power without playing whack a mole with spammy link schemes. Win a local award. You get awards backlinks. You get bragging rights. You get press. You get clicks from your Google Business Profile. You get customers who stop lurking and finally hit the book now button. This guide shows exactly how to pick the right contests, put together an entry that does not make judges nap, run a smart nomination push, then turn a win into links, revenue, and long term authority. Keep reading for tactics you can use this quarter, with templates you can copy, and zero fluff.
Why local awards move rankings
Local awards create two things search engines love. Credible editorial links plus clear proof of trust. That mix pushes your brand higher in maps and organic results. It also converts fence sitters on your site. Awards pages from newspapers, city mags, chambers, and associations often publish winners with profiles. Many of those pages link to winner sites. Those are editorial links. They signal authority from a relevant local source. If you want the deeper logic on why this mix matters to local rankings, see our take on how backlinks boost local SEO.
Quality raters are trained to look for reputation signals. Third party recognition counts. Search Engine Land highlights how rater guidance uses awards and expert reviews as credibility checks that feed into trust evaluation for E E A T. That means an award mention from a legit publisher does double duty as a link and a proof point in your brand story. Source for the rater angle lives at Search Engine Land.
As a real world example, look at the Austin Chronicle Best of Austin winners page. It lists categories, winners, and information that brands can turn into a profile, press, and links. That is the kind of page you target. Check it here for reference at Austin Chronicle.
Find award contests that work
Your goal is simple. Pick contests that actually publish winners on a live page. The kind that newsrooms link to later. The kind customers trust. You do not need a shelf full of trophies. You need a shortlist that delivers links, press, and sales chances. Start local, then go niche by industry.
Local media and city mags
Search for Best of City lists from city magazines, alt weeklies, and community papers. Use queries like Best of City nominate, City best industry winners, or nominate best of City. Scan the previous year winner pages. Look for clear winner listings with business names, short profiles, and links or at least contact info. If they publish a badge kit or winner media kit, even better. That signals they want winners to share. Shared content brings more mentions, which brings more links.
Chambers and associations
Local chambers of commerce, merchant associations, and industry groups run awards that carry trust in your market. Many provide member directories with profiles. Some include award notations on those profiles. Search for chamber awards nominees City or your trade association awards winners. Check whether winners get a page you can control or at least a profile that includes your URL.
Industry and vertical awards
Industry bodies often run regional or statewide awards. These can bring fewer public votes but much stronger editorial profiles. Think remodeler of the year, green builder awards, top dentist, best burger for food, or best clinic for healthcare. Each field has its own ecosystem. Look for organizers who published winners last year with full pages. Spot the ones that include your city or region in categories. Those are worth your time.
How to check link potential fast
Before you apply, test the odds that you will earn a link. Pick last year’s winners from the organizer site and inspect whether their names link to websites. Use your favorite SEO tool to check the organizer domain quality and past outbound links. If you need tool ideas, TechRadar has a simple roundup covering Ahrefs, Semrush, and Search Console that will do the job at TechRadar. If there is no public winners page, rethink the time or fee. You want public proof on a page that lives beyond event day.
Vet awards before you commit
Not every shiny badge helps your rankings or brand standing. Take ten minutes and run this screen. Start with the organizer. Is it a known publisher, city mag, chamber, or recognized trade group. If you are not sure, search for past press mentions about their awards. Newspaper sites and local TV sometimes pick these up. That helps with your later outreach too.
Next, review the winners page. Does it list finalists or only winners. Is there a public archive you can cite and link to later. Do winners or finalists get profile pages. Do those profiles include website links. If the page blocks links or hides them behind scripts that never crawl, be wary. Some winner pages include only an image badge kit without a profile page. That is useful for social proof, but it does not feed your link goals.
Fees deserve scrutiny. Entry fees can be normal for industry awards. Public vote lists usually skip fees or keep them minimal. If the price is high plus the organizer never publishes a robust winners page, call it what it is. A paid marketing vanity play. That can still help with trust on your site, but it will likely not help your link goals.
Finally, check voting transparency. Ballots with clear timelines and results pages tend to generate more press. Editors like clean stories they can cite without awkward caveats. That matters when you pitch after the win.
Write entries that win judges
Your entry has one job. Make it easy for a judge or editor to write one short paragraph that flatters your team. Give them proof. Give them a quote. Give them a clean photo that looks great on a phone. Use simple copy. Avoid buzzwords. Keep it clear and specific.
Lead with your differentiator in the category. A home service team might cite response time, number of jobs completed locally, and a charity partnership that gives back to the same city. A restaurant might cite a top selling dish, a short ingredient story, and a Food Bank tie in. Service businesses can cite five star review percentage and a staffing stat that shows growth. Retail can cite a customer count, a unique product line, or speed of curbside pickup.
Support with social proof. Pull one short customer review excerpt with the customer first name and neighborhood if allowed. Link to your Google reviews page if the rules allow links. Judges and editors love clean proof that reads fast.
Package your assets. Include one logo in a square format, one exterior photo, one team photo, and a short blurb under sixty words. Add a link to a press kit page on your site that includes contact name, phone, email, and a high res photo folder. Many organizers will paste your blurb as is. Make that blurb tight. Offer one quote from the owner that mentions the city by name. Yes, you are feeding them words. Yes, that is exactly why they will use them.
Run a nomination drive that converts
If the award uses public nominations or voting, give your audience a one click path. Ask fans for a favor. Make them feel part of the team. Keep it simple and legal. If incentives are allowed, use a small thank you like a discount or a surprise gift at pickup. If the rules forbid incentives, do not try to sneak it. It can get you disqualified. No trophy for best excuse.
Add a call to action on your homepage and at the top of your key service pages. Link straight to the ballot. Pre write two lines of nominee text that fans can paste. Give your staff a short script for phone calls and in person asks. Post on social with a clean graphic and one line caption. Use UTM parameters on your links so you can track traffic and conversions in your analytics. Keep a simple calendar. Collect testimonials and photos two to three weeks ahead. Push hardest in the final week.
Customer nomination email
Subject Quick favor for the team in City
Body Thank you for being part of our story. We are up for Best Category in City and would be grateful for your nomination. It takes less than a minute. Tap the link below. Paste the text under it. Submit your vote. Show us your confirmation at checkout for a small thank you.
Nominee text to paste I nominate Business Name for Best Category in City for fast service, friendly people, and great value. I have been a customer since Year and they always deliver.
Nomination link Your short link with UTM tags
Social caption example
City, you rock. Nominations are open. Help us bring this one home. Tap the link in bio or the Story sticker to nominate Business Name for Best Category. We will be grinning all week.
GBP post example
Use your Google Business Profile to make announcements that show up in Search and Maps. Google says businesses can post updates, events, offers, and product news. Keep the first one hundred characters strong since that is what shows first. Check the official guidance at Google Business Profile Help.
Title Proud to be named Best Category in City
Body We are honored to be voted Best Category in City. Thank you to our amazing customers. Stop by this week for a small celebration treat.
CTA Learn more
Link Your award landing page on your site
Include a square photo of your team holding the award or a clean shot of the certificate. Add the badge to your Photo section. Mention the award in your Description. For broader profile clean up and quick wins, use our Google Business Profile tips.
Turn wins into links and revenue
Winning feels good. Banking the value feels even better. Stack actions in the first seven days. Then keep squeezing for the next month. Think in three lanes. Your site. Your profiles. Your press.
Badge placement that sells
Add the award badge on your homepage hero below the primary call to action. Add it near the top of your service pages and on your About page. Link the badge to the organizer winner page if they published one with your name. Create a short award landing page on your site that recaps the win, shows the badge, includes one paragraph about what it means for customers, and gives a next step button. This page is the link target for your GBP post and any press mentions. For more placement tips and other conversion tweaks, see our guide to adding trust signals to your site.
Organizer links and assets
Email the organizer to say thank you. Offer a clean logo, a sixty word blurb, and a team photo. Ask them to add your website link to the winners page if it is missing. Many will do it. They want their winners to look great, which makes their pages more useful.
Press and outreach that sticks
Local outlets love stories with a clear local benefit. Write a short press pitch that leads with human impact, not just a trophy. If you served X number of local families last year, include that. If you will donate a portion of sales this week to a local cause, say so. Include your award landing page link and quote. Send to the business desk at your daily paper, the editor at your city mag, and any niche blogs in your field.
Want higher authority links as a bonus. Reply to relevant journalist requests with a short bio and your award in the credibility line. HARO style outreach works for this when used with restraint. Ahrefs has a usable guide with proof of placements at Ahrefs HARO guide. Keep your replies short. Lead with value, add your award as a trust tag, then close with a source link to your site.
Partners and happy customers
Ask your best referral partners to add a short mention on their websites. Vendor pages. Preferred partner lists. Community pages. A single line like Preferred vendor Business Name, winner of Best Category in City with a link to your site. These mentions send referral traffic that converts at a high rate because trust is baked in.
Monitor and reclaim mentions
Set up alerts for your brand name plus the award title. Use Google Alerts, Ahrefs Alerts, or any brand watch tool you like. When a mention pops without a link, send a polite note asking them to add a link to your award page. Many editors will help if you ask nicely and provide the exact URL. Save screenshots of the organizer page that lists you as a winner. If a page changes later, you still have proof you can reference.
Add award data in structured markup
Give search engines a clean way to parse your award claim on your site using Organization schema with the award property. Add JSON LD on your About page or your award landing page. Then validate using the Rich Results test. Reference docs live on Schema.org and Google Search Central.
Copy this minimal JSON LD object and add your details. Then wrap it in a script tag in your CMS if you prefer that method.
{
“@context”: “https://schema.org”,
“@type”: “Organization”,
“name”: “Your Business Name”,
“url”: “https://yourdomain.com”,
“award”: “Best Category, Organizer, 2025”
}
Keep the award text short. Stick to one line per award. If you have multiple awards, add them as an array under the award property.
Measure the payoff
You need proof this work drives results. Track three streams. Links. Visibility. Sales actions. Start with links. Add newly acquired linking domains to a simple sheet. Pull them with Ahrefs or Semrush weekly for the first month. Note the source, the URL that links, and the anchor text if relevant. For referral traffic, use GA4 and filter by each organizer or press domain. Tag your homepage badge link so you can report how many people clicked the badge to the organizer page. That tells a nice story when you thank them later.
On your Google Business Profile, watch views and actions on your post. Track clicks to your award landing page. Track calls from Maps for the week after the post. If you use call tracking, tag this window so you can attribute more clearly. On your site, measure conversion rate on pages where you added badges. If you started with no badges, the lift can be immediate. A thin slice of trust can push visitors to take the next step.
KPIs to watch for this program include number of award related linking domains, referral conversions from award and press pages, post views and clicks, and the change in branded search volume. Tie gains from award links to your local position improvements by checking your map pack and local organic ranks weekly. For the logic that connects link authority to local rankings, revisit our explanation of how backlinks boost local SEO. Keep in mind that multiple small signals stack into a bigger effect over time. Awards add both a link signal and a sales signal, so you get two wins for the same effort.
Mini case example in Austin
Picture a local coffee shop in Austin nominated for Best Coffee in the Austin Chronicle Best of Austin. They scan the previous year page and see winners listed with a short write up. They spot that the page links to some websites. Good sign. They put together an entry with a line about their house roast sourced from a Texas farm, a five star average from four hundred plus reviews, and a quote from the owner about supporting local artists with First Friday shows.
They run a clean nomination campaign with a single link in bio and a Story sticker. Their email asks regulars for a quick nomination. They place a small sign by the register with a QR code. In the final week they post a fun team photo with a caption that asks for one minute of support. The Austin Chronicle announces finalists. They add a GBP post with a team shot and a link to their award page on their site. That award page includes the story behind their roast and a book now button for tasting events.
They win the category. They email the Chronicle editor to say thank you and to ask for a link on the winners page if missing. They send a logo and a blurb. They pitch a short note to the Austin Business Journal and the local community site that covers their neighborhood. Both pick it up with a link. They add the badge to their homepage, menu page, and the About page. The badge links to the Chronicle winners page. Within a month they add three new linking domains. Their Maps actions climb. Their tasting events sell out for two weeks. That is a clean example of how awards turn into backlinks, visibility, and cash in the drawer.
Templates you can copy
Use these assets the minute you get a nomination or a win. Keep them short. Keep them warm. Make the editor’s and the organizer’s lives easy.
Outreach email to the organizer
Subject Thanks from Business Name, Best Category winner
Body Hi Organizer Name, our team is thrilled to be named Best Category in City. We are grateful for the recognition and your work to lift local businesses. If it helps your page, we are happy to provide a high res logo, a team photo, and a short blurb below. Would you be open to adding our website link on the winners page. It will help customers find us and will keep your page useful for readers.
Blurb Business Name serves City with Category service that blends speed, friendly staff, and fair pricing. Founded in Year, we focus on great work and great care for neighbors.
Link https colon slash slash yourdomain dot com
Thank you again for supporting local business.
Owner Name
Title
Phone
Email
Short press release outline
Headline Business Name named Best Category in City
Lead Business Name won Best Category in City for Year, reflecting customer support, consistent service, and local impact.
Body Paragraph one gives quick context on the award and organizer. Paragraph two includes a quote from the owner that mentions the team and what the win means for customers. Paragraph three mentions a community tie in such as a donation or an event for customers. Include your award landing page link for details.
Media Link to a folder with photos and your logo. Add contact info.
Award landing page content
Title on page Thank you City. We won Best Category
Intro One short paragraph with gratitude and what the award means for customers.
Proof A review excerpt and a small stat like number of reviews or years serving the city.
CTA Book now or Call now button near the top. Add a second CTA under the first paragraph.
Quick checklist
- Find award organizers that publish winners on live pages. Use city mags, chambers, and industry groups.
- Vet for profile pages with website links and solid editorial quality.
- Prepare entries with proof, a quote, clean photos, a logo, and a short blurb.
- Run nomination asks with a one click path and a simple calendar.
- After the win, add badges to key pages, publish a GBP post, pitch press, and ask the organizer to link.
- Add JSON LD award data to your site then validate in the Rich Results test.
- Track new links, referral traffic, GBP actions, and conversions on pages with badges.
Common pitfalls to avoid
Do not buy fake awards. If an award exists only in ads with no public history, skip it. Do not spam nominations with copied comments that look robotic. Judges notice. Do not bury your badge at the bottom of a page with a thousand words of fluff. Put it where visitors will see it without scrolling. Do not forget to request a link. Many organizers will happily add it if you ask nicely. Do not promise incentives if the rules forbid them. The quickest way to lose a trophy is to break the rules in public.
Tool stack for this play
You can do this with a light toolkit. Ahrefs or Semrush for link checks and alerts. Google Search Console to confirm links and crawl status. GA4 for referral and conversion data. A simple image editor for badge placement and social graphics. If you want a list of tools at a glance, TechRadar’s list gives a simple starting point at TechRadar. Keep your process in a shared doc with dates for nominations, voting, winner announcements, and your planned outreach windows.
Why this works long term
Awards links tend to live for years. That builds trust that compounds over time. Your award badge boosts conversion rate on your site because people love proof they can see without thinking too hard. Your GBP post turns searchers into callers at the moment they are deciding. Your press mentions bring referral traffic that behaves like a warm referral from a friend. Stack two to three quality awards each year. Keep your award page fresh with a short update and a new photo. Use the win as a reason to reach out to customers and partners. This is steady, repeatable, and profitable.
If you want someone to build the shortlist, craft entries that pop, run the nomination drive, then squeeze every last link out of the win, Rep Lock Marketing does this with clients across home services, healthcare, food and drink, and retail. We are shameless about two things. Real results. Real coffee.
