Separate local discovery from a link quota
Google's local ranking guidance discusses relevance, distance, and prominence. A link campaign cannot change where a searcher is located or make your service relevant to a job you do not provide.
Keep your service information and business profile accurate. Then investigate references that help local customers discover or understand your business.
Start with real connections
Professional associations, suppliers, community organizations, and relevant local publications may have a reason to cover your work. Check their editorial or membership requirements instead of assuming every connection owes you a link.
An electrician might contribute a useful explanation to a local home-maintenance resource. A bicycle shop might help a cycling organization explain repair options. Those are examples of reader benefit, not guaranteed placements.
Make the destination specific
A link about a particular service should lead to a page that explains that service and where it is available. Customers should not have to search a generic homepage for basic contact and coverage information.
We would avoid generating dozens of near-identical location pages merely to capture slightly different searches. Each page needs a real service relationship and useful local information.
Check whether the conversation is worth having
Read the resource and consider its audience. An unrelated site with a large authority score may be less useful than a maintained local guide serving real customers.
Track calls, inquiries, and relevant visits alongside confirmed coverage. Attribution may be incomplete, so do not describe every later inquiry as a direct result of one backlink.