Local links increase your website's visibility, can bring relevant and converting traffic, are critical to a diverse profile, and could also help form in-person relationships, partnerships, and business opportunities.
Links from good local sites like your Chamber of Commerce aren't likely to get devalued and the sites don't tend to change hands every year or become totally spammed up (only to then get devalued or deindexed.)
See it on Scoop.it, via Google Places Optimization & Local SEO News
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