How to Get Backlinks: 10 Proven Ways to Earn Links That Rank

The short answer: you get backlinks by giving other websites a genuine reason to link to you. In practice that means publishing something worth citing, then putting it in front of the right people through guest posts, digital PR, broken-link and resource-page outreach, local partnerships and reclaiming brand mentions you already have.

Key takeaways

• One relevant link from a real, trafficked site is worth more than dozens of links from unrelated or low-quality sites.
• The most dependable methods are guest posting, digital PR with original data, broken link building, resource pages and local partnerships.
• Your site has to be link-worthy first: useful pages, a clear brand and no technical problems.
• Avoid link schemes. Google’s spam policies treat paid or exchanged links that pass ranking credit as link spam unless they are marked rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow".
• Build steadily, track referring domains, and judge results over months, not days.

This guide is part of our complete guide to backlinks. If you are new to the topic, start with what backlinks are and why they matter for SEO.

What makes a backlink worth getting?

Not every link helps. Before you spend time on outreach, it helps to know what separates a valuable link from a useless one. Four qualities matter most:

• Relevance. The linking page is about something close to your topic. A link to a plumbing business from a home-improvement site makes sense; a link from a casino blog does not. Read more in our guide to link relevance.
• Authority and trust. The site has its own links, real traffic and an editorial standard. See link authority and link trust.
• Placement. A link inside the body of an article, surrounded by related text, carries more weight than a link in a footer, sidebar or author box.
• Natural anchor text. The clickable words describe the page honestly. Exact-match keyword anchors on every link look manipulative; our anchor text guide explains a safer mix.

Count referring domains, not raw link totals. Ten links from ten different relevant sites usually beat a hundred links from one site.

Before you build: make your site link-worthy

Outreach works far better when the page you are pitching deserves a link. Three things make the difference:

1. Create at least one linkable asset. Original data, a free tool, a detailed how-to, a local resource list or a clear explainer. People link to things that save them work or support their own point.
2. Fix the basics. Pages load quickly, work on mobile, return a 200 status and have no broken internal links. Nobody wants to link to a page that errors.
3. Make your brand easy to verify. A real About page, contact details and named authors. Editors check who you are before they link.

10 proven ways to get backlinks

1. Guest posting on relevant sites

You write a genuinely useful article for another site in your niche, and it includes a contextual link back to a relevant page on yours. It works because the host gets free content and you get a link plus exposure to their readers. Pick sites with real traffic and an audience that overlaps with yours, and write the article as if no link were involved. Our guest posting guide covers finding sites, pitching and writing.

For country-targeted rankings, place guest posts on sites in that market and language. A German business gains more from links on German-language .de sites than from English blogs; see our pages on German backlinks, UK backlinks and USA backlinks, or browse backlinks by country.

2. Digital PR and original data

Journalists and bloggers link to sources. If you publish a small survey, an analysis of your own data, or a clear chart of a trend in your industry, you give them something to cite. Pitch the one finding that is genuinely new, with the chart attached. This is the method most likely to earn links from news and high-authority sites. See how it works in practice in our guide to digital PR in the US, and in digital PR links.

3. Broken link building

Find pages in your niche that link to content that no longer exists, then suggest your own page as a working replacement. You are helping the site owner fix a problem, which makes the request easy to say yes to. You need a page that genuinely covers what the dead link used to. The full method is in broken link building.

4. Resource page link building

Many sites keep curated lists of useful links: “resources for first-time buyers”, “tools for small business owners”, “local services in Leeds”. If your page fits the list, a short, specific email asking to be considered often works. See resource page links.

5. Improve on content that already earns links

Find a page in your niche that has attracted many links, then publish something clearly better: more current, more complete or easier to use. Contact the sites linking to the original and show them the update. This is often called the skyscraper technique. It only works if your version is genuinely better.

6. Reclaim unlinked brand mentions

Search for your brand, product or founder’s name. Where a site mentions you without linking, a polite note asking them to add the link has a high success rate, because they already chose to mention you. Do the same for links that point to pages you have moved or deleted. More in link reclamation.

7. Study your competitors’ backlinks

Use a backlink checker to see which sites link to the businesses that outrank you. Some of those sites will link to anyone who meets their criteria: directories, associations, review sites, podcasts and roundups. That gives you a ready-made target list. See competitor backlink analysis.

8. Local citations and local partnerships

For businesses that serve an area, links from local sites carry real weight: chambers of commerce, local news, community groups, event sponsors, suppliers and complementary businesses. Consistent business listings (citations) support this. Start with local backlinks and local citations. If you target a specific country, links from sites on that country’s domain help too, as covered in our USA backlinks guide and German backlinks guide.

Keep your business name, address and phone number identical on every listing. Our free NAP consistency checker compares two listings for you.

9. Become an expert source

Journalists post requests for expert comment on platforms built for that purpose. Answering quickly with a specific, quotable insight can earn links from major publications. Treat it like a regular habit, not a one-off; most answers will not be used, but the ones that are can be very strong. See HARO-style link building.

10. Niche edits on existing articles

A niche edit adds a link to an article that is already published and indexed, where your page adds something useful for the reader. The link appears on a page that already has age and, often, its own links. Read niche edits and our comparison of niche edits vs guest posts.

Which method should you start with?

Method	Effort	Speed	Typical link quality	Best for
Guest posting	Medium	Weeks	Good when sites are relevant	Most businesses
Digital PR and data	High	Weeks to months	Very high	Brands with data or a story
Broken link building	Medium	Weeks	Good	Sites with strong evergreen pages
Resource pages	Low	Days to weeks	Good	Useful guides and tools
Improving top content	High	Months	High	Competitive topics
Brand mention reclamation	Low	Days	Good	Known brands
Local citations and partners	Low	Days to weeks	Good for local rankings	Local businesses
Expert sourcing	Medium	Ongoing	Very high when used	Specialists and founders

A sensible default: start with local citations and brand mentions for quick wins, run guest posting steadily for consistent links, and add one digital PR idea per quarter for the high-authority links.

What to avoid

Some shortcuts still get sold as “link building” but can hurt you. Google’s spam policies list the main ones under link spam:

• Buying or selling links that pass ranking credit, unless they are marked as sponsored or nofollow. Google explains the attributes in its guide to qualifying outbound links, and we cover them in rel=”sponsored” and rel=”ugc” explained.
• Private blog networks and sites that exist only to sell links.
• Large-scale link exchanges (“link to me and I’ll link to you”).
• Automated links from comments, forums or profile spam.
• Guest posts on unrelated sites stuffed with exact-match keyword anchors.

If you inherited links like these, our guide to toxic backlinks and the disavow tool explains when to act and when to leave them alone. For a broader view of risk, see how to avoid Google penalties.

How many backlinks do you need, and how fast?

There is no universal number. The useful question is how many relevant referring domains the pages that outrank you have, and how big the gap is. Our guide to how many backlinks you need to rank walks through the competitor-gap method.

On pace, steady and natural beats sudden. A new site that jumps from five referring domains to five hundred in a month looks unusual. Build at a rate you can sustain, vary your anchors, and let results guide your next step. See link velocity and anchor text ratios.

A simple 90-day backlink plan

1. Weeks 1–2: audit your current links with a backlink checker, fix broken pages, and set up consistent business listings.
2. Weeks 2–4: claim unlinked brand mentions and pitch five relevant resource pages.
3. Weeks 3–12: publish one guest post a week on relevant sites with real traffic.
4. Weeks 4–8: build one linkable asset, such as a small data study or a free checklist.
5. Weeks 8–12: pitch that asset to journalists and bloggers, and run broken-link outreach around it.
6. Every month: review new and lost referring domains, rankings for target pages, and organic traffic.

How to tell if it is working

Track three things monthly: the number of relevant referring domains, rankings for the specific pages you built links to, and organic traffic to those pages. Links usually take several weeks to be discovered and counted, and ranking movement often lags further, so judge over a quarter. Google Search Console’s links report shows the sites Google has seen linking to you, and a third-party backlink checker fills in the detail. A healthy backlink profile grows steadily with links from varied, relevant sites.

FAQ

How do I get backlinks to my website?

Create a page worth linking to, then reach out to relevant sites through guest posts, digital PR, broken-link and resource-page outreach, local partnerships and brand-mention reclamation. Focus on relevant, trafficked sites and natural anchor text.

How can I get backlinks for free?

Most methods cost time rather than money: reclaiming unlinked mentions, resource pages, broken link building, local partnerships, expert sourcing and guest posts on sites that accept contributions. Free tools such as Google Search Console help you track the results.

What is the fastest way to get backlinks?

Reclaiming unlinked brand mentions and setting up accurate local and industry listings are usually the quickest. For strong links, digital PR can be fast when a story lands, but it is less predictable.

Are paid backlinks bad?

Paying for a placement is not illegal, but links bought to pass ranking credit break Google’s spam policies unless they carry rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow". Read our guide to buying backlinks before you spend money.

How long do backlinks take to work?

New links are usually discovered within a few weeks, and ranking effects often show over one to three months. Competitive keywords take longer, and results compound as you keep building.

Bringing it together

Getting backlinks is mostly about relevance and consistency: one useful page, a list of sites whose readers would genuinely benefit, and a steady routine of outreach. If you would rather have it done for you, our link building services place contextual links on relevant, real sites in your target country, or you can ask us for a free audit to see where your biggest gaps are.