How to Get Backlinks for Your Website (Safely)
Backlinks are still one of the strongest signals that a site is trustworthy — and the hardest part of SEO for a new site. These 12 strategies earn links the way Google wants: by creating something worth linking to and telling the right people about it.
Earn backlinks by creating linkable assets (free tools, original data, definitive guides), then promoting them: pitch journalists and bloggers, fix broken links with your content, claim unlinked brand mentions, get listed on relevant resource pages and directories, share expert quotes, and write guest content for relevant sites. Avoid buying links, link exchanges and private blog networks — Google treats them as spam.
What counts as a good backlink
A link from a real, relevant site that a person chose to add because your page helps their readers. Relevance and trust matter far more than the number of links or any third-party “authority” score. One link from a respected site in your niche is worth more than hundreds from random directories.
What Google considers link spam
Google's spam policies call out link schemes: buying or selling links that pass ranking credit, excessive link exchanges (“link to me and I'll link to you”), large-scale guest posting or article campaigns with keyword-rich anchors, private blog networks (PBNs), and automated link-building programs. Paid and sponsored links are fine only if marked rel="sponsored" (or nofollow). Spammy links at best do nothing and at worst trigger a manual action.
1–3. Build linkable assets
1. Free tools and calculators: people link to useful tools from articles, guides and forums, for years. If your site offers tools, each one is a link magnet — make them genuinely better than alternatives.
2. Original data and research: surveys, studies and industry statistics get cited by journalists and bloggers who need a source.
3. The definitive guide: the most complete, up-to-date resource on a topic in your niche, with clear visuals people want to reference.
4–6. Promote to people who link
4. Digital PR: pitch a newsworthy angle from your data or tool to journalists and niche publications.
5. Expert quote platforms: respond to journalist requests for sources on platforms such as Qwoted, Featured and Source of Sources. A quoted expert usually gets a link.
6. Podcast and interview guesting: hosts almost always link to guests' sites in show notes.
7–9. Find existing link opportunities
7. Unlinked brand mentions: search for your brand or tool name; when a site mentions you without linking, ask politely for the link.
8. Broken link building: find broken outbound links on relevant pages, then suggest your page as a working replacement.
9. Resource pages: many sites keep “useful tools” or “resources” pages — if yours genuinely fits, ask to be included.
10–12. Foundations for new sites
10. Relevant directories and profiles: your Google Business Profile, industry associations, reputable niche directories and product listings like tool directories. Skip mass “SEO directory” submissions.
11. Genuinely helpful community participation: answer questions on forums and communities where your audience is, and link to your resource only when it truly answers the question. Most of these links are nofollow, but they drive real visitors, who can link later.
12. Guest content on relevant sites: write something useful for a site your audience reads, with a natural link back — not a bulk campaign of keyword-anchor posts.
Make the most of every link
Point internal links from pages that earn backlinks to your important pages, so the value flows through your site. Keep the linked pages fast, accurate and up to date — a link to a page that later breaks or goes stale is a link lost. Track new links in Google Search Console's Links report.
Before outreach, make sure the page you're promoting is in great shape: run it through the SEO Checker and On-Page SEO Checker.
Try Free Web Tools Mentioned in This Guide
SEO Checker
Audit any page's SEO — meta tags, headings, content, images, links, schema and technical health.
On-Page SEO Checker
Check how well a page targets a keyword — title, H1, first paragraph, URL, headings and density.
SEO Score Checker
Get a page's SEO score out of 100 — and compare it side by side with a competitor.
Keyword Research Tool
Find real keyword ideas from Google Autocomplete — with search intent for every keyword.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many backlinks do I need to rank?↓
There's no fixed number. It depends on the competition — look at the pages ranking for your keyword. Relevant, trusted links matter far more than quantity.
Are nofollow links useless?↓
No. They can still send real traffic and visibility, and Google treats nofollow as a hint. A natural link profile includes both.
Should I buy backlinks?↓
No. Buying links that pass ranking credit violates Google's spam policies and can lead to a manual penalty. Paid placements must use rel="sponsored".
How long do backlinks take to affect rankings?↓
Usually weeks to months, after Google recrawls the linking page and reassesses yours. Link building is a long-term investment.