How to Get Backlinks [2023]

If you’re a website owner or content creator, then you’re likely familiar with the term “backlinks.” 

Backlinks, also known as inbound links, are links that point to your website from other websites. 

They are a critical factor in improving your website’s search engine rankings and driving traffic to your site.

However, obtaining high-quality backlinks can be a challenge, especially if you’re new to the world of SEO. 

In this article, we’ll explore some of the most effective strategies for getting backlinks.

Find Backlink Opportunities With Top Referral Sources

One of the best ways to get high-quality backlinks is to find the top referral sources in your industry and create content that is tailored to their audience. 

This could be a blog post, infographic, or video that provides value to their readers or viewers.

For example, if you run a fitness blog, you could create an infographic that shows the top 10 exercises for building muscle. 

Then, you could reach out to fitness websites and offer them the infographic for free in exchange for a backlink.

Use Outbound Links To Form Partnerships

Another way to get backlinks is to use outbound links strategically. 

When you link to other websites in your content, you’re creating a valuable resource for your readers. 

If the content is high-quality, then the website owner may notice and reciprocate by linking back to your site.

For example, if you write a blog post about the best coffee shops in your city, you could link to the coffee shop’s website. 

Then, you could reach out to the coffee shop owner and let them know about the link. They may decide to link back to your site in return.

Use Google Search Console Reports To Get Backlinks

Google Search Console is a free tool provided by Google that allows you to monitor your website’s performance in the search results. 

It also provides a report on the backlinks that are currently pointing to your site.

Using this report, you can identify websites that are linking to your content and reach out to them to see if they’re willing to link to your site in the future.

Spy On Your Competitors

One of the most effective ways to get backlinks is to spy on your competitors and see where they’re getting their backlinks. 

You can use tools like Ahrefs, SEMRush, or Moz to analyze your competitor’s backlink profile.

Once you’ve identified their backlink sources, you can reach out to those websites and see if they’re willing to link to your site as well.

Find Broken Links To Build Backlinks

Another effective strategy for getting backlinks is to find broken links on other websites and offer your content as a replacement. 

This strategy is known as “broken link building.”

You can use tools like Broken Link Checker or Check My Links to find broken links on other websites. 

Then, you can reach out to the website owner and let them know about the broken link. Offer your content as a replacement and ask for a backlink in return.

Create High-Quality Content That’s Link-Worthy

Creating high-quality content that is unique, informative, and valuable to your target audience is one of the best ways to attract backlinks naturally.

For example, if you run a food blog, you could create a recipe for a unique dish that has never been seen before. 

If the recipe is high-quality and provides value to your readers, other food bloggers may link to it as a resource.

Publish A Skyscraper Content

Skyscraper content is a strategy that involves identifying content that is already popular in your industry and creating something even better. 

This could be a longer, more comprehensive article, an infographic with more data, or a video with better production value.

The goal of skyscraper content is to provide a more valuable resource than what’s currently available, making it more likely that other websites will link to it.

For example, if you find that there’s a popular article on “10 Tips for Running a Successful Blog,” you could create a “20 Tips for Running a Successful Blog” article with more detailed and actionable tips.

Use Infographics To Capture Backlinks

Infographics are a great way to capture backlinks because they are easy to read, visually appealing, and provide valuable information. 

Infographics can also be shared on social media, which can help increase their reach and visibility.

For example, if you run a marketing blog, you could create an infographic that explains the latest trends in digital marketing. 

You could then reach out to other marketing bloggers and offer the infographic as a resource for their readers.

Write Testimonials

If you’ve used a product or service that you’re happy with, you could write a testimonial and offer it to the company in exchange for a backlink. 

Companies are always looking for testimonials to use on their website or in their marketing materials, so this strategy can be effective.

For example, if you’ve had a great experience with a web hosting company, you could write a testimonial and offer it to them. In return, they may link back to your website from their testimonials page.

Use Help A Reporter Out (Haro)

Help a Reporter Out (HARO) is a platform that connects journalists with sources for their articles. 

As a content creator or website owner, you can sign up as a source and receive requests from journalists for quotes, insights, or opinions on a particular topic.

By responding to these requests and providing valuable insights, you can get backlinks from high-authority websites that feature your quotes or insights in their articles.

Start Guest Blogging

Guest blogging is a strategy that involves writing blog posts for other websites in your industry in exchange for a backlink. 

This strategy can be effective because it allows you to tap into the audience of other websites and reach new readers.

How To Find Guest Blogging Opportunities For Backlinks

For example, if you run a travel blog, you could write a guest post for a popular travel website that shares tips on traveling on a budget. 

In return, you could include a backlink to your own website in the author bio.

Take Part In Interviews

Taking part in interviews is another way to get backlinks and increase your website’s visibility. 

You can reach out to industry experts or influencers and ask if they’re willing to interview you for their website or podcast.

During the interview, you can provide valuable insights or tips and include a backlink to your website in your bio or in the show notes.

Do Guest Appearances On Podcasts

Similar to interviews, guest appearances on podcasts can help increase your visibility and attract backlinks. 

You can reach out to podcast hosts in your industry and offer to be a guest on their show.

During the podcast, you can provide valuable insights or tips and include a backlink to your website in the show notes or in the podcast description.

Participate In Different Forums

Participating in online forums and communities can also help you get backlinks and increase your website’s visibility. 

By providing valuable insights or tips, you can establish yourself as an authority in your industry and attract backlinks.

For example, if you run a finance blog, you could participate in forums related to personal finance and provide tips on budgeting or saving money. 

You could then include a backlink to your website in your forum signature or in your responses.

List Your Site On Resource Pages

Many websites have resource pages that list helpful websites, tools, or resources in their industry. 

By getting your website listed on these pages, you can attract backlinks and increase your website’s visibility.

To find resource pages in your industry, you can use search operators like “industry keyword + resources” or “industry keyword + useful links” in Google search. 

Once you find relevant resource pages, reach out to the website owners and ask if they’re willing to include your website on their list.

5 Steps To Get Quality Backlinks For Free

In the world of search engine optimization (SEO), backlinks are an important factor in determining a website’s ranking on search engine results pages. 

Backlinks are links from other websites that point to your website, indicating to search engines that your website is a credible source of information. 

In this article, we will discuss 5 steps to get quality backlinks for free.

Step One: Find What People Are Linking To

The first step in getting quality backlinks is to find out what content people are already linking to. 

You can use tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush to analyze your competitors’ backlink profiles and identify the pages on their website that are receiving the most backlinks.

This will give you an idea of what types of content are popular in your industry and what topics you should be focusing on.

Step Two: Find Out Who’s Linking

Once you’ve identified the pages that are receiving the most backlinks, you need to find out who is linking to them. 

You can use Ahrefs or SEMrush to analyze the backlinks pointing to these pages and identify the websites that are linking to them. 

This will give you a list of potential websites to reach out to for backlinks.

Step Three: Find Out Why People Are Linking

The next step is to find out why people are linking to the pages on your competitors’ websites. 

This will help you create content that is more likely to attract backlinks. 

Look at the content on these pages and try to identify what makes it unique or valuable. 

Is it a comprehensive guide? Does it include original research? Once you’ve identified what makes the content valuable, you can use that information to create your own content.

How To Create Unique SEO Content That Ranks #1

Step Four: Create The Bait

The fourth step is to create content that is link-worthy. 

This could be a blog post, a comprehensive guide, or an original research study. 

The key is to create something that is valuable and unique, and that will make people want to link to it. 

Make sure your content is well-written and well-researched, and that it provides value to your target audience.

Step Five: Pimp Your Content

The final step is to promote your content to attract backlinks. 

There are several ways to do this, including reaching out to websites that are linking to similar content and asking them to link to your content instead, sharing your content on social media, and guest posting on other websites. 

The key is to get your content in front of as many people as possible so that they have the opportunity to link to it.

FAQS

What Is The Easiest Way To Get Backlinks?

There is no easy way to get quality backlinks. 

However, some ways that may be considered relatively easier include creating high-quality content that is link-worthy, reaching out to bloggers and influencers in your industry, and participating in forums or online communities related to your niche.

How Do I Create A Backlink For SEO?

To create a backlink for SEO, you need to get other websites to link back to your website. This can be done by creating valuable and informative content that other websites would want to link to, reaching out to bloggers and influencers in your industry to request a link, or participating in online communities and forums to promote your website.

Is It Illegal To Buy Backlinks?

It is not illegal to buy backlinks, but it is against Google’s guidelines. 

Buying backlinks can result in penalties from search engines, which can harm your website’s ranking and reputation.

How Do I Get Backlinks Like SEO Pro?

To get backlinks like an SEO pro, you need to create valuable and unique content that people would want to link to, reach out to bloggers and influencers in your industry, participate in online communities and forums, and use other SEO tactics such as guest posting and broken link building.

Can You Pay For Backlinks?

Yes, you can pay for backlinks, but it is not recommended as it violates Google’s guidelines and can result in penalties. 

Instead, it is better to focus on creating valuable content and building relationships with bloggers and influencers in your industry.

Are SEO Backlinks Worth It?

Yes, SEO backlinks are worth it as they are an important factor in determining a website’s ranking on search engine results pages. 

Backlinks from high-quality websites can increase your website’s credibility and authority, and help drive traffic to your website.

We’re going to take a good look at how to get backlinks.

To begin with, we’ll take a look at whether you should buy backlinks. Or if you should actually build them yourself. 

Later on, we will also cover a few methods that’ll teach you how to get backlinks from high-authority sites. Some of these methods you might already be familiar with, but others, such as method #3, might be new to you. 

By the way, these backlink methods don’t really cost any money. And so if you’re interested in how to get backlinks for free, you should definitely check these methods out. 

I’ve personally had a lot of success with these methods. And in some of the examples, I’ll go over actual case study results that highlight what I’ve been able to achieve for my clients and myself. 

So, that includes actual link placements and even traffic improvements that occurred as a result of landing these links.

Method #1 –HARO Backlinks

The first method we’re going to focus on here is called “HARO link building.” 

HARO stands for “help a reporter out,” and this is the name of a website that journalists use to find sources for their articles. 

If you sign up for this website, you’ll receive “source requests” from journalists.

If you respond to these requests, the journalist might then use you as a source. And subsequently link to your website, in their article. 

Using this link building method, I’ve managed to secure links on websites such as forbes.com

Source

In fact, HARO link building was one of the things that allowed us to take this specific client from zero to around 145,000 visitors per month, in just six months! 

If you’d like to learn more about how we did this, check out this page on my site SaaS SEO Case Study: ZERO to 110,000 with Link Building

Here’s another link I managed to secure for myself, using this method, on a website called cloudways.com. 

Source

This is a really high-authority site, and if I type their domain into the Ahrefs authority checker, you can see that they have a DR of 89. So getting a link from this site is definitely a good thing!

Success with this method generally comes down to being a really good source for the journalist. 

For instance, when a journalist posts a source request on HARO, they will often ask a very specific question. If you’re interested, here’s an example of a source request: 

Source

When you see a source request that is relevant to you, you need to make sure you answer the question thoroughly, and before the deadline. You need to address every query within the actual question, and you might even want to add some additional context. 

You also need to make sure you meet the requirements. As the journalist might not use you as a source if you don’t. 

If you’d like to learn more about how you can get results with this method, check out this video.

In it, I go into more detail on how you can get results with HARO link-building.

Anyhow, if you’re gonna try this method out, you might also want to experiment with other platforms like Sourcebottle.

This is just another website that journalists can use to find sources, and so if you sign up for both HARO and Sourcebottle. You will have access to more source requests.  

Method #2  – Create Skyscraper Content

The second method we’re going to look at is known as the Skyscraper content method. 

I’ve had a ton of success with this method. And this approach actually helped one of our clients go from 850,000 to 1 million monthly visits in just two months!

Source

This method is basically made up of the following steps – 

#1. You pick a keyword you are interested in targeting

#2. You study the top-ranking content for this keyword

#3. You find out who is linking to this content

#4. You create something better than these existing forms of content

#5. You approach the people linking to your competitors and ask them to link to your content

If you need a simpler way of thinking about this, just consider that all you’re really doing here is reverse engineering your competitor’s backlinks. 

Now, this method might sound like a lot of work. But in many ways, it’s this high amount of work that makes this method so effective.

After all, a lot of other people aren’t willing to go through all this effort. So this method isn’t really saturated or overdone. 

Note that aside from the quality of your content, a lot of your success with this method comes down to how you go about cold emailing website owners. If you have a long-drawn-out email, website owners might not respond. 

To get around this issue, I use the template shown here:

Source

This template is nice and short. So if you just use this template, you should be able to get some great results with this method. 

Now, of course, if you don’t like this template, or you think you have a better one. Let me know in the comments — I’d love to exchange notes with you!

Anyhow, it’s important to remember that some website owners might not respond the first time around. A lot of the time, this isn’t down to anything personal, as they just might’ve missed your email. 

Because of this, you need to make sure you follow up around two to three times with everyone.

Another thing that’s worth noting here, is that you might be able to combine one of the main driving concepts behind the skyscraper method — which is essentially creating the best content on a given topic — with some of the other techniques we’re going to cover later on. 

For instance, you can use the mentality behind the skyscraper content to get some great results with method #3 and method #4. 

Method #3  – Resource Page Links

All over the internet, there are high-authority sites that have web pages known as ‘resource pages.’ 

These pages are essentially just a collection of important links that are relevant to the niche in question. 

For instance, here’s a resource page dedicated to horses: 

Source

And here’s another one dedicated to people in the “marine industry.”

Source

The idea with resource page link building is that you create a resource. A resource that is worthy of securing a link on one of these pages. 

Of course, if you want to secure a link on a resource page, you first have to find one. 

Fortunately, finding resource pages isn’t that hard. As you can just type your keyword into Google, alongside the word “resources” or “helpful links.”

Now, there are a couple of things you can do here to increase your odds of landing a link with this method. 

For instance, one thing you might want to do is look for ‘broken links.’ 

Broken links are essentially old links that don’t actually go to a website/webpage that is still “live.” 

Even if the link does go to a live website, the link might go to the wrong page, or the page might’ve been taken down. 

If you find a link like this on a resource page, it is a big opportunity for you. That’s because you can just create a resource, based on the broken link. 

You can then contact the website owner, and let them know about the broken link, while also letting them know about your resource. 

In many cases, the website owner will be happy to use your resource, just so that they can quickly fix the broken link issue on their site. 

You might also want to study the backlink profile of your competitors. If they have any ‘resource page’ links, you should identify the websites that are actually providing them with these links. 

The fact that these sites are publishing resource page links for your competitors, means that they will likely publish a resource page link for you, as long as you provide them with a good enough resource. 

Method #4  – Guest Blogging

Guest blogging is another method you can use to get backlinks. 

The idea with guest blogging is that you simply approach websites in your niche, and ask them if you can write for them. 

A lot of the time, you will need to pitch them a few ideas, and they will then just pick one of the ideas and ask you to write the post. 

If the post is approved, you will then most likely end up with a link in the author’s bio section. 

If you want to find guest posting opportunities, you can use Google to help you. All you need to do is type in a keyword related to your niche, alongside the phrase “write for us.” 

Of course, “write for us” is just one of the phrases you could use alongside your keyword. 

If you want to be really thorough, you might want to try other phrases as well, such as:

• “Guest post” 
• “Contributing writer”
• “Submit a post”
• “contribute to our site”

Once you start finding guest posting opportunities, you might want to stick them in a spreadsheet, like this one: 

Source

Then, once you have this list, you can systematically work through all the opportunities and track your progress with each site. 

Keep in mind that most of the websites that offer guest posting opportunities tend to get lots of guest post requests. Because of this, you really need to make sure you stand out when submitting a pitch.

One way you can do this is by simply providing them with an excellent guest post idea. 

If you don’t know what to write about, think about what might be a hot topic in your industry at that moment in time. 

If the website in question hasn’t covered this topic, they might be happy to have someone else write content on this topic for them. 

However, you might also want to provide them with a rough outline that covers what you will talk about in this potential guest post. 

If you do that, the person on the other end will have a rough sense of how your guest post will turn out, and so if your outline is good, they will likely have more confidence in you. 

Conclusion

Hopefully, you should now have a decent sense of how you can get some backlinks to your site. 

The methods we touched upon here are really just a handful of the ones that can work, but there are many more methods to choose from. 

If you’d like to learn about some of these other methods, check out this other video I have on backlink methods

Either way, remember you can use these methods on your own, or you can hire someone else to help you with this kind of thing. 

If you like the idea of hiring someone for this, consider reaching out to us at juliangoldie.com. We’ve produced a ton of results for our clients using the actual methods mentioned here, and there’s a good chance we can help you too. 

• Thanks for watching, and if you have any thoughts/suggestions or questions