How To Get Backlinks: 15 Strategies That Work In 2024

Securing high-quality backlinks is the backbone of a successful SEO strategy, but knowing where to start can be a challenge.

In this guide, we show you how to get backlinks using the same tactics we use to help our clients dominate search engine rankings in 2024.

Key Takeaways

• There are many strategies you can use to build backlinks.

• Beginners can use techniques like Connectively or guest posting.

• Advanced link builders may find success with PR campaigns.

• Building links improves your website’s authority and can lead to better rankings.

• Most websites benefit from using multiple strategies.

15 Proven Strategies to Get Backlinks

Below, we've outlined each strategy we use for our clients. By the end of this article, you’ll know exactly how to get backlinks for your brand, blog, or business.

💡 To skip through various backlink strategies, use the navigation bar on the left.

1) Connectively

Connectively (previously known as Help a Reporter Out) is a service that connects writers at top publications with expert sources. Becoming a source results in backlinks because writers often link to the source’s website when quoting them.

Connectively is a great way to get backlinks from highly reputable sites like The New York Times, Business Insider, and Forbes.

The great thing about Connectively is that it's an accessible method of obtaining quality backlinks for just about anyone.

Provided you're a decent writer and have genuine expert knowledge in your niche, you can get set it up and start building links within a matter of minutes.

All you have to do to generate high-quality backlinks via Connectively is:

1. Sign up for a Connectively account.

2. Use the search feature to find queries that align with your niche.

3. Click on the query you’re interested in to find out more information.

4. If it aligns with your niche, click ‘Pitch’ and answer the person’s question.

5. Personalize each message by referencing the prospect’s content, explaining how your contribution adds value, and why it would be a good fit for their audience.

Do this well, and it won’t be long before you start generating links.

How to stand out on Connectively ✨

✅ Reply to queries quickly, ideally within a few hours. Never reply to a request that is more than a day old.

✅ Follow instructions to the point. Include all the information the writer asks for. Add extras such as a bio or an image.

✅ Be succinct. Write your response in as few words as possible. Make it easy for the writer to quote your answer. Review your response. Use a spelling or grammar checker to spot any errors or typos. Grammarly is a great tool for this.

✅ Only reply to responses you are qualified for. You’ll waste time responding to requests where you aren’t a good fit.

How successful you are with Connectively can depend on your niche. You'll see lots of queries if you have expertise in health care or business. But other areas may present far fewer opportunities.

If you don’t see many queries in your niche, you can still reply to general topics. But these are usually more competitive.

2) Guest Posting

Guest blogging is one of the longest-standing link-building tactics.

Despite this, it's still a great way to get high-quality backlinks and it’s one of the strategies we use most at Linkbuilder.

Guest blogging is centered around writing articles for other publications. Within the blog you submit, you can add contextual links that direct back to your own website.

You benefit from the link, and the website owner benefits from a free blog post.

You just need to find websites in niches related to yours and then pitch your blog post idea.

You can find relevant websites by searching on Google for your niche, plus phrases like “write for us” or “guest post.”

Here’s an example of what this might look like in search engine results pages:+

Remember to double-check that the site’s domain authority is higher than yours to ensure a link from them will actually be valuable to you.

You can also use SEO tools to find other websites that publish content similar to guest blogs you already know about. We like to use Ahrefs and Google Ads Planner to find low-competition keyword ideas and then find the sites that rank for these terms.

This tactic works because smaller blogs and publishers tend to rank for low-competition keywords. These websites are often more likely to be open to publishing guest posts than more authoritative ones.

Here’s how it works:

1. Search for terms related to your niche on Google Ads Keyword Planner.

2. Sort these terms to show low-competition keywords first.

3. Search for these terms on Google or use an SEO tool like Ahrefs.

4. Make a list of the websites that rank.

Once you have found websites to target, you need to send your guest post pitch. Make sure yours stand out by following the tips below.

What to include in a guest post pitch

✔️ Information about yourself and your business.

✔️ A sentence or two that explains why you are targeting the blog.

✔️ Several guest post ideas that will appeal to the website's audience.

✔️ High-quality examples of published guest posts or blog content you’ve written.

✔️ Offer something in return for publishing your post. You could share the post in your newsletter, offer a link exchange, or optimize the post for SEO.

How to ensure your guest post passes on real value

Search engines know that people use guest posts to build links. Because of this, the Google algorithm has started to devalue these links in certain cases.

When looking for guest post targets, watch out for link farms. These websites exist solely to sell guest post placements to generate backlinks.

Placing a link on one of these sites won’t benefit your website in any way. And generating too many could result in a penalty.

Common signs that a website is a guest post linking farm

🚩 Low-quality content.

🚩 Much of the site’s content is marked as “guest post” or “guest author.”

🚩 Minimal or vague information about who runs the website.

🚩 Articles on seemingly random topics.

🚩 Articles with suspicious keyword-rich links.

🚩 Very little organic traffic reported by SEO tools.

🚩 SEO tools show the site ranks for spammy keywords.

🚩 A simple, templated web design.

Guest post farms don’t necessarily contain all these red flags. But, if a website has more than a couple, you should think carefully about whether you want to generate a link from these sites.

3) Data-Driven Content

This strategy centers around creating a data-driven piece of linkable content with factual numbers or statistics, making the article very easy to cite as a source.

It's a phenomenal strategy because it's the one backlink strategy that can give you high-quality links on autopilot.

Here are a few examples:

• Curated reports taking existing data from a number of sources, e.g., "The State of e-Commerce Marketing By Numbers"

• Statistics pages that take key statistics from other sources or surveys, e.g., "57 Link Building Statistics"

• Insightful or informative pieces, e.g., "The Fastest Internet Speeds By Country"

This strategy works because writers love linking to statistics to support points in their articles. If you can provide these statistics, you’ll generate links.

When you create linkable content, you must add value to the data. You can make it more visually appealing by adding graphs, charts, or further context to the data.

This page from Fastmetrics about global average internet speeds is a great example.

The company uses data collected in another report. But it formats the information in a way that is super easy to read. Fastmetrics even built an interactive map that provides a visual representation of the information.

Moreover, the map is embeddable, making it super easy for companies to link to the content.

We love this kind of report as it provides a phenomenal overview on a topic that is widely covered by a multitude of different websites and journalists.

The example above relates to the internet as a whole–but also travel, quality of living, and geography–which makes it relevant to a wide audience.

How to take curated reports to another level

Curated reports are another option when it comes to creating linkable content. A curated report should be optimized for search keywords journalists use when looking for data.

Once your report has attracted some initial links, there is a good chance that it will rank on Google Search. This means people will find the content organically when looking for content to link to.

You’ll seriously increase the number of links you generate. And you won’t have to do a thing to get them.

Generating links on autopilot

Linkable assets are truly the holy grail of link building because if you can get them ranking near the top of Google, they'll generate backlinks on autopilot.

It's a slow-burner because you're not going to get results immediately. It requires significant investment into a long-term content strategy, but for those willing to make the investment, the payoff is unbelievable.

The Fastmetrics article mentioned above currently ranks first for a ton of organic keywords, and it generates over 14,000 users every month.

Its link profile is also increasing consistently every single month.

While some of them may come from outreach, the vast majority of links happen organically as if on autopilot, because writers and journalists are citing the article.

To do this effectively, consider the keywords people in your industry use when looking for statistics.

Look at your competitors to see whether they have similar pages and, if so, which ones generate the most links.

There aren’t many downsides to this strategy.

The biggest one is that creating pages that stand out isn’t easy. If you don’t have web design skills, you may need to hire someone to create the page for you.

4) Broken Link Building

Broken link building is a strategy that has been around for a long time, but it still works. We often use it to build high-quality links to our clients’ websites.

It’s still effective because:

1. People move pages and domains, resulting in broken pages.

2. Linking to broken pages results in a poor user experience.

Our favorite way to find and build broken links is to use Ahrefs to find broken links on pages of popular websites.

With this strategy, you can identify broken links on relevant websites in just a few clicks.

First, enter a popular domain in your niche into Ahrefs’s Site Explorer.

Head to the “Best by links” report.

Filter by “404 not found” links.

Sort the results by the number of referring domains to the page. This will show you a list of URLs on the site that have lots of backlinks but no longer exist.

The next step is to use the “Referring domains” report to see the pages that link to each piece of missing content.

If the links are valuable, create an article on the topic of the deleted page and then contact the relevant sites.

Unlike pure cold-emailing (which a lot of people hate nowadays), broken link building gives you a reasonable and logical excuse to wind up in someone's inbox–which means they’d probably be more receptive to your efforts.

It’s still effective because:

1. People move pages and domains, resulting in broken pages.

2. Linking to broken pages results in a poor user experience.

Our favorite way to find and build broken links is to use Ahrefs to find broken links on pages of popular websites.

With this strategy, you can identify broken links on relevant websites in just a few clicks.

First, enter a popular domain in your niche into Ahrefs’s Site Explorer.

Broken link building with LinkMiner

If you don’t have access to an SEO tool with the above features, you can still build links. The process will just be a little more time-consuming.

The easiest way is to find pages with lots of backlinks and then check the page for broken links. Resource pages and statistics pages are good places to start your search.

You can use a Chrome extension called LinkMiner to check the page for broken links automatically. If any exist, the tool will highlight them in red.

You can also use Ahrefs’ free broken link checker to see a website’s top ten outgoing broken links.

You can then also check the target page for other broken links. You can do this for free with a tool like Moz’s Link Explorer or Ahrefs’s backlink checker.

5) PR Backlinks

PR backlinks are an excellent strategy for generating links on high-authority news websites.

The idea is that you create a newsworthy piece of content and share it with journalists who cover your industry.

If your content gets picked up, it can result in a huge number of quality backlinks.

The Future Gamer campaign by OnlineCasinos is a great example of this strategy.

The campaign entailed a research-backed study that predicted what avid gamers may look like after 20 years of unhealthy habits. The result was a super visual graphic.

The strategy worked: the story generated over 150 links, including those from Slashdot and Mashable.

There are two challenges with this type of story.

The first is creating the content. It can be hard to create an idea that generates mass appeal like the one above.

Gain ideas by looking at the types of stories big publications cover. Narrow these ideas down to things that could easily be recreated.

Another option is to take inspiration from previously successful campaigns. You can see an example of how businesses do this in the image below.

Each example in the image tells a story about a different mattress company that offered to pay people to become sleep testers. Each campaign was launched within the last few years. Despite the campaigns being pretty similar, they all generated links from top publications.

The other challenge is getting your story in front of the right people. This can be tough if you don’t have existing media contacts.

You can try contacting relevant journalists on Twitter or by email. But you may benefit from a dedicated PR backlinks service that will share your story with the right people.

6) Provide Testimonials or Case Studies

It’s possible to generate backlinks by becoming the subject of a testimonial or a case study.

As a website owner, you are in a great position to provide this content. That’s because website owners typically use lots of plugins and tools.

Consider messaging the companies that create this software to explain how their tool has contributed to your success. Let them know you’re willing to provide a testimonial or be the subject of a case study.

If they go ahead with your suggestion, they may also be happy to link to your website.

You can see an example of this in action below where WordPress linked to a user of a WordPress plugin that lets people create advanced post blocks.

There are several things you can do to increase the chances of your website being chosen.

• Choose lesser-known or newer tools over industry leaders. These companies are more likely to require case studies to show that their product is effective.

• Be specific about how the product helps. The best case scenario is if you can tie their tool to specific business results like gaining traffic, improving site speed, or increasing conversion.

• Have a great website. Businesses want to be associated with other quality websites. Make sure your site is up to scratch and filled with high-quality content.

Reach out to a few different companies to maximize your chances of success.

The downside to this tactic is that you are limited in the number of suitable tools or services you could use for this purpose. However, because this tactic often results in home page links, it can be incredibly powerful!

7) Interviews and Podcasts

This is when you agree to let a website owner or a podcast host interview you about your business, website, or area of expertise.

It’s a great way to get backlinks because hosts typically want to provide more information about their guests. It works because these websites and podcasts always look for new and exciting content to publish.

The first challenge is finding people who will interview you. The good news is that there are websites and podcasts on pretty much any topic.

Just head to Google and perform some searches. This will typically reveal plenty of publications that publish interviews.

You can then start to think about why someone would want to interview you. You'll have a head-start if you are well-known or have a large network in a particular niche.

If you don’t, consider specific achievements that are interesting to others. If you run a website or a business, there are probably plenty of things you can talk about that beginners would find useful.

Check out existing podcasts and blogs in your niche to see how these hosts present their guests’ stories.

For example, The Side Hustle Show does a great job of portraying small wins in a way that is inspirational to listeners.

The downside to this strategy is that it can be time-consuming to participate in the interviews. You’ll also have to be comfortable giving away your business secrets.

8) Unlinked Brand Mentions

This is an incredibly powerful and easy method of getting backlinks, especially if you're involved with a brand that gets a lot of mentions across the Internet.

To be totally honest, if your brand gets mentioned a lot and you want more backlinks, there's no easier strategy than this one. It's like fishing with dynamite.

Let's use an example - Nike.

A brand like Nike literally has hundreds of thousands of brand mentions across the Internet, but I'd venture a guess that perhaps only about 10% of those mentions actually link to the Nike website.

💡 For the discerning link builder, this represents a phenomenal opportunity. They can reach out to the websites or bloggers who mention their brand and ask that they add a hyperlink to the text.

Creating a prospect list for unlinked brand mentions is incredibly easy.

SEMRush has a brand monitoring tool that lets you find articles that include your brand name but do not include a backlink.

If you can’t afford expensive tools, you can use a simple Google search to start finding unlinked mentions. Here's what to do:

First, visit Google.

Input the following search: intext:your brand name -twitter.com -facebook.com -pinterest.com -youtube.com.

In the example below, we’ve searched for LinkBuilder and prevented any results from Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, or YouTube from showing up in the search results:

Filter through all the results and list the unlinked mentions in a spreadsheet so you can easily keep track of them.

Then, reach out to the webmasters with a courteous email asking whether they would be willing to include a link to your site. To make it easy for them, show them exactly where the unlinked mention is and provide a link.

The problem with the Google method is that it's time-consuming to filter out the results that don't include a backlink, but it's a great place to start testing the concept.

When this unlinked brand mention strategy works

If you're fortunate enough to work for a company that's big enough to have lots of brand mentions, then this strategy is an easy way to earn links.

We've used this method with many of our big brand-name clients, and it's like fishing with dynamite.

The problem is, if you're a smaller company with a low number of brand mentions on the Internet, then this isn't going to be a scalable backlink strategy for you.

9) Linkable Assets

A linkable asset is a high-quality piece of content specifically designed to attract backlinks. Examples of linkable assets include:

• In-depth guides

• Infographics

• Interactive tools

• Research reports

• Original data

Linkable assets are effective because they naturally draw attention from other websites, bloggers, and journalists looking for authoritative sources to support their own content.

Here’s an example of a linkable asset from BankRate:

Source

The calculator addresses a common need—estimating monthly mortgage payments—which makes it relevant to a broad audience, from potential homebuyers to real estate professionals.

It has obtained over 35,000 links, including valuable backlinks from reputable websites like Morgan Stanley, CBS News, and USA Today:

Creating an effective linkable asset starts with a clear understanding of your audience.

To develop content that naturally attracts backlinks, you need to know what your audience values, the challenges they face, and the type of resources they are most likely to engage with and share.

10) Resource Page Links

Resource page link building involves getting your content featured on web pages that curate and share valuable resources on a specific topic. Here’s an example of a resource page:

Resource pages are gold mines for backlinks because they are designed to link out to high-quality content.

When your site is listed on a resource page, it not only gains a valuable backlink but also exposure to a highly targeted audience—which means you get more organic traffic to your site.

Here’s how to get your content added to resource pages:

✅ Identify resource pages: Start by searching for resource pages within your niche using search queries like “best [your topic] resources” or “[your niche] useful links.”

✅ Create high-quality content: Before reaching out to a site owner, ensure you have a piece of content that adds value and fits well with the existing resources on the page. This could be a detailed guide, a blog post, or a tool that fills a gap in the page’s current offerings.

✅ Outreach: Contact the site owner or editor, and explain why your content would be a valuable addition to their resource page. Highlight the benefits it offers to their audience and how it complements the other resources they’ve listed.

✅ Follow up: If you don’t hear back right away, a polite follow-up can make the difference. Persistence, when done respectfully, can pay off in securing a coveted spot on the resource page.

11) Skyscraper Technique

The Skyscraper Technique is a link-building strategy where you identify popular content in your niche and create content that’s even better.

Then, you’ll reach out to those who linked to the original piece and ask them to link to your superior version instead.

The idea is to create the "tallest skyscraper" in the content landscape—something so valuable that it becomes the go-to resource on that topic.

This technique works because it builds on proven content. By creating a more detailed or updated version of the content, you tap into the existing demand while offering something new and improved.

Use Ahrefs to find top-ranking and heavily linked content in your niche. Look for articles, guides, or resources that are popular but could be improved upon.

Here are some of the top resources for the search term “how to manage your money”:

To perform better than these resources, you need to create a better piece of content.

Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the top-performing content and create your own version that outshines the original.

After publishing your content, reach out to websites that linked to the original piece. Let them know about your improved version and ask them to link to it as a more current or comprehensive resource.

12) Image Link Building

Image link building involves creating high-quality, original images—such as infographics, charts, diagrams, or photos—that others in your industry will want to use and link back to.

First, you’ll need to identify topics in your niche that would benefit from visual representation. This could be something like an infographic that summarizes industry data, a chart that simplifies a complex process, or stock photography.

Share your images widely across your website, blog posts, and social media platforms. Use Google Image Search or TinEye to track where your images are being used.

If you find sites using your images without attribution, reach out and request a link back to your website as proper credit.

13) Infographic Link Building

Infographics are highly shareable because they combine compelling visuals with valuable information. This makes them a powerful tool for driving traffic and earning backlinks.

When done well, an infographic can quickly go viral, spread across multiple platforms, and generate a large number of organic links. So it’s worth putting time into creating truly link-worthy infographics.

Start by identifying a topic that resonates with your audience and collect accurate, up-to-date information from reliable sources. You’ll probably want to work with a skilled copywriter and designer to ensure your infographic tells a clear, concise story.

When publishing the infographic on your website, accompany it with a detailed blog post that explains the data in more depth and then share it across social media, industry forums, and infographic directories.

14) Directory Link Building

Directory link building involves submitting your website to online directories that categorize and list businesses or websites based on industry, location, or niche.

These directories will often add a link back to your site. While these links may not be powerful in terms of SEO value, they are still effective for establishing a foundational layer of backlinks, especially for new websites.

Many directories provide nofollow links. This means that getting a link from them doesn’t pass on any SEO value to your website.

Prioritize directories that offer dofollow links and focus on niche and local directories where your target audience is likely to search for services like yours.

15) Link Exchanges

Link exchanges are another easy way to generate links to your website. The strategy is simple: contact other website owners and agree to link to each other’s sites.

While link exchanges can seem like an easy win, they come with risks. The guidelines in Google Search Essentials warn against excessive link exchanges because they are seen as a manipulative practice designed to artificially inflate a site’s ranking.

However, if you’re selective about the sites your exchange links with and avoid overdoing it, this can be a highly effective link-building tactic.

There are many ways you can do a link exchange.

Some easy strategies are:

• Join online communities with other website builders and arrange an exchange.

• Reach out to websites and propose an idea. Point out the benefit of such a link exchange when you do so.

• Respond to people who contact your website asking for links with a link exchange proposition.

Leverage A-B-C links (aka indirect link exchanges)

One popular method of link building right now is A-B-C link exchanges.

This is when you offer to get them a link on someone else's website, i.e., not yours, and in return have them link to your website.

The key thing here is that you're not directly exchanging links, you're helping them get a link on a totally different third-party website.

Get High-Quality Backlinks with LinkBuilder

We discussed some of the most effective link-building strategies we know, and they’ve delivered outstanding results for our clients.

However, building backlinks requires effort and an understanding of best practices. If you’re not sure what you’re doing—or if you simply don’t have the time—these strategies can result in an epic fail.

Excessive or indiscriminate link exchanges or building spammy links can even lead to penalties that can torpedo your rankings.

At LinkBuilder, we specialize in developing and executing link-building strategies that are safe, effective, and aligned with your brand. With our expertise, you can avoid the pitfalls and maximize the benefits of link building.

Ready to take advantage of new link-building opportunities? Contact us to find out how we can help you supercharge your website’s ranking.