How to Get Backlinks: 7 Proven Ways That Work in 2026

The short answer to how to get backlinks: create something worth linking to, then put it in front of the people who link to things. Starting from zero? Read our beginner’s guide to what backlinks are first. Everything legitimate in link building is a variation of that sentence. For the full operating system behind these methods, see link building process as a repeatable five-phase process. Below are seven white-hat link building methods that actually work in 2026 — the same playbook behind most earned backlinks on the web — plus the shortcuts you should never touch.

On this page

1. Create Link-Worthy Content That Earns Backlinks
2. Guest Posting
3. Broken Link Building
4. Digital PR: Earn Backlinks from Journalist Outreach
5. Resource Page Link Building
6. Competitor Backlink Analysis
7. Reclaim Unlinked Brand Mentions
8. Which Backlink Tactic Should You Start With?
9. Outreach Email Templates That Get Replies
10. What to Avoid
11. Link Building Tactics to Stop Using in 2026
12. How to Track Your Backlink Progress
13. Frequently Asked Questions

First, why this still matters. Ahrefs analyzed billions of pages in its Content Explorer database and found that the vast majority get zero organic traffic from Google — and pages with no referring domains at all almost never break through. In a separate analysis of 11.8 million search results, Backlinko found the #1 result has, on average, 3.8 times more backlinks than results #2 through #10. Links aren’t the whole game — Google has downplayed their importance relative to other signals over the years — but pages without them almost never get found.

Create Link-Worthy Content That Earns Backlinks

The highest-leverage way to get backlinks is also the least discussed, because it isn’t a “tactic”: publish something people naturally want to reference. Journalists cite original data. Bloggers link to free tools. Tutorial writers link to the clearest guide. These are called linkable assets, and they earn links while you sleep.

What tends to work:

• Original data and studies. Run a survey, analyze a dataset, or publish your own numbers. Data gets cited because nobody else has it — every citation is a backlink. You don’t need a research budget; even a poll of your email list, published honestly with methodology, can earn links.
• Free tools and calculators. A simple free tool on your site — a checker, a calculator, a template — is one of the most link-attracting assets that exists. People link to tools in roundups, tutorials, and “useful resources” lists for years.
• Definitive guides. A genuinely complete guide on a narrow topic becomes the default page people link when the subject comes up. “Definitive” means better than the current best result, not just longer.
• Visuals worth embedding. Original charts, diagrams, and infographics earn links when other sites embed them — with credit — because good visuals are scarce.

The honest caveat: “build it and they will come” is a myth. A linkable asset without distribution earns nothing. Every asset below pairs with outreach — the asset is what makes the outreach welcome instead of spammy.

Guest Posting

Guest posting means writing an article for another site in your niche, with a link back to your site — usually in the author bio, sometimes in the content itself. It works because it’s an exchange of real value: the host site gets a quality article for free, you get exposure and a backlink.

The method only works when the content is genuinely good. Google’s spam policies have specifically called out scaled, low-quality guest posting done purely for links. The bar that separates legitimate guest posting from a link scheme is simple: would this article be worth publishing even if it had no links in it? If yes, you’re fine. If the article exists only as a vehicle for links, it’s a scheme.

Practical approach:

1. Find sites in your niche that accept contributors and have real audiences (check their traffic and engagement, not just their Domain Authority).
2. Pitch a specific headline tailored to their readers — not “I’d love to write for you,” but “Here’s the article I’d write and why your readers need it.”
3. Write the best version of that article you’ve ever written. One exceptional guest post outperforms ten mediocre ones.
4. Use natural anchor text and link to a genuinely relevant page, not your homepage by default.

I’ve written a full breakdown of guest posting strategies — how to find opportunities, pitch, and avoid the patterns Google penalizes.

Broken Link Building

Broken link building is one of the most reliable outreach methods because you’re doing the site owner a favor. The web is full of dead links — pages that were removed or moved. You find a dead link on a relevant site, create (or point to) content that replaces what the dead page offered, and email the owner suggesting the swap.

The workflow:

1. Find resource pages or popular articles in your niche (search for “resources,” “useful links,” or “further reading” pages).
2. Check them for broken outbound links with a link-checker tool.
3. Create content that genuinely replaces the dead resource — not a thin substitute.
4. Send a short, specific email: which link is broken, where it is, and what you’d suggest instead.

Response rates can be higher than cold pitching because the email opens with value (you found their broken link) rather than an ask. The method is slow — be prepared to check many pages per earned link — but the links tend to be editorial and durable.

You can check any site’s authority for free with our website authority checker.

Digital PR: Earn Backlinks from Journalist Outreach

Digital PR is the practice of earning backlinks from news sites and major publications by giving journalists something newsworthy. These links carry enormous weight because news domains are authoritative and the links are purely editorial — exactly what Google’s algorithms are designed to reward.

What journalists actually want:

• New data. A survey, a study, or an analysis with a clear headline finding. “We analyzed 500 invoices and found…” beats “10 tips for…” every time.
• Expert commentary. Journalists writing about your industry need quotable experts. Platforms that connect reporters with sources still work — answer quickly, stay on topic, and give a genuinely useful quote rather than a pitch.
• A contrarian or surprising angle. Findings that challenge conventional wisdom get picked up because they make better headlines.

The unglamorous truth: digital PR has the lowest success rate per pitch of any method here, but the highest value per link. A single link from a major publication can be worth far more than dozens of low-quality directory links. Start with trade press and niche publications in your industry — they’re hungry for stories and far more likely to respond than national outlets.

Resource Page Link Building

Many websites maintain curated “resources” pages — lists of the best tools, guides, or references on a topic. Getting listed is straightforward outreach: if your content genuinely belongs on the list, most curators are happy to add it.

This works best when you have a linkable asset (see the first method). A free tool or definitive guide is exactly what resource pages collect. The pitch is simple: “I noticed your resources page on X — I built Y, which covers [gap in their list]. Worth a look?”

Two rules keep this white-hat: only pitch pages where your content is a genuine fit, and never offer payment or reciprocal links for placement. A resource link you had to buy isn’t a resource link — it’s a paid link, and Google treats paid links that pass ranking credit as link spam.

Competitor Backlink Analysis

Your competitors have already done the prospecting for you. Every site outranking you has a backlink profile — a list of sites that decided they were worth linking to. Many of those sites will link to you too, if you give them a reason. This is the most efficient way to build a prospect list because the targets are pre-qualified: they link to content in your niche.

How to do it:

1. Enter a competitor’s domain (or a specific competing page) into a backlink checker tool.
2. Filter for dofollow links from real sites — ignore the spam and low-quality noise.
3. Look for patterns: guest posts they wrote, resource pages that list them, directories in your industry, podcasts they appeared on.
4. Prioritize the replicable ones. A resource page that lists three competitors will probably list you if your content is comparable. A podcast that interviewed your rival needs guests every week.

The key insight: you’re not copying their links, you’re discovering their link sources. Then you earn your own placement with better content or a better pitch. I’ve written a full guide to analyzing your backlink gap that walks through the process step by step.

Reclaim Unlinked Brand Mentions

Sometimes the easiest backlink is one you’ve already earned. Sites mention your brand, your product, or your content without linking — a mention with no hyperlink. These are warm leads: the author already knows about you and thought you were worth mentioning. Asking them to make the mention clickable is a small, reasonable request.

The process:

1. Search for your brand name, product names, and key personnel — in quotes, minus your own domain.
2. Use a brand monitoring tool or Google Alerts to catch new mentions as they happen.
3. For each unlinked mention, send a short thank-you email: “Thanks for mentioning us — would you mind making it a link so your readers can find us?”
4. Prioritize mentions on authoritative, relevant pages. A mention on a major publication is worth the email; a mention on a spammy scraper site is not.

Success rates for this outreach tend to be high because there’s no cold pitch — you’re thanking someone who already wrote about you. It won’t produce hundreds of links, but the ones it produces are editorial, relevant, and essentially free.

Which Backlink Tactic Should You Start With?

Not all seven tactics demand the same effort. If you’re starting from zero, this comparison shows where beginners get the fastest wins — and which tactics pay off once you have resources to invest. — and if you want a concrete dollar number for any of these tactics, estimate what backlinks cost with our free calculator.

The pattern: start with the easy wins (mentions, resource pages) while you build toward the slow-burn plays (content, digital PR) that compound over time.

Outreach Email Templates That Get Replies

Most link building fails at the email stage, not the strategy stage. These three templates follow the same proven structure — specific, short, and respectful of the recipient’s time. Copy them, fill in the brackets, and personalize the first line for every send.

Template 1: Broken link building outreach

Subject: Quick heads-up about [Page Title]

Hi [Name],

I was reading your [page title] today and noticed one of the links is broken — the [anchor text / resource name] link goes to a page that no longer exists.

I actually just published [brief description of your content] that covers [the same topic]. Thought it might make a good replacement if you're updating the page: [your URL]

Either way, figured you'd want to know about the broken link.

Thanks,
[Your name]

Template 2: Guest post pitch

Subject: Guest post idea for [Site Name]

Hi [Name],

I'm a long-time reader of [Site Name] — your piece on [specific article] changed how I approach [topic].

I'd love to contribute a guest post. Two ideas that I think would fit your audience:

1. [Title idea 1] — [one-line summary]
2. [Title idea 2] — [one-line summary]

Here's a sample of my writing: [link to your best article]

Would either of these work? Happy to adjust the angle.

Best,
[Your name]

Template 3: Resource page suggestion

Subject: Resource suggestion for [Page Title]

Hi [Name],

I came across your resource page on [topic] — great collection, especially [specific resource you liked].

I recently published [your content title], a [format: guide/calculator/checklist] that [what it helps with]. It might be a useful addition to your list: [your URL]

No worries either way — keep up the great work on the page.

Cheers,
[Your name]

One rule for all three: personalize the first line every time. A template with a genuine first sentence outperforms a “fully custom” email that took an hour to write.

What to Avoid

Knowing how to get backlinks includes knowing which shortcuts will burn you. Google’s spam policies define link spam as creating links primarily to manipulate rankings, and the enforcement is real — from algorithmic discounting to manual actions that can remove a site from search results entirely.

Never do these:

• Buying links. Paying for links that pass ranking credit is the textbook definition of link spam. Google’s systems are specifically built to detect it, and sellers’ networks get deindexed regularly — taking buyers’ rankings with them.
• Private blog networks (PBNs). Networks of sites built solely to link to money pages. They work until they don’t, and when Google maps the network, every site it touches gets hit.
• Automated link building. Software that blasts your link across forums, comments, and directories. The links are worthless and the footprint is obvious.
• Excessive link exchanges. “You link to me, I’ll link to you” at scale is explicitly named in Google’s policies.
• Low-quality directories and bookmark sites. Submitting to hundreds of directories nobody visits is another named violation.

The pattern: anything where the link exists because money or automation changed hands, rather than because someone genuinely recommends your content, is a risk. If you suspect bad links are already pointing at your site, read my guide on harmful backlinks to avoid — most low-quality links are simply ignored by Google, but genuinely manipulative ones deserve attention.

Link Building Tactics to Stop Using in 2026

Some tactics aren’t dangerous — they’re just dead. They consumed budgets and hours for years, and today they produce nothing. If any of these are still in your playbook, retire them.

Blog comment spam. Comments are almost universally nofollowed, and most blogs moderate or auto-delete anything with a link. The rare dofollow comment link comes from abandoned blogs nobody reads — zero traffic, zero value.

Exact-match anchor stuffing. Building dozens of links with identical keyword-rich anchor text (“cheap running shoes”) is the fastest way to trigger an over-optimization filter. Natural profiles use branded, naked-URL, and generic anchors for the majority of links.

Low-quality web directories. The general directories that sold “1,000 submissions for $29” died a decade ago. The exception: genuine niche and local directories (industry associations, local chambers) that real humans actually browse.

Private blog networks. Covered above as a risk, but worth repeating as a dead tactic: PBNs worked when Google couldn’t map them. Link-graph analysis now identifies networks routinely, and sellers’ networks get deindexed in waves — taking buyers’ rankings with them.

Social bookmarking blasts. Submitting every post to dozens of bookmarking sites was a 2010 tactic. Those sites are ghost towns now, and the links were always low-value.

The through-line: if a tactic can be fully automated at scale, Google has already discounted it. The tactics that work in 2026 — the seven above — all require something automation can’t fake: genuinely useful content and real human relationships.

How to Track Your Backlink Progress

Link building without measurement is guessing. After each campaign, check which new referring domains appeared, whether they’re the quality you aimed for, and whether your target pages moved. A simple monthly routine: export your backlinks, note new referring domains, and compare against the previous month.

Pick one tool and stick with it — different tools crawl different slices of the web, so their counts never match. What matters is the trend in one consistent source, not the absolute number. My guide on checking your backlink profile walks through the free methods, from Google Search Console to free checker tools.

Set honest expectations: new links typically take weeks to months to influence rankings. If a method produces nothing after three months of genuine effort, the method — or your targeting — needs rethinking, not more volume.

Frequently Asked Questions

Quick answers to the most common questions about getting backlinks:

How long does it take for backlinks to show results?

Usually weeks to months. Google has to discover the linking page, crawl it, process the link, and then reflect it in rankings — and competitive keywords need many quality links, not one. If you’re building genuinely good links and see no movement after three to four months, the issue is usually link quality or targeting, not patience.

Can I buy backlinks safely?

No. Buying links that pass ranking credit violates Google’s spam policies, full stop. Paid placements are only safe when they carry rel=”sponsored” or rel=”nofollow” — which means they don’t help rankings. Anyone selling “safe” followed links is selling you risk; when their network gets caught, buyers get hit too. If you do decide to hire a provider, read our buyer’s guide to link building services — it covers fair pricing and the red flags to watch for.

How many backlinks do I need to rank?

There’s no fixed number — it depends on what the pages currently ranking for your keyword have. Check the top results’ referring domains with a free backlink checker: your realistic target is a comparable profile of quality referring domains, not a raw link count. A local business might compete with dozens; a national keyword might need hundreds.

Do guest post backlinks still work?

Yes, when the guest post is genuinely good and the host site is legitimate. Google penalizes scaled, low-quality guest posting done purely for links — not the practice itself. One thoughtful article on a respected site in your niche beats ten thin posts on sites that exist to sell placements.

What is the fastest legitimate way to get backlinks?

There is no fast legitimate way — and that’s the point. The quickest honest wins are usually broken link building (site owners want dead links fixed) and journalist outreach with genuinely newsworthy data. Both still take weeks. Anyone promising hundreds of links in days is selling automation or a network, both of which Google is built to catch.