Getting backlinks to your website is an important part of any decent SEO strategy. Spreading your link juice all over the web is a good way to consistently drive traffic to your blog or site over time.

But if you don’t want to use shady private blog networks (PBNs) or purchase backlinks – and you shouldn't, because buying backlinks is a blackhat technique that can earn you a manual penalty – what can you do?

The answer, of course, is to do it yourself — it’s not as difficult or time consuming as you may think. Here are 10 tips on how to get backlinks to your site that anyone can try:

1. Comment on “DoFollow” blogs.

A close up a laptop on a table with someone hands typing on the keyboard.

Image by thanyakij-12 on Freepik

By default, WordPress blogs have the HTML “NoFollow” attribute on links that point away. Blogs do this to prevent “link bleed” and prevent spammers from inundating their blog with irrelevant comments.

DoFollow blogs, on the other hand, don’t have this limitation — and you can use this to your advantage to get backlinks. To get you started, here’s a list of more than 80 DoFollow blogs.

 2. Update your social profiles.

Make sure your profiles on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. have links back to your site.

3. Become an expert (or ask lots of questions).

Question and answer sites, like Quora, are great for dropping links to your website or blog. Also, if you sign up for services like HARO you can get much more than backlinks — you can get millions of dollars' worth of media coverage.

Check out our HARO experiment and results blog post to see how we got 6 major media outlets to cover TCF in just 30 days. The result? 11 high-quality backlinks, because some of the coverage was syndicated.

Ready to try it for yourself? Check out this guide to writing a HARO pitch that actually works. In that post, you'll also find a free download that will make it easy to plug-and-play.

Seriously, check out that template. It's the same one we've used to generate $1.2 million worth of earned media coverage in the last year along – and just about all of the coverage links back to our site. We've used HARO to get featured everywhere from Forbes and Fast Company to Success Magazine. The service is free, and worth its weight in gold!

4. Interlink your blog posts.

Make sure that every post links back to another that you’ve written. As you write new content, revisit older posts that are related to the topic and link back to the new post you just published.

Over time, you’ll have a killer network of internal backlinks built up — all on your own site.

5. Share the love.

A set of hands holding a red paper shaped as a heart

https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/closeup-hands-holding-paper-heart_2910838.htm

One of the easiest ways to get backlinks is to link to other blogs yourself. Many times, people will return the favor. Host weekly linksharing parties on your blog — you may be surprised at the number of people that show up.

6. Write link bait posts.

Write useful blogs packed with helpful information, and then submit them like crazy. With linkbait articles, it’s good to use the Field of Dreams approach: if you build your site up with really good content, they will come (and link to you).

Here's an example of a link bait post we wrote, which has generated a lot of backlink to our site – and also consistently generates retweets and social shares whenever we tag to companies mentioned in the post.

7. Kick your web content writing up a notch.

First, make sure you've done your SEO keyword research. Web content writing is different than other types of writing, so make sure your blogs are reader friendly and utilize bullet points, numbered lists, bold subtitles, etc. to break up big blocks of grey paragraphs. Read and re-read your content for errors — you’re less likely to be taken seriously (and get backlinks) if your copy looks like it was written by a third grader.

If you need to brush up on your content writing skills, we're here to help! Read our Web Content Writing 101 post to learn some best practices, then move on to Part Two: (Even More!) Web Content Writing Tips.

a person in an office standing in front of their desk with her head up as if they are thinking, in front of a laptop.

https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/picture-thoughtful-dark-skinned-student-girl-tank-top-jeans-touching-chin-with-pensive-facial-expression-holding-pen-while-writing-essay-doing-homework-standing-front-open-laptop_11033541.htm#query=writing%20thinking&position=2&from_view=search&track=sph

8. Take advantage of e-commerce opportunities.

Does your company sell products on eBay or Amazon? If so, make sure each product page links back to your website or blog.

9. Write guest posts on other blogs.

Sure, it’ll take time and you’re giving somebody else’s website content. However, you’re also exposing yourself to a new audience of people – and you can always send them to your site with a backlink for more info on the subject.

You can find a list of 100 blogs that accept guest bloggers in our Digital Content Writing Toolkit, as well as our free on-demand webinar: How to Become a Thought Leader Through Guest Blogging.

10. Run sweepstake promotions.

Give away a physical prize, but make the requirement for entry posting a link back to your site, following you on Twitter or becoming a fan of your Facebook page. You’ll get backlinks, friends and followers all at once!

11. Use our favorite link building tool: HARO (Help A Reporter Out).

HARO is a service used by journalists when they need to quote an expert to flesh out an article. Likewise, if you're an expert in a field, you can answer HARO pitches, which might just land you a quote in a publication. HARO is a great way to get backlinks on a reliable basis.

How reliable? Over the course of one month, we were able to get quoted 6 times by using HARO. If you notice you're not getting a ton of responses to your pitches, you can improve your chances of earning those placements by reading these 18 HARO tips from PR pros.

12. Use Google operators to find link building and guest blogging opportunities.

If you're struggling to think of media outlets to pitch your content to, it's time to take your Google game up a few notches. Himanshu Sharma, founder of Optimize Smart, put together this awesome list of 10,000 search engine queries for link building campaigns. You can use it to discover industry resources, review blogs, guest post opportunities, link reclamation opportunities and more — all while learning powerful Boolean operators.

13. Learn and use the Skyscraper Technique.

a view of city skyscrapers and the sky.

https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/outdoors-blue-new-downtown-building_1062858.htm#query=skyscraper&position=0&from_view=search&track=sph

Codified by link building guru Brian Dean, the Skyscraper Technique is one of the most effective workflows for earning backlinks. In just three steps, you can identify what questions your content should answer to rise to the top of the SERPs and pitch authoritative media outlets who have demonstrated an interest in linking to content like yours. Using the Skyscraper Technique is the most targeted and efficient ways to build backlinks, and if you do it well, it delivers insane results.

Here's how:

1. Find an article with tons of backlinks that ranks well for the keyword you're targeting.

Google your keyword, and see who's in the top spot. You can then use a tool like Ahrefs or Buzzsumo to see how many sites link back to that article.

2. Write a more thorough or up-to-date version of that article.

Read the article you want to beat in the SERPs, and figure out why it's doing so well. What questions does it answer? How did the writer optimize for relevant keywords? What tone does the copy use?

Then, identify ways you can improve upon it. What questions does the article not answer? What sections can you expand upon? How can you update the content so it's even more relevant now?

Then comes the hardest part: write and publish a piece of content that's better than the original.

3. Pitch your article to the outlets that linked to the original.

Using Ahrefs or Buzzsumo, you can learn which outlets link to the article you just outdid. These are the perfect people to pitch, as they are clearly already interested in the topic you're writing about and have linked to similar content in the past! Reach out to those websites and politely mention that you've written an article on the same topic, but with some updates and additional helpful information. Ask if they'd be willing to link to your blog post in either their current or future content, and thank them for taking the time to read your email.

14. Learn more link building strategies with online SEO training.

a person in a classroom sitting on a desk in front of a laptop smiling.

https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/indoor-shot-happy-student-male-with-curly-hair-dressed-casually-sitting-cafeteria-working-with-modern-technologies-while-studying-looking-with-smile-notebook-receiving-message-from-friend_9760376.htm#query=laptop%20online&position=5&from_view=search&track=sph

Earning backlinks is one of the most important cornerstones in any SEO strategy, but to get the most organic traffic possible, you need to master the search engine dark arts backwards and forwards. And we can get you there in about eight hours.

The Content Factory offers comprehensive online SEO training via our Rise & Convert course, which you can complete at your desk, at home, on the road or anywhere with internet access. You'll not only learn more ways to get backlinks, but how to research keywords, structure your web content, perform a competitive analysis and create an editorial calendar.

You can see what it's like with our free webinar on fixing common SEO mistakes. If you like what you see, enroll in the full course and get access to all of the best practices guides we use internally at TCF!

SIGN UP NOW

So, that’s how to get backlinks. There are more advanced link building strategies you can try, but this is a good go-to guide for SEO beginners to get started with. Have any other tips? Share them with the class in the comments section!

If you're a femme in SEO, be sure to join Sisters in SEO – it's the largest network of women in the industry, and was co-founded by our CEO, Kari DePhillips.

Not a lady? No problem, we won't hold it against you. Check out The Content Factory's SEO, SMM and Digital PR group, and join 1,000+ other people asking questions, building their skills and sharing their secrets.

Header photo created by rawpixel.com - www.freepik.com

By Kari DePhillips

How to get backlinks, Sweepstake promotions, Web content writing

  1. Great post Joan and Kari!

    I could not agree with #10 more. Here’s why: Strutta facilitates online promotions – we have a technology platform that allows PR and marketing pros like yourselves to build, run and manage contests and sweepstakes.

    Our clients consistently see tremendous results, in all ways that you’ve mentioned!

    http://strutta.com

    1. Great info! I am still in the incubation phases with my company but we are definitely growing. I've gained an abundance of knowledge and understanding of link building and how to improve the Domain Authority and Page rank of my site by some of this information.

      Thanks!

      1. I have too but all this is information overload. I know I have some good quality backlinks but competition is very high in my field and I’m having difficulty getting the link number high enough to make a difference.

  2. Great tips – Esp for a blogging newbie like me. What’s a link sharing party?

    1. Link sharing parties are where a ton of people get together (virtually, of course) and all link to each other’s websites. It’s not such a big deal when there are only a couple of you involved, but if you can get 100 people or so to join in, a link party can really increase your number of backlinks.

  3. Another easy way to get high PR backlinks is to install SEO quacke and by changing the google search to 100 results search your niche blogs. After you can sort them by PR and post links as commenting.

    1. Interesting tips regarding SEO quake – I just installed their tool bar to my chrome browser but I was wondering how will I make use of it. I will try your advice. It’s really helpful to share your experience all the time. Thank you!

    1. Totally understand where you’re coming from. A lot has happened in the world of question and answer sites since the blog was written. Try getting involved on Quora. We’ve been pretty active on there lately.

  4. thanks for useful information about back link, it’s really important for SEO. also every optimizer have to know to Off page optimization and On page optimization properly

  5. I've seen some good improvement when using answers on Q&A sites even if some of them are nofollow.

    I have a feeling it still helps the relavency of the site even if it doesn't flow the link juice.

  6. That's a solid list of linking initiatives. I'd say #7 is one of the most powerful factors in this whole game. If you're not creating content that people want to share and link to then you're not going to get very far at all. One's content should always be a priority before you start occupying yourself with link opportunities. Of course, those opportunities are essential as well. Good luck all! Jordan

  7. Thank you very much for publishing this article I really don’t have words to appreciate your efforts. This article is too good. It’s true that building high quality backlink is very important. But it’s also important to follow the procedure to build it i have been reading about how to have an effective do follow blog. to add, links coming from Blog are an excellent source to boost your website’s PageRank and also to attain domain authority because any link which is made out of a content rich webpage is a link builder’s delight. 

  8. This is such a great article and so timely. I work a lot with small businesses and the owners just don't get this concept.  I try to explain the best way to build SEO is to BE the source of good content and then people will want to backlink to the site.  In many ways I am glad Google reconfigured how they rank sites. I personally was sick of trying to research topics only to land on a curation page full of crap links. It was so frustrating to find credible information. Now, people are forced to work for a rating.  

     

    Amy

  9. Hi..your blog is very interesting and very informative. This will really help newbie like me to be really good in SEO. Thanks for posting.

  10. Return hyperlinks with other blog writers in your market. Make sure to type weblink chart and keep it organic.

  11. Those are really good tips. Thank you for publishing this article as it pushes to complete each and every single one on it. Also be sure to use social media as it's the one of the top ranking ways to bring traffic to your site even though most have "no-follow" on them.

    Thanks a ton

  12. Hello!

    Thank you for the tips, really helpful!

    Do contentfac.com accept guest posts? 🙂 I think it is worthy writing in to get your blog known over the time.

  13. I'd say #7 is one of the most powerful factors in this whole game. If you're not creating content that people want to share and link to then you're not going to get very far at all. One's content should always be a priority before you start occupying yourself with link opportunities. Of course, those opportunities are essential as well. Good luck all! Jordan

  14. How do I get my blogs out there for people to see? We are a new website and content is not a problem becuase in our industry there are plenty of things to write about "Weddings". We are blogging every week, but what do I do with the blogs?? This may be a silly question, sorry guys. New to SEO. I need to learn this quick becuase we aren't getting any traffic being a new site.

    1. Hi Brian,

      It sounds like you need help with content marketing. You might find our Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing useful, as well as our blog post What is Content Marketing, and Why Does Your Business Need It? Of course, you also need to be targeting the right keywords, and if you’re new to SEO that might be an issue as well. Try running your URL through SEOsiteCheckup – it’s free and takes just a couple of minutes to pull a comprehensive report.

      Thanks for commenting, and good luck!

      Kari

  15. Thanks for useful information about back link, it’s really important for SEO. also every optimizer have to know to Off page optimization and On page optimization properly

  16. Solid post! I've been pondering white hat ways to build high quality backlinks for my website. The big issue for me is similar sites will not backlink due to the competitive nature of the business. I think the ideas you have shared are very valuable. 

    Thanks, 

    Mike   

  17. The information provided in article is quite helpful.However, these days its very difficult to get quality back links.

    Anyways, good handy tips given in post.

    thanks for sharing.

  18. This is great. Thanks.

    I will start applying this right away for my website. I did not know about the "DoFollow" blogs!

    A.R.

     

  19. They say content is king. I agree with creating more content but them you have to make that content search engine friendly.

  20. When I searched for my blog's (www.celtec.in/blog) rank in Alexa, I found backlinks at the bottom of the page. When I searched what exactly backlinks are, surprisingly your article is the first of search results. I think this article is very old, like 4years, but still it tops the search results. I too want to write tech articles which would be seen in the top results, I'd love to know if you have tips for this too.

    Thank you for sharing these useful tips about backlinks. 

  21. The first I want to say thank you
    there are some lingering questions I have:
    1. what age can blog on Make backlink?
    2. how the maximum amount of backlinks per day?
    3. What should be using anchor text backlink?
    4. when using name / url and id can open is called a backlink?
    5. how to sort out the good backlink?
    6. wake links with dummy blog, what it does not hit the Google algorithm?
    7. The percentages for the backlink itself there not, for example, must be to the homepage%? or directly to the article what%?

  22. Very well explained tutorial.Thank you so much for creating, sharing, and tutorial-izing these!

  23. This is very interesting, You are an overly professional blogger.

    I’ve joined your feed and look ahead to in the hunt for more of your magnificent post.
    Additionally, I’ve shared your site in my social networks

  24. Your blog is very interesting and very informative. It would really help novice like me could be really good at SEO.

  25. Hi there, first let me thank you for your excellent post and tips.

    I would also like to share my favourite one.
    This is making an amazing blog posting comments, which naturally contribute to the discussion.

    In the past I used pretty much all of above mentiend tips.
    And found out that they all work, as long as competition stays inactive.
    The problem is ussually when I raise with my pages, also competition start to work.

    Some of them are even using gray methods (like PBN's and so).

    Because of that, my methods (like simply adding my sites to bookmarking lists) didn't work anymore. There is simply to much time needed for daily stuffing of app. 10 backlinks into bookmarking sites.

    Now I am trying to comment as best as possible.
    Sometimes I am accepted, many times I am not. But this only tells me, my comment wasn't useful to author of the blog.

    My best results and ussually get accepted blog comments are achieved, when:

    – I am totall honest and transparent
    – when I am adding to a discussion
    – when I am solving a problem
    – when I sincerely tell what I mean (although this one doesn't get accepted very often :))
    – when I tell what I do (I am a small Slovenian furniture marketeer on Slovenian market). That ussually takes away a fear from I don't know what – but I am accepted.
    – when I show examples
    – when I ask relevant questions

    Hope it helps to anybody. 
    BTW: all my sites are pretty much the same and additional work I am investing into, is creating useful content for Slovenian furniture buyers.

    Regards, Matija

  26. Thanks for the post and useful information! Will defiantly take a look at the backlink method that you recommend using as have lots of , but you did not mention artcle submission and signature submission method .

  27. Another good way to discover websites for back linking is through this new slack group I joined. by joining the group, you have access to industry type channels, “attorneys, chiropractors, architects” etc and you can join those channels to see who has good resources out there and would like to trade links to boost each other’s rankings. 

  28. Very well explained tutorial.Thank you so much for creating, sharing, and tutorial-izing these!

  29. This is a great post. I am currently paying a company $750 a month to help with SEO on my site, and they are primarily working on building backlinks. After reading your post, I am wondering if I should use your techniques to build the backlinks myself instead of paying this company all this money that I don’t have.

    1. Thanks for the compliment! When it comes to your current SEO agency, it really boils down to ROI. Is the $750/mo yielding the results that you’re expecting? It’s also important to keep in mind all SEO work can take a few months to gain real traction.

      If you’re driving a lot of backlinks to a website (or pages on your website) that don’t have a lot of content, it probably won’t have as much of an impact as you want. The key is to combine high quality content with content marketing initiatives that the search engines will recognize – this requires a combination of social media shares, backlinks, and in-depth content in the page. You may find these guides helpful:

      https://contentfac.com/the-ultimate-content-marketing-resource-page-every-article-you-need-to-read-all-in-one-place-2/
      https://contentfac.com/how-to-write-a-blog-post-that-brings-in-business/
      https://contentfac.com/keyword-research-revealed-find-keywords-seo/

  30. Thanks for the great article! The last couple weeks we have been trying to promote our new website with minimal results. Since reading your article, we have taken your advice and signed up on several of the websites listed.

    Thanks again, Brad

  31. This is a great article for newbies even a little bit experienced bloggers. Backlinks help very much for improving SEO.

  32. What about backlinks from other niche sites. Do they prove helpful if they are dofollow.

  33. Amazing tips. You have described each and every point precisely. I liked it very much.

    Thanks for sharing such wonderful post with the readers. I'll surely make a note of this article.

    With Regards

    Daniel Palmier

  34. Thanks for sharing good information about link building, this is really going to help to many newcomers bloggers.

  35. Its very interesting and useful for newbie like me…I have almost more that 200 content in my blog and thinking every day, why I am not getting traffic, now only I came to k now the importance of the backlinks…thank you so much

  36. So Useful Article ever about getting backlinks.
    Keep up the great work.

  37. hi are you aware of to get backlinks from tumblr? I’ve heard that tumblr is good for backlinking.

  38. This is a very good article, i think dropping comments is one of the best ways to get backlinks and also creates a relationship with you and the website owners.
    Thanks.

  39. I’ve had much success using this technique, I think the reason why many just pass this technique by is because they simply cannot be ‘bothered’. To be completely honest, those who didn’t already have an idea of this, just don’t have the brain power(intelligence) or drive to complete real SEO. Fact!

  40. It takes proper time, consistency and experience when using these methods as they relate to the search engine traffic. Moreover, to determine your performance of how well you are working with backlinks, use your website analytics. It will tell you how successful your campaign is. Your campaign will be successful if there is increase in traffic, higher rankings, more frequent search engine crawling. If these qualities are not met, this means you need to seek better quality links, or improve your on-page optimization.

  41. Unlike most articles on the internet that rehashes already existing content and dumps it on the readers, this article provides more value to the table by explaining some ideas that seem vague.

    Also…

    It also mentions some “never heard before” link building ideas like linking back through third party ecommerce sites like eBay.

    I like it so much!

    Thanks!

    ∆ Lawrence Ozeh

  42. Plenty full information on how to get backlinks. I google the phrase how to get backlinks and got this website on a top No.1 result. but I have a question. How can I get backlinks from websites that don’t have any comments options nor signups and even without forums?

  43. Building Backlinks:
    Search engine optimization, when implemented properly, can help your store rank higher in search engine results and deliver a steady stream of traffic and sales, day after day, week after week, month after month. This makes SEO ultra-valuable for e-commerce merchants in a world where paid ads keep getting more expensive.

    SEO in its most basic form can be sub-divided into on-page and off-page. On-page SEO involves optimizations you do with each of your web pages to help search engines understand what your site is about so they can show it at to the right people, at the right time.

    Not All Backlinks Are Created Equal

    Backlinks fall into one of two categories which are referred to as follow and nofollow. A follow backlink is simply a link that helps your SEO. It’s a link from another site that tells search engines, “I endorse this website.” Alternatively, a nofollow backlink, is a link where the person/website giving the backlink is saying “I’m acknowledging they exists but I’m not vouching for them.”

  44. Thanks for sharing this informative blog on link building. It is well explained work like a panacea for bloggers struggling for link juice for their sites.

  45. Great info, thank you so much for sharing. We are trying to do our own link building. Our team has been researching for quite some time about off page seo. We’ve saved your guide in our bookmarks 🙂 We surely hope we will be able to see some results in a few months. Do you think that HARO would work for a niche in the travel industry? Thanks in advance.

    1. YES, absolutely HARO could work for you – there’s an entire travel section for their queries. Reporters in the travel industry are looking for sources, tips, cool places to feature, etc. every day!

  46. Very informative and interesting. If you are learning or generating backlinks from scratch and want to get right to the good stuff then this article will help you definitely. By going through these ways you can generate quality backlinks. Thanks again and keep up the great work!

  47. There are three major ways that you can use to create content that will rank well and generate backlinks in terms of how you present the information, and the first of these is to create content in the form of lists.

    It sounds a little odd at first, but people love long lists of information. For example, there are a lot of articles online that only give you the top ten ways to build backlinks, and those include some options that are going to cost you (like offering scholarships and donating to charities). Even some of the most authoritative SEO sites stopped at less than twenty.

    By implementing the first two steps of the Skyscraper Method and combining it with this one, we’ve been able to provide an article that lists 25 techniques. And the reasons for doing so is simple: when you create a longer list, you’re able to be more thorough and cover more alternatives. The same is true no matter what your topic!

    Creating a longer list as a means of using the Skyscraper Method also means you can create longer content. Many of the top names in SEO say that longer content is perfect for backlinks because you have the space to be detailed.

    The list format is an excellent way to do so because it automatically structures and divides your content into easy-to-read sections, which act as stepping stones for readers to follow.

  48. Very useful idea to get backlinks. Really awesome. Thanks for this. Keep up the work

  49. Thanks for sharing this useful content with us, yes we need high PR backlinks to our websites and I will now keep an eye on your future posts.

    Cheers

  50. Simply great article. Thanks for sharing these valuable tips on how to get backlinks. These are very useful tips. Keep sharing such informative articles.

  51. Hey! Kari. I am new to blogging and I have been following you since I started.
    I also think that a single high-quality backlink is far better than hundred low-quality backlinks. That’s why I have been looking for ways to build high-quality backlinks and this article helped me a lot. Great content as always.

    I have not done any off page SEO so far, but I have an article and it appears on the 3rd page of Google(which is a great thing for me) for a specific keyword. I don’t know if it’s something that happens to other people too or I have done something right from an SEO point of view. A little insight will be truly helpful.

  52. I have several successful pages on FB and Twitter with over 250,000 followers and growing. I am also getting ready to start a podcast. I see these linkbait articles all the time and find them to be not very useful. I found this one 2days ago and have found several of your links extremely useful. I have already commented on a couple of guess posts and used your link to Buzzsumo to comment on a couple of articles on pit bulls which were perfect to lead back to my blog:https://pitbullsagainstdiscrimination.com/blog/the-american-pit-bull-terrier-the-real-truth/ I have bookmarked your page and will be using more in the days to come. I am thinking about becoming an influencer since I have become an authority on my pages on BSL and all things pit bull. If I can help you or you have any suggestions feel free to contact me.

  53. Really helpful post. May I add that you can look for websites with broken outgoing links, and if your pages have relevant useful pages to link to that can replace the broken ones. Often the website owner is grateful to be notified that they have broken links – if your email is polite and helpful 🙂 I also like adding to blog posts where I can genuinely offer something of use, such as a to-do list (as referred to in my Copywriting Essentials For Content Marketing book).

  54. Wow…really interesting and a lot to take in. I’ve read through a couple of times, and will read again later. Like you, I am more aware of how important the page title anchor text is. I really liked how the percentage ranking of the occurrences of anchor links in the profile. I will be reading through the link mapping later when I have the chance.

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