How Do You Get Backlinks?
There is no single trick to getting backlinks. The sites that earn the best ones do a handful of repeatable things well, mostly built on useful content plus genuine outreach. Here are the methods that actually work in 2026 plus the shortcuts that quietly put your site at risk.
You get backlinks by giving other sites a genuine reason to link to you, then asking the right people at the right time. In practice that means publishing content worth citing, earning coverage through digital PR plus journalist requests, writing guest articles, reclaiming unlinked mentions of your brand plus fixing broken links you can replace. Buying links in bulk is the one route to avoid, because it breaks Google's guidelines plus risks a penalty.
Earned, not bought
Proven methods
Repeatable ways to earn links, all covered in full below.
Bulk-buy shortcuts
None of the safe methods here involve buying links in bulk.
Core idea
Earn the link first. Every safe method starts with content worth linking to.
How to get backlinks, method by method
The reliable methods are not secrets. They are a small set of approaches that any business can run, as long as there is something genuinely worth linking to behind them. Here is each one, plus how to use it well.
Start with content worth linking to
Every reliable method begins here. Other sites link to things that are genuinely useful to their readers, such as original research, clear guides, free tools, data plus strong opinion pieces. If your best page is a thin sales page, there is nothing for anyone to cite. Building one or two genuinely link-worthy assets first makes every other method below far easier.
Earn coverage with digital PR
Digital PR means creating something newsworthy, such as a survey, a piece of original data or an expert take, then pitching it to journalists plus relevant publications. When a real publisher covers it you earn a strong editorial link that bulk packages can never match. Platforms that connect journalists with expert sources, such as the services that replaced HARO, are a practical entry point for smaller businesses.
Write guest articles for relevant sites
Guest posting still works when it is done for the right reasons. Writing a genuinely useful article for a respected site in your field earns a contextual link plus puts you in front of a relevant audience. The key is relevance plus quality, not volume. Mass guest posting on unrelated sites for the link alone is the version Google treats as spam. We go deeper on this in What is guest posting in SEO.
Reclaim unlinked brand mentions
This is often the fastest win available. Sites sometimes mention your brand or product without linking to you. A short polite email asking them to add a link usually works, because they already know who you are. Tools that track brand mentions make these easy to find.
Replace broken links
Broken link building means finding a dead link on a relevant page, then suggesting your own equivalent resource as the replacement. It helps the site owner fix a real problem plus earns you a link in return. It takes patience, yet the links tend to be relevant plus genuine.
Get listed where it makes sense
Relevant directories, industry bodies, supplier listings plus local citations can all be legitimate links, as long as the listing is real plus the site is reputable. Avoid mass directory submissions to low-quality sites, which add nothing plus can look spammy. If outreach is not how you want to spend your week, our Backlink Services team runs digital PR plus editorial outreach for you, so the links get earned without you chasing journalists. Each of these methods sits inside a bigger strategy, so for how they fit together over time read The Complete Guide to Backlink Building. If you are just starting out, How to build backlinks without a budget plus How to get backlinks for a new website with no authority are the most useful next reads.
Three rules behind every method
Useful comes first
No outreach works without something worth linking to. Build a genuinely helpful asset before you ask anyone for a link.
Relevance over volume
Ten relevant links beat a hundred random ones. Target sites that share your audience, not just any site that will link.
Earned, never bought
Every safe method here earns the link. Buying in bulk is the one shortcut that risks the rankings you already have.
The link-earning toolkit
Most sites only need two or three of these running consistently. Pick the ones that fit your business plus repeat them.
Five quick wins
to get moving
Methods that work
vs methods to avoid
Safe and effective
- Original, link-worthy content
- Digital PR and journalist requests
- Relevant guest articles
- Reclaimed brand mentions
- Broken link replacements
Risky shortcuts
- Buying links in bulk
- Mass low-quality directories
- Private blog networks
- Comment and forum spam
- Exact-match anchors at scale
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