How to Build Backlinks: 12 White-Hat Link Building Strategies That Still Work (and What to Avoid)
How to build and create backlinks safely
In this article
To build backlinks, create content and assets worth linking to (original data, tools, guides), then promote them to people who write about your topic through digital PR, guest contributions, partnerships, local organisations, broken link building and reclaiming unlinked mentions. Focus on relevant, trusted websites linking naturally; avoid buying links or link schemes, which violate Google's spam policies.
What is a backlink?
A backlink is a link from another website to yours. Search engines treat relevant links from trusted sites as signals of credibility. Links also bring referral traffic.
How does link building help SEO?
- Helps search engines discover your pages
- Signals authority and trust in your topic
- Can improve rankings, especially for competitive keywords
- Brings referral traffic and brand exposure
Links aren't the only factor: content quality and relevance still come first. (Foundations: What is SEO?)
What makes a good backlink?
| Quality signal | Good | Poor |
|---|---|---|
| Relevance | Site in your industry or location | Unrelated sites |
| Trust | Real business, publication or organisation | Spammy link farms |
| Placement | Within content, editorially given | Footer, sitewide, comment spam |
| Traffic | Site has real readers | No organic traffic |
| Anchor text | Natural (brand, URL, descriptive) | Over-optimised exact keywords |
| Link attributes | Followed editorial links carry most SEO value; nofollow/sponsored/ugc are hints | — |
What is a backlink profile?
Your backlink profile is the full set of links pointing to your site: number of linking domains, their quality, anchor texts, followed vs nofollow ratio and growth over time. Tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, Moz and Google Search Console's Links report show it. A healthy profile is diverse and natural.
12 white-hat ways to create backlinks
- Create linkable assets: original research, statistics pages, free tools/calculators, templates, in-depth guides.
- Digital PR: pitch newsworthy data or stories to journalists; respond to journalist requests (platforms like Qwoted, Featured, Help a B2B Writer and similar).
- Guest contributions: write genuinely useful articles for relevant industry sites (not low-quality guest post farms).
- Partnerships: suppliers, clients, integration partners and associations often list partners.
- Local links: chambers of commerce, local news, sponsorships, events, schools, community groups (see How to promote your business locally).
- Business directories and citations: reputable and industry-specific ones (see What are local citations?).
- Unlinked brand mentions: find mentions of your brand without links and ask for a link.
- Broken link building: find broken links on relevant pages and suggest your resource as a replacement.
- Resource pages: get listed on curated "resources" pages in your niche.
- Expert quotes and podcasts: appear as a guest; show notes often link back.
- Testimonials: write testimonials for tools you use; many feature customer websites.
- Content repurposing: turn data into infographics, videos or slides that others embed with attribution.
Link building for local businesses
- Local sponsorships and charity events
- Local press about community involvement
- Supplier and partner pages
- Industry associations and licensing bodies
- Local "best of" lists and guides
- Collaborations with nearby complementary businesses
Tools for link building
| Purpose | Tools |
|---|---|
| Backlink analysis | Semrush, Ahrefs, Moz, Majestic, Google Search Console |
| Finding prospects | Google search operators, competitor backlink gap tools |
| Outreach | Email tools, CRM (see What is a CRM?) |
| Mentions monitoring | Google Alerts, brand monitoring tools |
What to avoid
- Buying links that pass PageRank
- Private blog networks (PBNs)
- Excessive link exchanges
- Automated links, comment spam and forum spam
- Low-quality directories in bulk
- Over-optimised anchor text
These violate Google's spam policies and can lead to ranking drops or manual actions.
Frequently asked questions
How do I build backlinks?
Create valuable content and assets, then promote them through digital PR, guest contributions, partnerships, local organisations, broken link building and reclaiming unlinked mentions.
How does link building help SEO?
Relevant links from trusted sites signal authority to search engines, help pages get discovered and can improve rankings, as well as sending referral traffic.
What is a backlink profile?
The complete set of links pointing to your website, including how many domains link to you, their quality, anchor text and link types.
How many backlinks do I need to rank?
There's no fixed number; it depends on competition. Analyse the top-ranking pages for your keyword and aim for comparable relevant, quality links.
Is buying backlinks safe?
No. Buying links that pass ranking value violates Google's spam policies and can harm rankings.
How long does it take for backlinks to work?
Often weeks to a few months after Google discovers and processes the links, depending on site authority and competition.
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Start a conversationWritten by Sachin Rawat
AI & automation engineer · websites, apps and motion design
I build AI agents, automations, websites, apps and motion design for businesses. These guides answer the questions people actually search, written from hands-on experience building them.
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