Key takeaways
- Links remain a major ranking signal, but only relevant, editorial links help long-term.
- The best strategies give people a reason to link: original data, useful tools, expert insight, great resources and real relationships.
- Avoid paid links, PBNs and large-scale exchanges — they risk penalties and usually get ignored.
Link building has a bad reputation because of spam emails offering “100 DA 90 backlinks”. Real link building is closer to PR and relationship-building: creating things worth citing and making sure the right people see them. Here are strategies that still work.
1. Create linkable assets#
| Asset | Example | Who links |
|---|---|---|
| Original research or data | “Survey of 300 Indian SMEs on website budgets” | Journalists, bloggers, industry sites |
| Free tools and calculators | Schema generator, meta title length checker | Resource pages, tutorials |
| Definitive guides and glossaries | An SEO Library like this site’s | Educators, forums, other blogs |
| Templates and checklists | Website launch checklist | Communities, newsletters |
| Visuals and infographics | Diagrams explaining how DNS works | Educational content |
2. Digital PR#
- Pitch journalists with newsworthy data or timely expert commentary.
- Respond to journalist requests on platforms like Qwoted, Featured or #journorequest on X.
- Offer local media stories: milestones, community work, local trends.
3. Relationship-based links#
- Partners and suppliers: “where to buy”, “our partners” and case-study pages.
- Associations and chambers of commerce: member directories.
- Clients: testimonials or case studies on their sites (where natural).
- Events and sponsorships: local events, college fests, meetups.
- Podcasts and webinars: guest appearances usually include a profile link.
4. Guest contributions — done right#
Write for respected publications your customers read, for the audience and reputation. Avoid sites that sell “guest posts” to anyone. See guest posting.
Need a hand with this?
Get a quick, honest review of your website’s SEO.
5. Reclaim and repair#
- Unlinked mentions: find mentions of your brand without links (Google Alerts, Ahrefs, Brand24) and politely ask for a link.
- Broken backlinks: find links pointing to your 404 pages and 301-redirect them — see broken links.
- Broken link building: find dead resources on other sites and suggest your relevant page as a replacement.
6. Local links#
For local businesses, links from local news, associations, schools, NGOs and event sites carry strong relevance — see local SEO guide.
What to avoid#
- Buying links that pass PageRank without
rel="sponsored". - Private blog networks (PBNs) and link farms.
- Large-scale reciprocal link exchanges.
- Automated comment/forum/profile link spam.
- Exact-match anchor text everywhere — see anchor text.
Measuring link building#
- Number of relevant referring domains, not total links.
- Referral traffic from links.
- Ranking and traffic changes for linked pages.
- Brand searches and mentions over time.
Link building FAQ#
How many backlinks do I need?#
It depends on competitors. Look at the referring domains of pages ranking for your target terms; relevance matters more than count.
Are nofollow links worthless?#
No. They bring traffic and visibility, and Google treats them as hints.
Is buying links ever safe?#
Paid placements must use rel="sponsored". Paying for links that pass ranking credit violates Google’s policies.