How to Get Backlinks: 19 Methods Ranked by Effort vs Impact
Most "how to get backlinks" guides list every tactic ever invented and treat them as equals. They're not. Some methods reliably earn links from real sites; some worked in 2015 and now waste your time; one gets whispered about but rarely explained honestly. We vet link placements for a living, so this guide ranks all 19 methods by what they actually cost you in effort and what they return in impact — then tells you where to start.
The ranking table
Effort is your realistic time and money cost. Impact combines link quality, scalability, and how often the method actually produces links when tried.
| # | Method | Effort | Impact | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Niche edits | Low–Med | High | Best effort-to-impact ratio |
| 2 | Guest posting | Medium | High | Reliable, scalable |
| 3 | Unlinked mentions | Low | Med–High | Easiest wins if you have a brand |
| 4 | Original research | High | Very high | Earns links for years |
| 5 | Digital PR | High | Very high | Big swings, big misses |
| 6 | Free tools | High | High | One build, ongoing links |
| 7 | Stats pages | Medium | High | Link magnet for journalists |
| 8 | HARO-style quotes | Medium | Medium | High volume, low hit rate |
| 9 | Broken link building | Medium | Medium | Works, slower than it looks |
| 10 | Resource pages | Medium | Medium | Steady, unglamorous |
| 11 | Podcasts | Medium | Medium | Link + audience in one |
| 12 | Partnerships | Low | Medium | Underused, easy asks |
| 13 | Comparison pages | Medium | Medium | Attracts links passively |
| 14 | Testimonials | Low | Low–Med | Quick, limited ceiling |
| 15 | Roundups | Low | Low–Med | Declining but cheap to try |
| 16 | Communities | Low | Low | Mostly nofollow, still useful |
| 17 | Directories | Low | Low | A handful matter, most don't |
| 18 | Buying placements | Low | Varies wildly | Works if vetted, burns if not |
| 19 | Scholarship links | High | Near zero | Dead. Skip it. |
The workhorses: methods 1–2
Niche edits are links added to existing, already-indexed articles on relevant sites. Because the page already has age, traffic, and often its own backlinks, the link passes value immediately — no waiting for a new post to rank. The catch is vetting: plenty of sites selling edits are link farms. Check organic traffic and referring domains in Ahrefs before you commit. This is exactly what our niche edits service handles — every placement verified before you pay.
Guest posting is still the most scalable white-hat method: you write the article, the host site publishes it with a link to you. Quality varies enormously, which is why "write for us" footprints attract spammers and why real outreach — pitching sites that don't advertise guest slots — outperforms. If you'd rather skip the pitching grind, a guest posting service with transparent site metrics does the sourcing for you.
The compounding assets: methods 3–7
Unlinked mentions are the lowest-hanging fruit that most sites never pick. Someone already wrote about you — they just didn't link. Find mentions with Ahrefs Content Explorer or Google alerts, email the author, ask for the link. Conversion rates on these emails beat every other outreach type because the hard part (getting mentioned) is already done.
Original research — surveys, data studies, industry benchmarks — earns links passively because writers need citations. One solid study can pull referring domains for years. The effort is real: collecting data, analyzing it, packaging it readably. But nothing else on this list compounds the same way.
Digital PR takes research and adds a newsroom muscle: a story angle, a press list, timed outreach. When it lands, you get links from publications you couldn't buy your way into. When it misses, you've spent weeks for nothing. We break down what makes campaigns land in our guide to digital PR link building.
Free tools — calculators, generators, checkers — attract links because people link to useful things without being asked. A mortgage calculator, a headline analyzer, an invoice generator. Build once, earn links indefinitely. The effort sits in the build, not the outreach.
Stats pages are the budget version of original research: aggregate existing statistics on a topic into one well-organized page, keep it updated, and rank it for "[topic] statistics" queries. Journalists and bloggers searching for a stat land on your page and cite it. You're not creating data, just curating it — which is why impact is a notch below original research.
The grinders: methods 8–13
HARO-style quotes (now Connectively, plus alternatives like Qwoted and Featured) put journalist requests in your inbox. Answer fast, be genuinely quotable, and you earn links from news sites. The hit rate is low — expect many pitches per placement — but the links are ones you can't get any other way.
Broken link building means finding dead links on relevant pages and offering your content as the replacement. It works, but the math is slower than tutorials suggest: finding broken links is easy, finding ones where your content genuinely fits is not.
Resource pages — curated "useful links" pages — still exist in most niches, and the pitch is simple: your content belongs on their list. Rejection is common, but the effort per pitch is small. Full walkthrough in our resource page link building guide.
Podcasts give you a backlink from the show notes plus exposure to an audience. Pitching is straightforward if you have a specific topic and a point of view. One recording, one link, sometimes more when episodes get syndicated.
Partnerships are the overlooked one: suppliers, integrations, clients, tools you use. These are companies with a reason to link to you — partner pages, integration directories, case studies. The ask is warm, so it converts.
Comparison pages ("X vs Y", "best X for Y") earn links because other writers reference them instead of doing the comparison themselves. They also rank and convert, so the link value is a bonus on top of traffic.
The small change: methods 14–17
Testimonials for products you actually use often get published with a link. Five minutes of effort, but the ceiling is low — you'll run out of products fast. Roundups ("best tools", "top blogs" posts) accept suggestions, but the format is declining and many are pay-to-play now. Communities — Reddit, Slack groups, forums — produce mostly nofollow links, which still have a place in a natural profile (see dofollow vs nofollow) and drive real referral traffic. Directories are worth a few hours once: industry-specific and local directories with real traffic, then stop. General directory submissions have been worthless for a decade.
The honest section: methods 18–19
Buying placements. Most of the industry does it and won't say so. Here's the honest version: Google's guidelines prohibit paid links that pass PageRank, and unvetted buying — link farms, PBNs, sites with no organic traffic — is how profiles get burned. But the practical risk lives almost entirely in what you buy, not that you buy. A paid placement on a real site with real traffic and clean outbound linking is indistinguishable from an earned one; a $20 link from a directory of link sellers is a liability. We wrote a full risk breakdown in buying backlinks: the honest guide. If you go this route, demand proof of metrics before payment — it's the entire reason our vetted backlinks process shows you Ahrefs data on every site first.
Scholarship link building is dead. The playbook — create a scholarship, email universities, collect .edu links — was so abused that Google devalued the pattern, and most university scholarship pages went nofollow or disappeared. You'd spend real money (the scholarship) and real time (the outreach) for links that no longer move rankings. Skip it entirely.
Where to actually start
If you have zero links: unlinked mentions, partnerships, testimonials, and a few directories — the warm, cheap wins. Then pick one scalable channel (guest posts or niche edits) and one compounding asset (stats page, tool, or research) and run both consistently. Outreach quality decides most of your results either way; our outreach email guide covers the templates and follow-up cadence that get replies.
FAQ
How long does it take to get backlinks? Warm methods (unlinked mentions, partnerships, testimonials) can land links within days. Outreach-driven methods like guest posting typically take 2–6 weeks from pitch to live link. Compounding assets like research and tools take months to build momentum, then keep producing.
What's the easiest way to get your first backlinks? Unlinked brand mentions, partner and supplier pages, testimonials, and a handful of legitimate industry directories. None require content creation, and all convert at higher rates than cold outreach.
Is buying backlinks safe? It's a spectrum, not a yes/no. Paid placements on real sites with genuine organic traffic carry low practical risk; bulk cheap links from farms and PBNs are how sites earn penalties. The vetting is everything — never pay without seeing traffic and referring-domain data first.
How many backlink methods should I use at once? Two or three, done consistently, beat ten done sporadically. One scalable outreach channel, one compounding asset, plus the cheap warm wins as you find them.
Want the scalable channels handled without the vetting risk? See our pricing — every placement comes with Ahrefs proof before you pay and a 6-month replacement guarantee.