Every list of ways to get backlinks has the same problem: it treats twelve tactics as if they cost the same and work equally well. They don't. Some produce a link a week for one person; others need a budget, a designer and a month. Here they are sorted by what they actually cost you.
The reliable, low-effort methods
1. Claim your unlinked mentions
Someone has already written your brand name without linking it. Search for your brand, filter out your own domain, and email the ones that matter. The yes rate on this is higher than anything else on the list because you are asking for a correction rather than a favour.
2. Reclaim links you have lost
Links vanish when posts get pruned or sites redesigned. Pull lost referring domains for the last six months and ask. Half of these are accidental and get fixed in a day.
3. Fix your internal links first
Not a backlink, but it changes what your existing backlinks are worth. If your strongest pages link to nothing that needs help, you are leaving equity parked. This is the highest-return hour in the whole list.
The methods that need real outreach
4. Broken link building
Find dead links on pages about your topic, offer your page as the replacement. High conversion, small universe. Works because you are reporting a problem before you ask for anything.
5. Resource page placements
Curated link lists exist to be added to. The pitch has to say what your page covers that the existing entries do not — otherwise you are asking for a duplicate.
6. Guest posting
Still effective when the post is genuinely written for that publication's audience. Dead when it becomes a template with a paragraph swapped. The test: would the site have run it without a link attached?
7. Link insertions into existing posts
Quote the exact sentence where your link belongs and explain what it adds for their reader. One post, one suggestion. Sending a list of five reads as a bulk request and gets treated as one.
8. Expert commentary and journalist requests
Answer questions from reporters working on a story in your field. Fast, free, and competitive — the winning answers are specific, quotable and sent within the hour.
The methods that need an asset first
9. Original data
A number nobody else has is the most durable link magnet there is, and it keeps earning for years. Write the headline you want before you collect the data; if you cannot, the study will not produce one.
10. Tools and calculators
Free tools accumulate links slowly and indefinitely. Expensive to build, cheap to maintain, and they earn links from people you never contacted.
11. Genuinely better guides
The skyscraper idea, minus the naive version. Being longer than the incumbent is not a reason to link. Being more current, more specific, or better structured for the question is.
12. Partnerships and co-created content
Slowest to start, most durable once running. A shared dataset or co-authored piece produces links from both audiences and tends to repeat.
How the methods compare
| Method | Effort | Reliability | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unlinked mentions | Low | High | Established brands |
| Broken links | Medium | High per pitch | Guides and references |
| Resource pages | Medium | Medium | Tools and deep guides |
| Guest posts | High | Medium | New sites needing relevance |
| Original data | Very high | Unpredictable | Brands with budget |
| Free tools | Very high | High over time | Software companies |
What has stopped working
Directory submission services, blog comment links, forum signatures, article directories, link exchanges arranged by email, and anything a vendor describes as "1,000 backlinks." These are not risky so much as inert — the systems that used to count them stopped over a decade ago.
The test that settles it: would a real reader ever click this link? If not, it is not doing anything for you.
Whichever methods you pick, the operational half is the same — a filtered list, a real contact, a specific pitch, two follow-ups. The outreach guide covers that, and the strategy guide covers choosing which pages to point it all at. Our link prospecting tool handles the list-building end.
Frequently asked questions
What is the fastest way to get backlinks?
Claiming unlinked brand mentions and reclaiming lost links. Both involve contacting people who have already referenced you, so the ask is small and the yes rate is high. Most established sites have between a handful and a few dozen sitting unclaimed, and the whole exercise takes an afternoon.
Can I get backlinks for free?
Yes — most durable link building costs time rather than money. Broken link building, resource page outreach, unlinked mention reclamation and answering journalist requests are all free apart from your hours. What you cannot do for free is buy your way past the effort; paid link packages produce links that are ignored at best.
How many backlinks do I need per month?
Volume is the wrong target. A steady handful of relevant referring domains a month will outperform thirty low-quality ones, and a sudden spike on a site with no history is a pattern worth avoiding. Set the target from what the pages currently ranking for your terms actually have.
Do backlinks still matter in 2026?
Yes. Links remain one of the strongest signals search engines use to judge whether a site deserves to rank for competitive terms. What has changed is that low-quality links are ignored rather than counted, so the effective work is narrower: fewer links, from more relevant places, pointed at the right pages.