Last updated August 2026
How to Get Backlinks: The Short Answer
Get backlinks by creating something genuinely worth linking to, then earning links through unlinked-mention outreach, broken-link replacement, selective guest posting, and relevant directory or resource-page listings — in roughly that order of effort-to-payoff. Buying links in bulk or mass-submitting to low-quality directories does more harm than good today.
The rest of this guide breaks down exactly how to do each of those, in what order, and how to tell whether your effort is actually working.
Are backlinks still important for SEO?
Yes - a link from another site is still one of the clearest trust signals a search engine has: an independent site is vouching for yours. Content and technical SEO determine whether you're able to rank; backlinks are a big part of what determines whether you actually outrank the sites already sitting above you for a given keyword.
The reason this trips people up is that backlink advice hasn't kept pace with how spammy the old tactics became. Directory submissions, link farms, and PBNs used to work; today they're more likely to get a domain penalized than to help it. What still works looks a lot more like actual outreach and actual usefulness.
Looking for backlinks you already have, not new ones? "Finding backlinks" can mean two different things — building new ones (this guide) or auditing your existing backlink profile to spot toxic or lost links. For the second one, see our guides on backlink audits and toxic link removal and disavowing bad links.
What makes a backlink valuable
Not all links carry equal weight. Before spending time chasing any one link, it's worth checking:
- Relevance - a link from a site in your niche or adjacent to it counts for far more than a link from an unrelated site, regardless of that site's own authority
- Authority of the linking domain - higher domain rating passes more trust, but relevance matters more than raw authority
- Follow vs. nofollow - nofollow links don't pass ranking authority directly, but they still drive referral traffic and brand visibility, so they're not worthless
- Placement - a link in the body of an article, surrounded by relevant content, is worth more than one buried in a footer or sidebar
The Step-by-Step Process to Earn Your First Backlinks
Follow this order if you're starting close to zero — each step builds on the leverage of the one before it.
- Audit unlinked brand mentions. Search for your brand name without your URL attached. Sites that mention you but forgot to link are the fastest, easiest wins available.
- Build one genuinely useful asset. A free tool, original dataset, template, or comprehensive guide gives outreach something worth pitching — skip this and every email after is a harder sell.
- Fix broken links pointing at similar content. Find dead links on relevant sites (pages that now 404) and suggest your asset as the replacement.
- Submit to a short list of relevant directories. Match the directory to your actual audience — see the list below — rather than mass-submitting everywhere.
- Pitch resource and roundup pages. Target pages already listing tools or guides in your niche ("Best X tools," "Y resources") and request inclusion.
- Guest post selectively. Write for sites with a real, engaged audience in your niche, contributing something genuinely useful, not a disguised ad.
- Track domain rating monthly. Confirm outreach is actually building authority rather than just consuming time.
Ways to Actually Earn Links (In Depth)
Create something worth linking to. Original data, tools, templates, or genuinely useful guides get linked to naturally because people reference them instead of re-explaining the same thing. This is the slowest option to set up but the one that keeps earning links with no ongoing effort.
Fix unlinked mentions. Search for your brand name without your URL attached - sites that mention you but forgot to link are usually a quick, friendly email away from an easy link.
Guest posting, done selectively. Writing for other sites in your niche still works, but the era of guest posting purely for the link is over - target sites with a real, engaged audience, and write something genuinely useful to their readers, not a thinly disguised ad.
Resource and roundup pages. Many niches have pages explicitly listing tools or resources ("Best X tools," "SEO resources for Y"). If you have a genuinely useful, free tool or guide, these pages are often open to additions on request.
Replace broken links. Find dead links on relevant sites (pointing to pages that 404 now) and suggest your content as the replacement. It's low-effort for the site owner to fix, which makes it one of the higher response-rate outreach approaches.
When Each Link-Building Method Works (And When It Won't)
Sweet Spots
- New sites with close to zero backlinks: Directory listings and unlinked-mention fixes give fast, low-effort first wins that a brand-new domain badly needs.
- Sites with a genuinely useful free asset: Broken-link replacement and resource-page outreach convert well once you have something worth linking to instead of just a pitch.
- Niches with active communities: Indie Hackers-style platforms and guest posting perform best where an engaged, topic-specific audience already exists.
Not Sweet Spots
- Sites with thin or low-quality content: No outreach tactic fixes a page that doesn't satisfy the reader once they click through — earn the link, then make sure the destination page holds up.
- Highly generic, saturated queries: A handful of new backlinks rarely moves a page competing against a dozen established, well-linked competitors on its own — pair link building with the content depth strategies covered in our PageRank guide.
- Anyone expecting overnight results: Backlink-driven authority gains typically take 1–3 months to fully register in rankings, even when the links themselves are earned immediately.
Link-Building Tactics Compared
| Tactic | Effort | Speed to First Link | Scalability | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Directory submissions | Low | Fast (days) | Low — one-time per directory | Low, if directories are relevant and reputable |
| Unlinked mention outreach | Low | Fast (days–weeks) | Low — depends on existing mentions | Very low |
| Broken link replacement | Medium | Medium (weeks) | Medium — repeatable per niche | Low |
| Resource page outreach | Medium | Medium (weeks) | Medium — repeatable per niche | Low |
| Guest posting | High | Slow (weeks–months) | Medium — limited by relevant sites | Low, if genuinely useful content |
| Original asset / data creation | High (upfront) | Slow to start, compounding after | High — keeps earning with no added effort | Very low |
| Bulk-bought links | Low | Fast | High | Very high — real penalty risk |
Directory submissions and unlinked-mention fixes are the right starting point precisely because they're low-risk and fast. Original assets take the longest to pay off but are the only tactic on this list that keeps earning links without repeated ongoing effort.
10 Directories Worth Submitting to if You're a SaaS or Software Product
Directory submissions get dismissed as an old, spammy tactic - and mass-submitting to low-quality directories still is. But a short list of relevant, well-trafficked directories is a legitimate, low-effort source of your first real backlinks, especially if you're starting close to zero. These are worth the submission time:
- SaaSHub (DR 79) - If you run a SaaS product, this is close to a must-do. Creating a listing gets you a backlink from a high-authority domain, plus referral traffic from people actively comparing software in your category. SaaSHub also supports "alternative to" style discovery, so you can get found by users searching for competitors.
- AlternativeMe (DR 75) - Built entirely around comparison intent. You list your product as an alternative to an existing, more established tool, and capture the traffic of people already unhappy with or just exploring options beyond that competitor - demand you didn't have to create yourself.
- BetaList (DR 76) - Aimed at early-stage products and pre-launch startups. Submitting here puts you in front of early adopters who like trying new things before anyone else does. Beyond the backlink, it's genuinely useful for validating your idea with real first users.
- OSS Gallery (DR 31) - If your project is open-source, don't skip this one. The domain rating is lower than the others on this list, but the relevance is extremely high - the entire audience is developers actively browsing for new open-source tools. A relevant link from a smaller site can still be worth more than an irrelevant one from a bigger site.
- TinyLaunch (DR 72) - A launch platform similar in spirit to bigger names. Gives you exposure, a backlink, and a shot at early users from a community specifically there to discover new products.
- Indie Page (DR 66) - Caters to solo founders and small teams building in public. A good fit if your brand leans into the "indie hacker" identity - you get a relevant backlink and visibility with people who browse indie projects specifically.
- SourceForge (DR 92) - One of the oldest software directories on the internet, and still one of the highest-authority ones on this list. Creating a listing here gets you a genuinely high-authority backlink, along with potential traffic from users actively searching for software solutions.
- Indie Hackers (DR 81) - Not a directory in the traditional sense, it's a community. Sharing your startup journey, revenue numbers, lessons learned, or milestones tends to attract founders, spark discussion, and drive real traffic back to your site. The backlink is a bonus; the audience quality is the real win.
- Medium (DR 94) - Publishing well-written articles, tutorials, and case studies here does double duty: it earns you referral traffic and a high-authority backlink, and it builds your personal or brand authority as someone who actually knows their space.
- ListedFirm - A directory built specifically to list all types of businesses: B2B, B2C, SaaS, and agencies. Useful because it isn't limited to one niche the way some of the others are - your listing page gets indexed on its own, which means you pick up an additional URL that can rank in search, drive its own traffic, and act as a hub for your full range of products and services, not just a single tool.
Not every product needs all ten. If you're pre-launch, BetaList and TinyLaunch matter most. If you're open-source, OSS Gallery's smaller but highly relevant audience will likely outperform a bigger, unrelated directory. Match the list to your actual audience rather than submitting everywhere at once.
What to Avoid
- Buying links in bulk from marketplaces - search engines are increasingly good at detecting unnatural link patterns, and the downside (a manual action) is far worse than the upside
- Reciprocal link exchanges at scale ("link to me and I'll link to you") beyond a handful of genuine, relevant partnerships
- Comment spam and low-quality directory submissions - these carry essentially no authority today and can flag a domain as low-quality
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get backlinks for my website?
Start by fixing unlinked brand mentions and submitting to a handful of relevant, reputable directories in your niche — these are the fastest wins for a new site. Then build one genuinely useful asset (tool, guide, or dataset) and use it as the centerpiece of outreach to relevant sites, rather than pitching cold with nothing to offer.
How do I find backlinks I already have?
Checking your existing backlink profile is a different task from building new links. Use a domain rating or backlink checking tool to see who currently links to you, then review that list for toxic or spammy links worth disavowing. See our guides on auditing backlinks and disavowing toxic links for the full process.
What's the fastest way to get backlinks?
Unlinked mention fixes and relevant directory submissions are the fastest, typically producing a live link within days. Broken-link replacement and resource-page outreach usually take a few weeks. Guest posting and building an original asset take the longest but compound the most over time.
How many backlinks do I need to rank?
There's no fixed number — it depends entirely on how many backlinks your competitors for that specific keyword already have. A handful of highly relevant, authoritative links can outweigh dozens of weak or irrelevant ones. Check what's currently ranking for your target keyword before setting a link-count goal.
Do nofollow backlinks help SEO?
Nofollow links don't pass ranking authority directly the way follow links do, but they still drive referral traffic, build brand visibility, and can lead to natural follow links down the line as more people discover your content through them. They're not worthless, just a different kind of value.
Are directory backlinks still worth it in 2026?
Selective, relevant directory submissions are still worth it — a handful of well-trafficked, niche-relevant directories remain a legitimate low-effort source of early backlinks. Mass-submitting to low-quality, irrelevant directories is the outdated tactic to avoid, not directories as a category.
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How to Prioritize Your First Efforts
If you're starting from close to zero backlinks, the highest-leverage order is usually: fix unlinked brand mentions first (fastest, easiest), then build one genuinely useful asset (tool, data page, or comprehensive guide), then use that asset as the centerpiece of outreach to relevant sites in your niche. Chasing links one email at a time before you have something worth linking to is the slowest path to real authority.
Track Whether It's Working
Link building is slow, so it's easy to lose track of whether effort is translating into results. Check your domain rating periodically to see whether your authority score is actually climbing as you build links - rather than relying on rankings alone, which move on a longer delay and are affected by more than just your backlink profile.