Link Building Tips at a Glance
Quick answer: Link building tips come down to one idea: get other websites to link to yours without paying, trading or scripting the link. The ones with the least risk are publishing pages worth citing, asking people who already know you, turning brand mentions into links and keeping your existing links working. Skip paying for ranking links, trading links in bulk and automating them, because Google's link spam policy names all three.
Many lists of link building strategies, tactics and techniques mix moves Google documents with moves someone merely likes. Here every tip opens with a label. Google says means a Google page we fetched supports the point, and the sentence names it. Our view means Google publishes nothing on the subject, so it is editorial advice. No tip is Google approved, because the pages we read list link spam and one exception for labeled paid links, but no list of approved tactics.
The twelve, in section order, also suit link building for beginners:
- Publish one page worth citing
- Publish original numbers
- Build a free tool
- Refresh pages that earn links
- Tell partners and customers
- Turn mentions into links
- Contribute expertise
- Replace dead links
- Ask for image attribution
- Link your own pages
- Redirect old URLs
- Sponsor for the audience
New to SEO? Start with what SEO is, because this post assumes you know what a page and a link are.
What Google Says About Links Before You Build Any
A backlink, or inbound link, is a link from another site to yours. Google's Link best practices page says Google uses links as a signal of relevancy and to find new pages to crawl. It is one signal among many: the SEO Starter Guide says PageRank is one of Google's fundamental algorithms but that "there's much more to Google Search than just links". How Search ranks results names one quality factor, whether "other prominent websites link or refer to the content", and calls that "generally a good sign that the information is trustworthy". Whether more links always win is another question, and our myth check answers it.
Google's link spam policy defines link spam as "creating links to or from a site primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings". The examples this guide touches: money, goods or services for a link, excessive link exchanges, automated link creation, optimized anchor text in guest posts and press releases, low-quality directory links, keyword-rich widget links, and forum comments with optimized links. Our guide on what off-page SEO is lists the full set.
One exception exists. Google says buying and selling links is "a normal part of the economy of the web for advertising and sponsorship purposes", and not a violation when the links are qualified with rel=nofollow or rel=sponsored. In September 2019 Google announced that sponsored, ugc and nofollow "are treated as hints about which links to consider or exclude within Search". So followed and nofollow links both belong in a plan: a link an editor gives freely needs no label, and a paid one does.
Enforcement uses "automated systems and, as needed, human review that can result in a manual action", and violators "may rank lower in results or not appear in results at all". Google also says it "may act against any type of spam practices we detect", so a tactic missing from the list is no permission slip. Google sorts behaviors, not hats: the pages we read never say white hat link building, and ethical link building is a goal, not a Google category.
The rule in one line: earn links, label anything paid, and ask for nothing that could look like payment.
Link Building Tips for Content That Earns Links
These four are how to build backlinks with only what you already control.
1. Publish one page that answers a question better than the pages that rank
Google says that creating helpful, reliable, people-first content is among the key practices in Search Essentials. The part about being cited is Our view. Read the pages that rank for a question, list what each one leaves out and answer that gap in plain words, with a date and a named author on the page. A precise glossary entry or a worked calculation is the kind of page other writers cite.
Nobody can promise a link, so write for the reader first and treat any link as a bonus.
2. Publish original numbers, and show how you got them
Our view: Data you really hold gives other writers something no one else has. Original research needs no lab: your own support questions grouped by topic, a test you ran or a count from your own site will do. Give the sample, method and date in the first paragraph, so a writer can cite you without emailing first.
Never round a number up and never invent one. Say what the data cannot show, because a limit you name earns more trust than one a reader finds.
3. Build a free tool or template that does one small job
Our view: A calculator, a checklist, a template or a converter gives other sites something to point at. Keep it usable without a login, because a sign-in wall hides it from the people who would link to it. A free tool earns links only when it solves a job people already have, so check that need before you build.
4. Refresh the pages that already earn links
Google says where to look: the Search Console Links report, under External links and then Top linked pages, shows which of your pages have the most backlinks from other sites. Our view: open that table, take the top three, then update the facts, examples and date on the same address instead of publishing a new page. Keep the old URL working.
A rewrite that changes what the page is about can lose the reason people linked, so keep the question the page answers.
Link Building Tips for Outreach That Stays Inside the Rules
These five are how to get backlinks by asking. You decide what to say and, more important, what you never offer.
5. Tell partners, customers and suppliers about the page
Google says: Google Search Essentials tells site owners to "Tell people about your site" and to be active in communities where like-minded people gather. Customers, suppliers, partners and trade bodies are the natural audience, and a local business can add the clubs and schools it supports. Write one short outreach email naming the exact page and why their readers would want it.
Offer nothing in return. Goods, services or money for a link count as link spam, and so does requiring a link in a contract without letting the other site qualify it. Some will link with nofollow or sponsored, and some not at all.
6. Turn unlinked mentions into links
Our view: Search for your brand or product name in quotation marks and exclude your own site, then open each result and look for a mention with no link. Google's search help documents quotes, the site: operator and the minus sign separately, so try the combination yourself, for example "Your Brand" -site:yourdomain.com. Where a page names you without a link, write to the editor, thank them, give the exact URL and ask whether they can add it. Follow up once, then let it go. A note this short is enough:
Example note: Hi Sam, thanks for mentioning our free sizing chart in your guide. If you can link it to example.com/size-chart, readers could open it straight from your page. No worries if not.
A brand mention that never becomes a link can still shape how an assistant describes you, as our guide on how to show up in AI search explains.
7. Contribute expertise where your readers already are
Google says: its link spam policy lists paid advertorials, and links with optimized anchor text in guest posts or press releases distributed on other sites, as link spam. Our view: a guest post, an expert quote for a journalist or a blogger, a podcast interview or a piece of digital PR is fine when it serves the publication's readers. Guest posts appear in Google's policy only inside that one bullet, so calling guest posting good or bad as such is our reading, not Google's.
Do not pay, let the editor choose the link text, accept a qualifier on the link, and never run a campaign of near-identical articles.
8. Offer your page as a replacement for a dead link
Our view: Find resource pages and guides on your topic, then run the free SEO Site Checker report on the full address of that page, not only the home page. Its In-page Links check requests the first 30 links it finds, in page order, waits up to three seconds for each and lists the ones that do not answer with a working page. In our test on a crafted page it listed the dead links and passed the live ones.
Links after the 30th are not checked, and menu links near the top can use up part of the 30, so on a long resource page treat the list as a starting point. Open each flagged link yourself first, because a site can answer an automated check differently from a browser. If your page truly covers what the dead link used to, tell the owner which link is broken and offer yours. The report has no backlink check, so it cannot find sites that link to you.
9. Ask for attribution when someone uses your image
Our view: For a chart, photo or diagram you made, use the free reverse image search tool. It takes a JPG, PNG or image address and builds links that open Google Lens, Bing and Yandex with it; we hold no image index of our own, so each engine searches its own. Where your original appears with no attribution, ask for a link to the page it came from. Use it only for images you own: an uploaded file sits at a long random address for about two hours, because the engines must fetch it.
Link Building Tips for the Links You Already Have
The last group is housekeeping, and it helps you earn backlinks without new outreach.
10. Link your own pages to each other
Google says in its Link best practices that it can generally crawl a link only when it is an <a> element with an href attribute. Link your five most useful pages from related pages with descriptive anchor text instead of "click here", then open the Links report, Internal links, to confirm they show up. Our guide to internal links covers how the free report's In-page Links check lists broken ones.
11. Keep old links working with redirects
Google says in its redirects documentation that redirecting old URLs makes sense when you merge two websites or remove a page and want to send visitors to a new one. In the Links report, open External links, then Top linked pages, load each URL and look for any that now return a 404 error. Set up a 301 redirect from each to the closest matching page. A home page is a poor match, and that part is Our view. Do this after every site move or URL change.
Google gives no figure for how much value a redirect carries, so be skeptical of anyone who quotes one.
12. Sponsor for the audience, and expect a labeled link
Google says in its spam policies that a link tied to advertising or sponsorship is not a violation when it carries rel=nofollow or rel=sponsored, and its page on qualifying outbound links says sponsored is preferred for paid placements. Sponsoring an event, a club or a community project puts your name in front of real people. Treat any link as a bonus and never pay to have the label removed.
This is where followed and nofollow links fit into outreach: ask the way you would for any editorial mention and accept whichever value the other site chooses. Our guide on what sponsored, ugc and nofollow mean covers the three values: rel=sponsored for paid links, rel=ugc for comments and forum posts, and rel=nofollow when neither fits.
Old Link Building Tips to Drop
These tips appear in plenty of lists. An earlier version of this post recommended some of them, and we removed them after checking Google's link spam policy. Each row names the reason and a better move.
| Old tip | Why it fails | Do this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Buy links or paid posts with no label | Money for links is link spam unless the link is qualified | Sponsor openly with rel=sponsored (tip 12) |
| Trade a testimonial, free product or prize for a link | Goods or services for links are named, including products sent for a linked post | Ask for coverage and offer nothing back (tip 5) |
| Swap links or build partner pages only for cross-linking | Excessive link exchanges and cross-linking partner pages are named | Link out only where readers gain |
| Run a contest that requires a link to enter | Our view: a prize for a link is goods for links | Run the contest and ask for no link |
| Post keyword links as comments or forum signature links | Forum comments with optimized links are Google's own example | Join the conversation and leave the link out |
| Submit to mass directories and bookmark sites | Low-quality directory and bookmark links are named | List the business where real customers look |
| Hand out infographics or widgets with keyword-linked embed code | Widget links are named; the infographic case is our view | Publish the data and let sites link the page |
| Buy an expired domain and redirect it to your site | Expired domain abuse is its own policy; the redirect part is our view | Earn links to the site you already run |
| Run guest post or press release campaigns with exact-match anchors, or automate links | Optimized anchors in those articles and automated link creation are named | Contribute for readers and let editors pick the link text |
None of these is a shortcut Google has approved. The versions that stay inside the rules are in tips 5, 7 and 12.
How to Track Your Backlinks for Free
Backlink building without measurement is guesswork, and the free route is Google's.
- Verify a property. The Search Console Links report needs a verified property in Google Search Console.
- Open the report. Choose Links, then External links, and read Top linking sites, Top linked pages and Top linking text.
- Export. On the Links landing page, use Export to download Latest links, up to 100,000 rows, as a CSV file or a Google Sheet.
- Repeat monthly. Look for new linking sites you recognize, unknown ones and link text that looks spammy. One good month does not prove a tip worked.
Know what the report leaves out: tables stop at 1,000 rows, it is a sample and not a full list, sites are grouped by root domain, removed links may still appear, and it does not say whether a link is nofollow.
Disavow is not routine housekeeping. Google calls its disavow links tool "an advanced feature" and says "most sites will not need to use this tool". Consider it only for "a considerable number of spammy, artificial, or low-quality links" that caused or will likely cause a manual action, and try to get them removed first. After a manual action you file a reconsideration request. Google's disavow help page lays out the tool's steps.
Our own tools do less, and it is better to say so. The Domain Authority Checker works on any domain with no sign-up and shows a free authority figure with its source printed beside it. Today that is a Common Crawl link-graph rank out of 100 plus a global rank, which the result says is not a Domain Authority or Page Authority score. If third-party scores return, the result will change. It does not list who links to you, and it is not a Google metric. The SEO Site Checker report has no backlink check, so look for link counts in the Links report. Our guide to page authority vs domain authority explains what those scores are and are not.
A 30-Day Link Building Plan
This is free link building in the literal sense: it costs time, not placement fees. It is a routine, not a forecast.
- Week 1. Open the Links report, export Latest links, list your top five linked pages and set a 301 redirect for any that now return an error (tips 4 and 11).
- Week 2. Publish or refresh one page worth citing and link to it from three related pages (tips 1 to 3 and 10).
- Week 3. Find ten unlinked mentions or dead links on pages in your topic and send short notes that ask for no particular anchor text and offer nothing in return (tips 5, 6 and 8).
- Week 4. Export Latest links again, note new linking sites, drop any tactic that produced nothing and repeat from week 2.
For the wider routine around your pages, see how to optimize your website for SEO.
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) is a list of common questions and answers provided to quickly address common concerns or inquiries.
What are the best link building tips for beginners?
Start with what you control: publish one page worth citing, ask customers and partners who already know you, turn brand mentions into links and redirect old URLs that now return errors. Skip paying, trading and keyword anchors. Pick one tip, repeat it for a month, then open the Search Console Links report to see what changed.
Do backlinks still matter for SEO?
Yes, as one signal among many. Google says PageRank continues to be part of its core ranking systems, and that one factor in judging quality is whether other prominent websites link or refer to the content. The SEO Starter Guide adds that there is much more to Google Search than just links.
Is it okay to pay for backlinks?
This answer covers Google's rules and nothing broader. Google lists exchanging money for links, when the aim is ranking, as link spam. The exception is advertising and sponsorship, which is fine when the link carries rel=nofollow or rel=sponsored. We do not recommend paying for link placement as a ranking tactic.
Are link swaps safe?
Google names excessive link exchanges, and partner pages made only for cross-linking, as link spam, but the pages we read give no threshold. One genuine mention of a partner is normal editorial behavior; a program of trading links is not. Link where it helps readers and do not ask for a link back.
Do nofollow links help?
Possibly, and Google does not say how much. Since September 2019 Google has treated nofollow, sponsored and ugc as hints that it combines with other signals, and a linked page may still be found by other routes. A nofollow link can also send real readers, so judge an opportunity by its audience and relevance.
Should I disavow bad backlinks?
Usually not. Google calls the disavow tool an advanced feature and says most sites will not need it. Use it only when you have a considerable number of spammy, artificial or low-quality links that caused or will likely cause a manual action, after you have tried to get them removed. Disavowed links still show in the Links report.
How can I check who links to my site for free?
Use the Search Console Links report. It shows top linking sites, top linked pages and top linking text, and you can export the latest links, up to 100,000 rows. It is a sample, not a full list, and it does not show which links are nofollow. Our Domain Authority Checker gives a score for a domain, not a list of links.
How long does link building take?
Nobody can say, so be wary of a fixed timeline. The SEO Starter Guide says other sites linking to you happens naturally over time, and the pages we read give no schedule. Track new linking sites in the Links report each month and judge a method by what it earns over a quarter, not by rank after a week.
