7 ways to get free backlinks without breaking Google's policies
Seven ways to get backlinks without paying, from asking for a link where you are already mentioned to building a page worth citing, plus a sample outreach message and where link spam begins.
Table of Contents
You can get backlinks without paying anyone, provided the link is given because your page is genuinely useful. The cost shifts to time: finding opportunities, preparing a page worth citing and contacting site owners one by one. The seven methods below are listed in order, starting with the cheapest to try.
Google's spam policies prohibit buying links with money as well as exchanging them for goods or services, including sending free products so that someone writes a review with a link. Google's SEO Starter Guide also notes that links from other sites build up naturally over time and cannot be forced. These seven methods improve your chances, but they do not guarantee a result.
Backlinks worth pursuing
Google uses links as a relevance signal and to find new pages. That suggests a few practical criteria for filtering opportunities before you spend time on them.
| Criterion | Question to check |
|---|---|
| Relevant | Would that site's readers plausibly be interested in your page? |
| Given by an editor | Did the author choose the link, or can anyone post it? |
| In context | Does the surrounding sentence explain why the link is there? |
| Natural link text | Does the text describe the target page without being stuffed with keywords? |
| An active site | Is the site maintained, and does it actually have readers? |
Do not fixate on link attributes. Google treats nofollow, sponsored and ugc as hints, and a well-run site will put those attributes on ad links or links from its users anyway. A nofollow link can still bring visitors. If you want to know how these attributes affect metrics such as Domain Rating (DR), read the Domain Rating guide.
How to see where competitors get their backlinks
The quickest place to start is a competitor's list of links. Enter the competitor's domain into a free backlink checker, then look for patterns: media outlets that often cover your industry, associations, resource pages or articles that mention several providers at once. The limits of each tool are compared in the list of free Ahrefs alternatives.
Ignore sources you cannot reasonably replicate, such as paid links or blog networks. What you are looking for is the reason people link to that competitor, rather than a list of places to copy.
Seven ways to get free backlinks
1. Asking for a link where you are already mentioned
This is the cheapest of the seven methods. An article that names your business without linking to it already shows that the author knows you, so you are asking for only one small addition.
Search Google with the following search operators, then set up Google Alerts for your business name so that new mentions arrive by email.
"Your Business Name" -site:yourdomain.comA made-up example message you can adapt:
Hi Rina, your article about printing shops in Karawang mentions Cetak Prima. Thank you for including us. Would you be willing to link the name to our services page, so readers can go straight to our address and samples of our work? yourdomain.com/services
2. Filling in profiles and directories people actually use
Business associations, regional chambers of commerce, suppliers and event organizers often keep a list of members or partners. A link from a page like that is natural because there is a real relationship behind it. Mass directories are a different matter: Google lists links from low-quality directory or bookmark sites as an example of link spam. The test is simple. If no potential customer would open that list, skip it.
For a local business, this step ties in with local SEO for small businesses.
3. Replacing broken links
A page that disappears leaves dead links on other sites, and site owners are usually glad to be told. Ahrefs' guide to broken link building sets out four steps.
- Find dead pages that still have inbound links, for example on competitors' sites or on resource list pages in your industry.
- Filter those links and work out why people linked to the page.
- Prepare a replacement page. The Wayback Machine can show what the missing page contained.
- Contact the site owner with a message that says which link is broken and what replaces it.
To check the outbound links on a single site, you can start with Ahrefs' free Broken Link Checker. The same tool is also useful for your own site: restore or redirect the dead pages that have inbound links first.
4. Taking part in communities
Google's SEO Starter Guide names community involvement as a way to promote a site, and calls word of mouth one of the longest-lasting ways. Treat reputation and visits as the main benefit, because Google recommends marking links from users as ugc or nofollow. Answer questions in full, then link to your page only if it genuinely adds to the answer. Forum comments with optimized links, whether in the post itself or in the signature, are one of Google's examples of link spam.
5. Writing guest posts for another site's readers
Google does not prohibit guest posts. A 2017 warning from Google's webspam team was aimed at campaigns whose main purpose is building links at scale. The signs it lists include keyword-stuffed links, the same article spread across many sites and authors who do not know the topic.
- Pick a few sites whose readers match yours, and study the articles they have already published.
- Offer one topic they have not covered and that you genuinely know.
- Write for their readers. Add a link to your site only where it helps, with natural link text.
- Accept it if the editor asks for a nofollow attribute, because the article still builds your reputation.
Do not pay for guest posts with followed links, because Google calls that spam. Content placed on another site mainly to profit from that site's ranking strength can also count as site reputation abuse.
6. Creating a page worth citing
Writers look for sources to back up what they write. If you have something that is hard to find elsewhere, those writers have a reason to cite you without you having to ask.
- Original data: a small customer survey, a price roundup or measurements you carried out yourself.
- Ready-to-use tools: a calculator, a template or a checklist, such as the business website brief template.
- A clear explanation of a confusing topic, with sources that can be checked.
This method takes the longest to pay off, but the page stays useful to ordinary visitors even before any links arrive.
7. Making a better version of a page that already has many links
Backlinko's skyscraper technique has three steps: find content that already has many links, make a better version, then contact the sites that link to the old content. Its case study recorded 17 links from 160 emails in 2013. That is a single case from the technique's creator, so do not treat it as a benchmark.
Better means more accurate, more current or easier to use. Turning "10 tips" into "25 tips" does not necessarily make a page better, and Google has no word count target. Look for outdated data, missing steps or examples that do not suit your own readers, for instance readers in Indonesia.
Comparing the seven methods
The effort ratings in this table are our editorial judgment, not measurements. The table does not list how long results take, because no source can support a figure.
| Method | What it needs | Effort | Risk to watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unlinked mentions | A business name that has already been mentioned | Low | The request comes across as demanding |
| Profiles and directories | A membership or a real relationship | Low | Low-quality directories |
| Broken links | An equivalent replacement page | Medium | Irrelevant mass messages |
| Communities | Steady time and subject knowledge | Medium | Links seen as spam |
| Guest posts | A topic and an author who knows it | High | Seen as a link campaign |
| Pages worth citing | Data, tools or expertise | High | Nobody knows the page exists |
| A better version | Better content and a list of sites to contact | High | Only longer, not more useful |
Where fair methods end and link spam begins
Google defines link spam as creating links whose main purpose is to manipulate rankings. Many violations look much like legitimate methods, and the difference lies in their purpose and scale.
- Asking for a link where you are already mentioned is fair. Paying, or sending free products to get linked, is a violation.
- A guest post that is useful to that site's readers is fair. Mass articles with keyword-stuffed links are violations.
- Answering in a forum and then citing a relevant page is fair. Optimized links in a forum signature are violations.
- Business partners mentioning each other where it is relevant is fair. Excessive link exchanges and partner pages made only for swapping links are violations.
Buying links for advertising is still allowed as long as they carry the sponsored or nofollow attribute. Automated links, footer links spread across many sites and links required by terms of service are also on Google's list of link spam.
How to track the results
Open the Links report in Search Console once a month to see which sites and pages link to you. The report does not include every link, but it is free and enough to see which way things are going. Also keep a spreadsheet of who you have contacted, so you do not send anyone the same message twice.
Measure what affects your business, such as visits from referring pages and quote requests. If you want this work combined with content and technical fixes, see our SEO service.
Author
Dzaki Fauzaan
