How to get backlinks in 2026: 10 tactics that still work, most of them free

How to get backlinks comes down to one idea: give another site a reason to send its readers to you. The reasons that still work in 2026 are a free tool worth linking to, data nobody else has published, an expert answer a journalist can quote, a listing in a directory people actually use, a mention that is missing its link, a replacement for a link that broke, and a real partnership. Almost all of them cost time rather than money, so yes, you can get backlinks for free. What doesn't work safely is anything Google's spam policies call a link scheme, including buying links that pass ranking credit and "excessive link exchanges". Below are ten tactics in the order we would do them, then what the policy says, stated plainly.

Yes. Google's ranking systems guide says it has "various systems that understand how pages link to each other as a way to determine what pages are about and which might be most helpful in response to a query." It adds that PageRank "continues to be part of our core ranking systems." Links are also how Google discovers new pages in the first place.

What has changed is which links are worth the effort. A few links from relevant sites, placed where a reader would actually click them, matter more than a pile of links from pages nobody reads.

Run any link you are chasing through five checks:

  • Relevant: the linking site covers your topic or serves your buyers.
  • Editorial: someone chose to link because your page helps their readers, not because of a payment or a swap.
  • In the content: the link sits in a paragraph about your topic, not in a footer or a sidebar list with hundreds of others.
  • Descriptive anchor: Google asks for anchor text that is "descriptive, reasonably concise, and relevant to the page that it's on and to the page it links to" (source). Your brand name or a plain description is fine. The same exact-match keyword on every link looks manufactured.
  • Not qualified: links marked rel="sponsored", rel="ugc" or rel="nofollow" tell Google the link is an ad, user content, or one the site doesn't vouch for (source). They can still send visitors.

A tool that does one useful job, such as a checker, a calculator, a generator or a template, gets linked from articles, forums and newsletters because writers want to give their readers something that works. Unlike a blog post, it keeps earning links long after launch.

Pick a job your buyers do by hand today, often in a spreadsheet. Make the tool work without sign-up, explain on the page how it works, and give it a title that matches what people search. We built our internal link checker and free website audit on that pattern.

2. Publish data nobody else has

Journalists and bloggers need numbers to cite, and they link to the source. If your product, a survey or public records can produce a figure no one else has published, publish it with the method, the sample size and the date. It is also what Google's guidance on helpful content asks for: "original information, reporting, research, or analysis."

Keep it small and specific. One clear finding with a chart and a sentence people can quote is easier to cite than a forty-page report.

3. Answer journalists' requests

Services such as HARO, Qwoted and Featured send reporters' questions to people who can answer them. You reply; if the reporter quotes you, the article often links to you. HARO itself was bought by Featured.com in April 2025 and relaunched as free for journalists and sources, according to the acquisition announcement.

What gets picked: a fast reply, a direct answer to the exact question asked, one specific insight from your own work, and a line on why you are qualified to say it. Reporters receive a lot of generic answers, so the specific one stands out.

4. Get listed in directories worth it

Some directories are where buyers actually look. G2 and Capterra for software. Product Hunt for launches. Integration marketplaces, such as the app directories of Zapier, Slack or Shopify, for anything that connects to another tool. Trade associations and chambers of commerce for local and B2B businesses. These send visitors and carry a link.

Google's spam policies list "low-quality directory or bookmark site links" as link spam. The test is simple: would a buyer ever browse this directory to find a business like yours? If not, skip it, and skip any service that submits you to hundreds of directories at once.

People mention your brand, product or founders without linking. Search Google for "your brand" -site:yourdomain.com and set a Google Alert for your name. When you find a mention without a link, send a short note: thank them, point to the exact page that matches what they wrote, and make the edit easy. This is the easiest yes you will get, because they already chose to write about you.

Pages that link out go stale. The sites they cite shut down or move pages. Find guides and resource pages in your topic, crawl them for dead outbound links (Screaming Frog's SEO Spider finds 404s and crawls 500 URLs for free), and check the Wayback Machine to see what the dead page used to say. If you have a page that covers the same ground, tell the site owner about the broken link and offer yours as a replacement. Lead with the broken link: it helps them whether or not they use your page.

Do the same on your own site. Old URLs that other sites link to should redirect to the closest live page instead of returning a 404, or the links pointing at them are wasted. The internal link checker finds broken links and redirects inside your own content.

7. Partner, customer and investor pages

The people you already work with are the most likely to link to you: integration partners' directories, suppliers' and agencies' partners pages, customers' "tools we use" pages, investors' and accelerators' portfolio pages, and event pages where you spoke or sponsored.

This is where a line in Google's policy matters. "Partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking" are named as link spam. A partners page that describes a real working relationship is not. A page of links that exist only because the other site linked back is.

8. Podcasts and guest posts with substance

Most podcasts link to their guests in the show notes. A guest post on a site your buyers read can bring visitors and a link in the author bio or the body. Pitch a specific topic you know better than the host's usual guests.

Google's policy names "links with optimized anchor text in articles, guest posts, or press releases distributed on other sites" as link spam. So write for that site's readers, link only where it helps them, and use your brand name or a plain description as the anchor. One guest post on a site people read is worth more than ten on sites that exist to sell guest posts.

9. Get included in lists and resource pages

"Best [category] tools" articles and curated resource pages bring buyers and carry links. Search for your category plus "best", "tools", "resources" or "alternatives", note who writes the lists that rank, and send the author what they need to judge you: a one-line description, pricing, who it is for, and a free account to try. Don't offer payment for inclusion. A paid placement that passes ranking credit counts as buying a link.

10. Write the clearest page on a narrow topic

Writers link to the page that explains something best: a definition, a step-by-step process, a diagram, a glossary entry. Pick a narrow topic in your field where the current results are vague or out of date, and write the page you would want to cite. This is the slowest tactic on the list, and it compounds.

Link exchanges are the tactic people ask about most, and the one where the rules are most often misread. Google's spam policies define link spam as "the practice of creating links to or from a site primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings." One of the listed examples is:

Excessive link exchanges ("Link to me and I'll link to you") or partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking

In practice:

  • Two related sites linking to each other because each page helps the other's readers is normal. The web is full of it.
  • An arrangement where the link exists because of the trade is what the policy describes. Google doesn't define "excessive", so there is no safe number.
  • Routing the trade through a third site (A links to B, B links to C, C links to A) doesn't change what it is. Neither does organizing it through a network or a marketplace.
  • Paid links are the same issue in a different currency. Google allows paid and sponsored links only when they carry rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow", which means they are not meant to pass ranking credit.

Any exchange carries this risk, including the one described below. The rule that keeps you on the safe side: most of your links should come from tactics 1 to 10, where someone chose to link to you.

Bottally has an opt-in backlink network, included in the Pro plan. It is a link exchange, run by rules in the software instead of outreach emails. Here is what those rules do:

  • It is off until you switch it on for your site.
  • When you are matched, an article Bottally writes for your blog links out to another member's page, and other members' articles link to yours.
  • It never links to a domain you have listed as a competitor, to a domain on your own blocklist, or to your own site.
  • A credit ledger counts one credit for each link you give and subtracts one for each link you receive. Members with the highest balance, meaning those who have given more than they have received, are matched first.
  • By default an article carries at most two network links out, and a site receives at most three network links in any rolling seven days. Your site won't link to the same member twice within 30 days.
  • A link counts only if the writer actually worked it into the article and the article is live on a real URL. A link that was dropped from the text is rejected and earns no one a credit.
  • About a day after the article goes live, Bottally fetches the page to confirm the link is there, then rechecks it every month. If the link has disappeared, the credits are reversed.

Those limits keep volume low and keep competitors apart. They don't change the fact that these links exist because of an exchange, which is what the policy above is written about. Treat the network as one source next to the editorial tactics, not a replacement for them.

The ten tactics above cost time. A directory listing or a mention request takes an hour or so; a tool or a data study takes days or weeks. None of them need a budget.

Paid links are a different thing. Google's policy lists "buying or selling links for ranking purposes" as link spam, including "exchanging money for links, or posts that contain links" and "exchanging goods or services for links". Prices vary from seller to seller, and we won't quote a figure we can't source. The cost that matters more is the risk to the rest of your site.

Not for ranking credit. A paid link that passes ranking credit breaks Google's policy, and a paid link marked rel="sponsored", which is allowed, isn't meant to pass it. What you can reasonably pay for is exposure: a sponsored slot in a newsletter your buyers read, a podcast or event sponsorship, an ad. Judge it by the visitors and customers it brings, the way you would judge any ad.

If you want ranking credit, there is no safe place, for the reason above. If you want visitors, buy sponsorships from publications your buyers already read, and expect the link to be marked as sponsored. Then put the money you would have spent on links into a free tool or a data study, which earns links that do count.

  1. Week 1: claim the directory and marketplace listings buyers use, and ask partners, investors and customers for the links they would happily give.
  2. Week 2: search for unlinked mentions and send the requests. Sign up for HARO, Qwoted or Featured and answer two requests a week.
  3. Week 3: find ten resource pages in your topic and check them for broken outbound links.
  4. Week 4: pick the free tool or data piece you will build next, and pitch one podcast.

Links are one part of the first year. Our guide to SEO for startups covers the pages to build first, and how to get traffic to your website covers the channels that work while links build up.

Make sure the page you will send them to deserves it. Run the free website audit on it first: it takes about a minute, needs no sign-up, and lists every fix, so the first visitor from a new link lands on a page that works.