The best way to get backlinks is not a single tactic. It is an order of work: claim the links you are already owed, then earn new ones by being useful to a specific site, then scale whatever produced replies. Ten tactics cover almost everything that works, and they sort neatly into those three groups. This post is the hub; each tactic links to the guide that covers it in depth.
The ten tactics, in one list
Semrush’s guide, how to get backlinks by Alex Lindley, published in April 2026, lists ten. We have kept its list and grouped it by how much effort each tactic takes and where the link comes from.
| Tactic | Group | Our guide |
|---|---|---|
| Turn unlinked brand mentions into links | Recover | Link reclamation |
| Fix broken backlinks to your site | Recover | Link reclamation |
| Inherit competitors’ broken backlinks | Earn | Broken link building |
| Partnerships, affiliates and integrations | Earn | Below |
| Resource pages and hubs | Earn | Below |
| Respond to media requests | Earn | HARO alternatives |
| Podcast interviews | Earn | Below |
| Guest posts for relevance | Earn | Guest post targets |
| Replicate competitor backlinks and citations | Scale | Skyscraper technique |
| Create content people want to cite | Scale | Skyscraper technique |
Semrush also makes a point worth keeping in view: links “help you earn citations in AI systems like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews.” A link is no longer only a ranking input. It is evidence, visible to more than one kind of system, that other people treat your page as a source.
Recover the links you are already owed
Start here, because the hard part is already done. Somebody has written about you; they just did not link. Unlinked brand mentions convert well because the writer already knows and likes the brand. A short, polite note asking for the mention to become a link is a small favour, not a pitch.
Broken backlinks to your own site are the second half. Pages get moved, renamed or deleted, and links pointing at them stop passing anything useful. Redirect the dead URL to the closest live page, or ask the linking site to update it. Our guide to link reclamation covers both jobs, including how to find the mentions and broken URLs in the first place.
Earn links by being useful to a specific site
Every tactic in this group works the same way: find a page that would be better with a link to you, and make that obvious to the person who runs it. The variation is in how you find the page.
- Competitors’ broken backlinks. When a competitor’s page dies, every site linking to it now has a dead link. If you have an equivalent page, you are offering a fix. Our guide to broken link building walks through it.
- Resource pages. Curated lists of tools and guides exist to link out. The bar is simply being good enough to list.
- Partnerships and integrations. Suppliers, partners and products you integrate with often keep partner or integration pages. These are among the easiest links to get and the most often forgotten.
Resource pages deserve a word of caution. Many are abandoned, and a page nobody has updated in years is unlikely to be updated for you. Check that the page still gets attention: recent additions, working links, a named maintainer. When you write, name the specific section your page belongs in and say what it adds that the existing entries do not. A curator who can place your link in thirty seconds is far more likely to do it than one who has to work out why you wrote.
Podcast interviews and media requests trade expertise for a link. Podcasts nearly always link guests in the show notes, and a single appearance can lead to others. Journalist request services have changed a great deal in recent years; our round-up of HARO alternatives covers where those requests are posted now and how to answer them quickly enough to matter.
Guest posting belongs in this group too, but only on Semrush’s terms: for relevance. A guest post on a site your audience actually reads is worth doing. One on a site that exists to sell guest posts is not. Our guide to guest post targets with real traffic shows how to tell them apart before you write anything.
Which is the best way to get backlinks at scale?
The two remaining tactics are the only ones that scale beyond your existing relationships. Replicating competitor backlinks means studying who links to the pages that rank above you and asking why. Creating content people want to cite means building the page those sites would rather link to.
Semrush’s own example shows what the second can do. Its study on AI search attracted, by its account, “more than 9K backlinks from over 1.3K unique domains.” That is Semrush’s figure, for a study from a large brand with a large audience, and it is not a forecast for anyone else. The principle carries over: original data and genuinely useful tools are cited because writers need a source, and a source is something you can be.
The classic version of this is the skyscraper technique, which still works when “better” means more useful rather than merely longer. Both scalable tactics end in outreach, and the quality of that outreach decides the result. Our guide to link building outreach covers prospect lists, personalisation and follow-ups.
The shortcuts that cost you later
The received wisdom in some corners is that buying links is simply faster. It is faster to acquire them and slower to recover from them. Paid links that pass ranking signals breach Google’s spam policies, the sites that sell them tend to sell to everyone, and the pattern is easy to see from outside. Our post on buying backlinks sets out the risk in detail.
How hard is it to get backlinks without shortcuts? Harder at the start than any guide admits. A new site has no mentions to reclaim, no broken links to fix and no reputation to trade on. For beginners, the realistic order is partnerships and integrations first, resource pages and podcasts second, and original content once you have something to say that nobody else has published.
The limitation of any tactic list, this one included, is that it cannot tell you which tactic suits your site. That depends on your niche, your existing relationships and what you can genuinely offer. Try two or three, track replies and links for each, and put more time into whichever earns a response. If a tactic produces nothing after a fair test, the problem is usually the offer, not the email.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best way to get backlinks?
Recover links you are already owed first, then earn new ones by giving a specific site a reason to cite you. Original data and useful resources scale best.
How can I get backlinks to my site as a beginner?
Start with partners, suppliers and integrations, then resource pages and podcasts. These rely on relationships and usefulness rather than an existing reputation.
Do backlinks still matter with AI search?
Semrush argues they do, saying links help you earn citations in AI systems such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews.
Should I buy backlinks?
No. Paid links that pass ranking signals breach Google’s spam policies, and the sites that sell them are easy to identify.
The takeaway Claim the links you are owed, earn the rest by being worth citing, and scale only what gets replies. Every lasting backlink has a reason behind it.
