How to Build Backlinks: Step by Step, Including for a New Website
A backlink is a link from another site to yours. You can't add one yourself: someone who runs the other site has to put it there. So building backlinks means finding pages that should mention you and giving the person behind each one a reason to. Every method here follows white-hat link building and Google's spam policies. For the wider picture, see what link building is.
Pick the page you want links to, find sites that already cover its topic, find the person who edits each one, and send a short pitch with a reason to link. Then check the link went live.
Reasons that work: a better source, a fix for a broken link, data, an existing mention. Five of them
New website: start with people who already know you. How
Of the links MentionAgent saw live between 26 September and 18 October 2026, 58% pointed at a homepage and 42% at a deeper page. 66% used the brand name as anchor text.
Other anchors: 29% descriptive words, 5% the bare URL.
How to create a backlink, step by step
- Choose the page you want linked. A guide, tool or data page gives an editor more reason to link than a sales page. See relevant backlinks.
- Find pages that already cover the topic. Listicles, comparison posts and how-to guides in your niche are your link prospects. To check who runs a site, see finding the publisher of a website.
- Find the editor's email. The author page, the about page or LinkedIn. See how to find someone's email address.
- Send a short pitch that names their article and says what your page adds. Start from a link building email template and make it personal. Follow up once if they reply and go quiet.
- Check the link is live by opening the page, and check it again later. A promise in an email is not a link: see sustainable link building.
The full outreach process is in the link outreach guide. Run as a planned push, it becomes a link building campaign. Make sure your emails are legal in the countries you target.
Five reasons an editor will link
1. Your product or page fits an article they already wrote
Pitch a mention in a "best tools" list or a how-to where your product belongs. If a site already names you without a link, ask for it: unlinked brand mentions. The result is an editorial backlink.
2. You fix a broken link
Find a dead outbound link on a relevant page, for example with Ahrefs' free broken link checker, and offer your page as the replacement. See what broken link building is and the step-by-step broken link building guide. A close cousin is resource page link building.
3. You publish something they can cite
Original research, a data study, a free tool or a guide that covers a topic better than the pages ranking for it. Data is what earns links from universities: see .edu backlinks. Pitching it to journalists is digital PR; see PR link building. If you need writers, marketplaces like Verblio sell blog content.
4. You write for their readers
Guest posting works on sites your audience reads. The guest posting guide covers the process and the guest posting sites list has targets. Dibz automates prospecting searches, and Pitchbox vs BuzzStream compares the common outreach tools.
5. You trade something useful
A relevant swap, a testimonial for a tool you use, or a partner page. Keep these few and relevant: Google's spam policies name "Excessive link exchanges". See link exchange.
Links and mentions also feed AI answers. See generative engine optimization, the GEO playbook, getting mentioned by ChatGPT and ranking in Perplexity.
How to get backlinks for a new website
A new site has no track record, so cold pitches are harder to land. Start where you already have a relationship or a reason:
- People who know you: suppliers, partners, clients and associations that list members.
- Mentions you already have: launch coverage, podcast notes or directory profiles that name you without a link.
- One page worth citing before you pitch anyone: a guide, a tool or data your niche lacks.
- Small sites in your niche, which reply more readily than the biggest names. See how many backlinks you need to set a target.
Before chasing links, check whether your queries need them at all: SEO without link building has a ten-minute check. Expect results to take months: how long link building takes.
Building backlinks manually
Every step above can be done by hand: a spreadsheet of prospects, a search for each email, and one pitch at a time. The cost is time, not money. Manual link building breaks down what each step takes, and AI link building vs manual outreach compares it with software.
What live links look like
MentionAgent checks every agreed link on the publisher's page and records where it points and its anchor text. Across all workspaces, for links first seen live between 26 September and 18 October 2026:
| Link | Share |
|---|---|
| Points at the homepage | 58% |
| Points at a deeper page | 42% |
| Anchor is the brand name | 66% |
| Anchor is descriptive words | 29% |
| Anchor is the bare URL | 5% |
Editors mostly link with the name of the business they are mentioning. If you need a deeper page linked with descriptive words, say which page and why in the pitch. More on anchors in the anchor text generator.
Automate your link building outreach
MentionAgent finds relevant blogs, finds the editor's email and drafts each pitch, which you approve or send on auto. From $99/mo.
Start getting mentionedWhat not to do
Google's spam policies define link spam as "creating links to or from a site primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings":
| Tactic | What Google's policy says |
|---|---|
| Buying links | "Exchanging money for links" is link spam unless the link carries rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow" |
| Link swaps at scale | "Excessive link exchanges" are link spam |
| Automated links | "Using automated programs or services to create links to your site" is link spam |
| Comment and forum links | "Forum comments with optimized links in the post or signature" are listed as an example |
If an agency left you with bad links, see how to disavow backlinks.
Measuring results
- Referring domains: the number of sites linking to you, which says more than total links. Track new and lost links monthly, and run a backlink audit once a year.
- Authority scores: domain authority from Moz, or Ahrefs' Domain Rating.
- Rankings and organic traffic for the pages you built links to.
Paying someone instead
Content can come from marketplaces like Verblio, agencies like Brafton or Growfusely, or AI publishing tools like Outrank. For links:
- Retainers: LinkBuilder.io (pricing), Stellar SEO, Page One Power.
- Per-link: LinksThatRank, The HOTH (alternatives), Rhino Rank.
- Digital PR campaigns: Search Intelligence in the UK, Fractl in the US.
Teams weighing paid ads against links can compare the math in KlientBoost alternatives. MentionAgent runs the outreach workflow above from $99/mo, with no per-link fees, and doesn't buy links.
Frequently asked questions
How do I create a backlink?
You can't add one yourself. Find a page that covers your topic, email the person who edits it, and give a reason to link: a better source, a broken link fix, data, or an existing mention of you. Then check the page.
How do I get backlinks for a new website?
Start with people who already know you (partners, suppliers, clients, associations), turn existing mentions into links, and publish one page worth citing before pitching small sites in your niche.
Can I build backlinks without spending money?
Yes. Broken link building, unlinked mentions, resource pages and manual outreach cost time, not money.
Will buying backlinks get my site penalized?
Google's spam policies list exchanging money for links as link spam unless the link is marked rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow", and say sites that break the policies "may rank lower in results or not appear in results at all."
How long do backlinks take to affect rankings?
It varies by site and query. See how long link building takes for timelines.
Do nofollow links help with SEO?
Google's link guide says to use nofollow when "you'd rather Google not associate your site with, or crawl the linked page from, your site." Nofollow links can still send visitors and are a normal part of a natural backlink profile.