The link building strategies that still work give another site a real reason to cite you: your data, your expertise, a mention you already earned or a fix for their broken page. Anything that only works because money changed hands is a liability.
By Kristijan GjorgjioskiIndependent SEO consultantPublished 18 October 2026 · 8 min read
Most link building lists are padded with tactics that are really ways to buy links without calling it buying.
This isn't that list.
These are the 10 link building strategies I still use on real campaigns, ordered from the most overlooked to the most familiar.
Each one comes with how to do it and what to watch for.
At the end, you'll find four tactics I'd stop paying for today.
You won't use all ten. Nobody should.
The right mix depends on three things:
A quick way to see which kinds of sites link in your niche is to study the pages outranking you.
My guide to SEO competitor analysis shows how to pull and sort their referring domains.
That gap is also where I start when scoping a link building campaign for a client.
One more rule before the list: fix the basics first.
Links amplify what's already on the page.
If the page is thin or has technical problems, new links mostly amplify those problems.
Journalists and bloggers need numbers to quote.
Most businesses sit on numbers nobody else has.
Think enquiry trends, average job costs, response times, seasonal demand or survey answers from customers.
Here's how to do it:
The key is honesty about the method.
Say how many records, which period and what you excluded.
A data page done this way keeps earning links long after the pitch, because new articles keep needing a source.
If you don't have data, a content strategy can identify the reference pages your market lacks.
This is the fastest win in link building, and almost everyone skips it.
Your business gets named in articles, award lists, event recaps and supplier pages.
Plenty of those mentions carry no link.
To find them:
Then send a short, friendly note.
Thank them for the mention and ask if they'd add a link so readers can find you.
No pitch. No guest post offer.
The writer has already decided you're worth mentioning.
You're only asking them to finish the job.
Every site that has been redesigned has links pointing at URLs that no longer exist.
Those links still exist on other sites.
They just land on a 404, so they help nobody.
Here's the fix:
No outreach required. You keep the link and the visitor.
If you're planning a relaunch, my guide on how to create a redirect map stops this happening in the first place.
Your suppliers, distributors, trade associations, clients and event organisers all have websites.
Many of them list partners, members or stockists.
You may already qualify for a listing and simply never asked.
Make a list of every organisation you have a real relationship with.
Then check whether their site has a page where you belong.
A few common examples:
These links are relevant by definition.
They reflect a real business connection.
Just keep them genuine. Google's spam policies flag partner pages built purely for cross-linking.
Reporters work to deadlines and constantly need someone qualified to comment.
If you can answer fast, with a clear opinion and real expertise, you'll get quoted.
Here's how I approach it:
Not every quote comes with a link. That's fine.
Brand mentions in trusted publications can also shape how AI assistants describe you, which my piece on getting mentioned by ChatGPT covers.
Where the article names you without a link, go back to strategy 2.
People link to things that save them time.
A calculator, a generator or a checker becomes a resource other sites point to whenever the topic comes up.
The best tools answer a question your market keeps asking.
My SEO ROI calculator is one example: it tackles the "is SEO worth it for us?" question owners ask before hiring anyone.
To get it right:
Tools take more work up front than any other strategy here.
They also keep earning links with very little upkeep.
Many sites keep lists of useful resources: guides for members, tools for students, reading lists for customers.
Those pages exist to link out.
That makes them a natural home for a genuinely helpful page of yours.
To find them, search for your topic plus phrases such as "useful resources", "helpful links" or "recommended reading".
Then check each page before you pitch:
Pitch only where the answer to all three is yes.
Mention the specific section where your page fits.
A tidy, current resource page linking to you sends real visitors, not just a ranking signal.
This one pairs nicely with strategy 7.
Resource pages and old articles often link to sites that have closed or pages that have vanished. Their owners rarely notice.
Here's the process:
You're doing them a favour first. That makes the ask easier.
It does work best when your page is a true replacement.
Check what the dead page covered using an archived copy, then make sure yours matches.
Guest writing still works. Guest posting as a link scheme doesn't.
The difference is the publication.
A respected trade title with real readers, an editor and no fee is worth your time.
A blog that publishes anyone who pays is not.
Before you pitch, check:
Write something only you could write, based on your own experience.
Let the editor choose the link, usually your name or company.
Google's spam policies specifically mention optimised anchor text in guest posts distributed across other sites. So skip the keyword-rich anchors.
Podcast hosts need guests every week, and most episode pages link to the guest's site.
Conferences, webinars and local business events work the same way.
Speaker pages usually include a bio and a link.
How to get started:
The link is a bonus. The real value is talking directly to a room, or a feed, full of potential buyers.
People rarely link to a service or product page.
They link to your data, your tool or your expert.
So once those links land, use internal links to pass that strength to the pages that bring in revenue.
My guide to finding internal linking opportunities shows where to place them.
These four still get sold every day.
I'd stop paying for all of them.
Google's spam policies class exchanging money, goods or services for links as link spam.
Paid links are fine only when marked with a nofollow or sponsored attribute, which means judging them as advertising.
"Link to me and I'll link to you" in small doses is normal on the web.
Excessive swaps and partner pages that exist only for cross-linking are named in Google's spam policies.
Google lists these explicitly. A handful of real, curated directories in your industry are different, and my take on whether paid business directories are worth it covers where the line sits.
Tools that create links for you, and networks of sites built to sell placements, are the clearest footprint of all.
If a link profile has these, my guide on spotting a Google penalty explains what to check first.
Don't panic-disavow, though. Google's disavow guidance says most sites never need the tool, and that it's meant for a considerable number of spammy links tied to a manual action, actual or likely.
You don't need ten strategies running at once.
Pick three for this month:
Before you chase any new link, check the site is worth it with my process for checking backlink quality.
Link building is one part of off-page SEO, alongside reviews, mentions and listings.
And if you'd like someone to run the prospecting, vetting, outreach and reporting for you, here's how I run link building as a hands-on campaign.
For most businesses I work with, the most effective link building strategy is reclaiming what they already earned: unlinked mentions, partner and supplier pages, and links pointing at old URLs that now return errors. After that, original data and expert comment for journalists tend to earn the strongest links, though they take longer to pay off.
There is no fixed number. It depends on how strong the pages already ranking for your query are, and how relevant their links are. Compare your page with the top results in a backlink tool, look at the kinds of sites linking to them, and aim to close that gap with links of similar quality rather than a target count.
Guest articles still work when the publication has real readers, edits what it publishes and would run your piece without payment. Google's spam policies call out keyword-rich anchor links in articles and guest posts distributed across other sites, so the risk sits in scale, paid placements and optimised anchors, not in writing for a respected trade title.
Reclaimed links can go live within days, but search engines need time to crawl them and reflect them in rankings. PR and asset-led strategies take longer, because the asset has to be built, pitched and picked up. Judge the first months on links earned and referral visits, and expect several months before ranking changes are clear.
About the author
Kristijan Gjorgjioski
Independent SEO consultant · 6+ years in SEO · 60+ client websites worked on
I'm an independent SEO consultant with 6+ years in SEO. I run audits, migrations and content programmes for businesses in Europe, the UK and the USA, and I build the automation behind my own research.
Book a free 30-minute call. I look at your site first and tell you plainly what I would fix, and in what order.