How to get backlinks for a new website (free and safe)

The way to get backlinks for a new website is to be listed and mentioned where people in your category already look, rather than chasing a big number. A new domain has no links and no history, so even 10 to 20 relevant links help Google discover your pages and send a few real visitors.

What makes a good backlink for a new site

• Relevance. A link from a page about your category beats one from a list of everything.
• A page that stays. Permanent listings, docs, and articles keep working; feeds that scroll away matter less over time.
• A chance of a click. If a real person might follow it, it is doing its job, whatever the rel value says.
• Earned, not bought. Google treats links created mainly to manipulate rankings as link spam.

How to get backlinks for free

1. A focused batch of directories

Directories are the quickest legitimate links, but quality varies enormously. Pick five to ten that fit your product type and are still maintained, instead of two hundred abandoned ones. Our list of startup directories worth submitting to and the backlinks and directories guide cover how to choose and submit quickly.

2. Launch platforms

A launch on Product Hunt, BetaList, Uneed, MicroLaunch, or DanielLaunches usually leaves a permanent product page that links to your site, plus visitors who may write about you. Several platforms, ours included, offer a dofollow listing in exchange for a badge link back. That trade is reasonable on a couple of relevant platforms, but Google lists excessive link exchanges as link spam, so keep it to a few.

3. The tools you integrate with

If your product connects to Stripe, Slack, Shopify, Notion, or another platform, look for its app marketplace, integrations directory, or partner page. These listings are relevant by definition and often rank well themselves.

4. Communities where you already help

Links in Reddit threads and forum replies are usually marked ugc or nofollow, so they rarely help rankings directly. What they create is people who know your product and later link to it from their own blogs, newsletters, and resource pages. Lead with the answer; link only when it genuinely helps.

5. One or two substantial guest articles

Write for a blog or newsletter your buyers already read, about something you know first-hand: a real lesson, a number, a teardown. Google’s spam policies call out large-scale article campaigns with keyword-rich anchor links, so one strong, natural article beats ten thin ones.

6. Something worth citing

People link to what they can reference: a small dataset from your product, a benchmark, or a genuinely useful free tool. It is slower to build, but it earns links without asking.

Which backlinks hurt your SEO

Google’s spam policies list the link schemes to avoid. The ones new founders meet most often:

• Buying links for ranking purposes, including paying for posts that contain links, unless the link is marked rel="sponsored".
• Exchanging goods or services for links, such as a free product on condition of a link.
• Excessive link exchanges or partner pages that exist only to cross-link.
• Automated programs or services that create links for you.
• Low-quality directory or bookmark sites, and links hidden in widgets or footers spread across many sites.

Do backlinks for SEO need to be dofollow?

Less than most founders think. Google treats nofollow, sponsored, and ugc as hints it may choose to count, and a relevant nofollow link that sends visitors is worth having. Our explainer on dofollow and nofollow backlinks covers what changed in 2019 and why.

How to check each backlink works

Listings change and promised dofollow links quietly turn nofollow. After each one goes live, run the page through the dofollow link checker with your domain. It shows whether the page links to you, the rel value on each link, and whether the whole page is marked noindex or nofollow.

Keep a simple sheet of the page, the date it went live, the link type, and the visitors it sent. After a couple of months it tells you which sources were worth the effort.

How long until backlinks help a new website?

Weeks to months. Google first has to crawl the linking page, and the effect builds gradually as more relevant sites mention you. Track it with impressions and clicks in Search Console and referral visits in analytics. Scores such as Domain Rating are a rough gauge; our guide to Domain Rating and how to raise it explains what they measure.

Start with one relevant, permanent link.

Launch on DanielLaunches for a permanent product page that links to your site and shows the real visitors it sends.