Backlinks are still how a new site earns trust, but the links that matter are rarely the ones you can buy or bulk-submit. This guide is the method: what to build, who to ask, and how to measure what worked.
The link value ladder
Not all links are the same job. Some bring trust, some bring referral traffic, some only give you a page to exist on. Rank the opportunity before you spend a week chasing it.
| Link type | Effort | Typical timeline | What it is good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Editorial mention or feature | High | 1–3 months | Trust, referral traffic, a link a competitor cannot copy |
| Guest article | Medium–high | 2–6 weeks | Relevance and an audience that already reads the publication |
| Partner or integration page | Medium | 2–6 weeks | Qualified traffic from a product that serves the same buyer |
| Resource page inclusion | Medium | 2–6 weeks | Steady referral traffic and a lasting editorial placement |
| Newsletter mention | Medium | 1–3 weeks | A traffic spike and a brand mention in front of the right niche |
| Launch platform | Low–medium | Launch week | Launch traffic, feedback and a baseline brand mention |
| Directory listing | Low | Days | A permanent page and a small trickle of referral traffic |
| Profile or social account | Very low | Minutes | Brand search results, not link equity |
| Paid or sponsored placement | Variable | Days | Reach, if disclosed correctly |
A nofollow link is not worthless. It can still send visitors, create a brand mention and put your product in front of someone who later writes about you. A followed link is a bonus, not the reason to do the work.
What separates a good link from a cheap one:
- Relevance: the page is about your category, not a general “tools” dump.
- Editorial control: a human chose to include you, rather than you buying a slot.
- Traffic: real readers visit the page.
- Placement: the link sits in context, not in a footer or a link farm.
- Freshness: the page is maintained. A link from a dead list is nearly worthless.
Launch listings are the floor, not the strategy
Launch platforms and directories are the easiest links a new site will ever get. That is exactly why they cannot be the plan.
Every competitor can claim the same listing. Most of those links are nofollow. The referral traffic usually peaks in the first week and then flattens. None of this makes them useless — a permanent product page is still worth having, and launch feedback is valuable. But it is the floor.
Use them once, properly. Then spend the rest of your time on links that require something only you can offer: a tool, a data set, a partnership or a point of view.
If you want the platform-by-platform pricing, audience and link-policy breakdown, use the launch directory. It is kept as editorial data rather than a scraped list, and it links to the individual platform pages. The Product Hunt alternatives guide covers the fifteen most relevant boards in detail. Do not rebuild that list here; the method below is the part that compounds.
What a new site can realistically earn in 90 days
Honest expectations prevent bad decisions. For a small site doing the work consistently, a realistic first 90 days looks more like this than a hockey stick:
| Source | Realistic new referring domains | When |
|---|---|---|
| Launch platforms and directories | 3–10 | Weeks 1–2 |
| Newsletters and community answers | 1–3 | Weeks 2–8 |
| Resource pages and partner pages | 1–3 | Weeks 4–12 |
| Guest articles and editorial mentions | 0–2 | Months 2–6 |
| Total | 5–15 | 90 days |
Those ranges are not promises. They assume you actually ship an asset, send personalised outreach and follow up once. A site that only submits to directories should expect the lower end.
Treat any offer of “50 high-authority backlinks in 30 days” as a warning. Either the links are low quality, the placement is paid and undisclosed, or the domains are part of a private network. None of those are worth the risk.
1. Build one page worth linking to
Before outreach, apply the three-link test:
- Would a stranger link to this without being asked? If the only reason is that you emailed them, it is not linkable.
- Is it more specific than the current top result? “10 tips for launching” is not. “How to submit to Product Hunt: the fields, screenshots and first comment” is.
- Will it still be true in six months? If the answer depends on today's pricing page, it is a news post, not a resource.
You do not need all three asset types. You need one that fits what you can actually produce.
A free tool
A good linkable tool solves one narrow job, works without a sign-up, and gives the visitor a result they can share. Examples that fit a launch audience:
- a launch-page grader that scores the headline, screenshot and call to action
- a tagline tester that shows how a line reads at hero size
- a UTM builder that produces a clean campaign link
- a directory submission tracker with the fields each platform asks for
- a pricing calculator for launch packages
Rebupl's own free launch tools are a working example: name, domain, metadata, AI-readability and launch-week checks, all browser-side and free. Notice the pattern. Each tool answers one question and has its own indexable URL. That is what makes it linkable.
A small original data piece
Original data earns links because nobody else has it, and you do not need a huge study.
- Compare the pricing and link policy of 25 launch directories. Publish the table and the date you checked.
- Review the submission flow of 20 platforms: fields, screenshot sizes, approval time, free tier.
- Survey 25 founders about which launch produced actual signups, not just traffic.
- Track 30 products after launch: how long they stayed on a homepage, what links they earned, what changed.
- Analyse 50 “best tools” listicles in your category to see what those pages include and what they ignore.
The Product Hunt alternatives guide is an example of this approach applied to launch platforms: it separates what a platform advertises from what was visible on a live listing. That distinction is the useful part, not the list itself.
A definitive guide
A guide can earn links for years if it is the most specific answer to one question. The key is to resist the broad topic.
- Bad: “A guide to product launches.”
- Good: “Product Hunt launch checklist: the gallery images, the first comment and the 24-hour reply plan.”
- Bad: “SEO for startups.”
- Good: “How to write a title tag and meta description for a launch page, with before-and-after examples.”
Specific pages get cited because they answer the exact question someone typed. Broad pages compete with everyone.
2. Find 30 prospects without paid tools
You do not need an expensive backlink tool to start. You need a search engine, a spreadsheet and a reason to email each person.
Start with these queries. Replace [topic] with your category and [competitor] with the product your buyer compares you to.
| Goal | Query to try |
|---|---|
| Find listicles that include your competitors | "best [topic] tools" -site:yourdomain.com |
| Find maintained resource pages | intitle:"resources" [topic] |
| Find publications that accept contributions | "[topic]" "write for us" and "[topic]" "guest post" |
| Find curated GitHub lists | site:github.com awesome [topic] |
| Find niche newsletters | site:substack.com [topic] newsletter |
| Find “recommended tools” pages | "[topic]" "recommended tools" |
| Find comparison pages | "[competitor]" alternatives |
| Find podcasts | "[topic]" podcast guest |
Work through the results in an incognito window and open only pages that a real editor maintains. A page with a last-updated year, a named author and working links is a better prospect than a page with none of those things.
The prospect scorecard
Score every prospect from 0 to 2 on each row. Pursue anything that scores 7 or higher.
| Criterion | 2 points | 1 point | 0 points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Relevance | The page is about your exact category | Adjacent category | Unrelated |
| Real audience | Visible traffic, comments or a newsletter | Some audience signals | No audience or fake social proof |
| Editorial | A human curates the page | Mixed paid and editorial | Paid placements only |
| Freshness | Updated in the last 12 months | Updated in the last 24 months | Abandoned |
| Contact path | A named editor and a real email | A contact form | No way to reach a human |
Skip any page that fails the relevance test, no matter how high the domain authority looks. A link from a relevant small newsletter is worth more than a link from a generic domain with no readers.
Free ways to see who links to competitors
- Ahrefs Webmaster Tools shows your own site's backlinks for free. Use it to see which pages already attract links so you can build more of that.
- Search Console shows the links Google has discovered to your site. It is sampled and delayed, but it is the most honest free source you have.
- Competitor “alternatives” and “review” pages are easy to find with the queries above. If a page compares five tools and you are the sixth, that is a concrete pitch.
- Newsletter archives often list past issues, sponsors and recommended tools. A publication that already covers your category is a warm prospect.
- Community wikis and awesome lists are maintained by volunteers. A genuinely useful entry is welcome; a bare product link is not.
3. Three outreach plays that work
Outreach fails when it reads like a press release. These three plays work because each one gives the recipient something specific before asking for anything.
Play A: resource page inclusion
Find a maintained resource page that is missing your asset. Explain the gap, not your product.
Subject: One addition for your [topic] resource
Hi [name] — I was using your [page title] while researching [topic], and the section on [specific detail] was useful.
I built [asset] that covers [the specific gap]: [URL]. It includes [one concrete thing, such as a comparison table of 25 directories with their current link policy], not a sales page.
If it fits the list, feel free to add it. Either way, thanks for keeping the page current.
[Your name]
Play B: newsletter pitch
A newsletter mention is often worth more than a directory link because the audience is already subscribed to the topic.
Subject: A data point for your [topic] issue
Hi [name] — your issue on [topic] mentioned [specific point]. I have a small data set that extends it: [one sentence with the actual finding]. The full table is here: [URL].
Happy to send the raw data if you want to use it, and no need to mention us if it is not a fit.
[Your name]
Play C: partner or integration page
Find a product that serves the same buyer at a different stage. Propose a joint resource, not a link swap.
Subject: A joint resource for [their audience]
Hi [name] — you serve [audience] who need [job]. We serve the same people at the [stage].
I put together [resource] that combines [their thing] with [your thing]. Would you be open to co-publishing it, or adding it to your [resource page]? Here is a draft: [URL].
[Your name]
Follow up twice, then stop
- Day 0: the first email.
- Day 4: one line. “Just making sure this landed. No pressure either way.”
- Day 10: close the loop. “I'll leave it with you. If it is useful later, the link is here.”
Two follow-ups are persistence. A fourth is spam. If the answer is no, ask one question: “Is there a different page where this would fit?” That question sometimes produces a better placement than the original pitch.
The personalisation minimum
If you cannot write one sentence about the recipient's page that proves you read it, do not send the email. A mail merge with a first name is not personalisation.
4. The 30-day link sprint
You do not need to do everything at once. A realistic week is three to four hours.
| Week | Focus | Output |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Build | Choose one asset. Write the outline, the press page and the baseline note in Search Console. |
| 2 | Publish and list | Ship the asset. Claim the free launch and directory listings. Build a 30-prospect sheet. |
| 3 | Pitch | Send 10 personalised pitches. Pitch two newsletters. Answer two community threads with the asset. |
| 4 | Measure | Follow up once. Check referring domains and referral sessions. Double down on the play that produced the best response. |
If you only have five hours this month
- Write one specific checklist or comparison page that your buyers would bookmark.
- Add a press page with a logo, a one-line description and a contact email.
- Find five resource pages that already list competitors and send five personalised emails.
- Submit to three relevant directories, not thirty.
- Check Search Console two weeks later and keep the two prospects who replied.
That is a small plan, but it produces more than a week of mass submissions.
5. Make linking easy
Half of link building is being easy to cite when the opportunity appears.
- Add a press or media page. Include the product name, a one-line description, a logo pack, two screenshots, the founder's name and a contact email.
- Use stable URLs. A link to
/tools/launch-page-graderis better than a link to a campaign URL with tracking parameters. - Write descriptive page titles. An editor should understand what the page is before opening it.
- Make charts and data embeddable. If you publish a table, offer a clean image and a citation line. People link to things they can reuse.
- Respond to every mention. A thank-you note often turns a mention into a relationship and a second link later.
- Keep the asset updated. A page with a visible “last updated” date is easier to cite than an undated one.
6. Measure links without fooling yourself
| Metric | Where to look | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Referring domains | Search Console Links, Ahrefs Webmaster Tools | New relevant domains, not a spike in total links |
| New links per month | Search Console, Ahrefs | A steady trickle rather than one burst and silence |
| Referral sessions | Analytics | Visitors who stay and read, not bounce in a second |
| Signups or checkouts from referrals | Analytics with UTM tags | A small number of activated users, not just clicks |
| Branded search | Search Console Performance | Brand queries growing over months |
Two caveats matter:
- Search Console's link data is sampled and delayed. A link can exist for weeks before it appears.
- Domain authority and similar scores are third-party estimates. They are useful for sorting a prospect list, not for deciding whether a link is good.
Do not disavow links unless you have an obvious attack or a manual action. Most new sites worry about disavowing far too early.
What not to do
- Do not buy links from a marketplace or a “high DA” reseller.
- Do not join a private blog network.
- Do not mass-submit to every directory on the internet.
- Do not use the same exact-match anchor text on every link.
- Do not trade links at scale or join a reciprocal link scheme.
- Do not drop links in community threads without answering the question first.
- Do not accept a guest post slot that exists only to sell links.
Google's link spam policies are worth reading once. The short version: links should be editorial, and paid links should be disclosed with rel="sponsored". The short-term gain from breaking those rules is rarely worth the long-term risk to a new domain.
Frequently asked questions
How many backlinks does a new site need?
There is no magic number. A handful of relevant editorial links can be enough to start. Five good links from pages your buyers read will do more than a hundred directory listings.
Do nofollow links help?
Yes, indirectly. They can send referral traffic, create brand awareness and lead to a followed link later. They do not pass link equity in the same way, so do not build a strategy around them.
How long do backlinks take to work?
Discovery and impact can take weeks or months. Treat link building as a habit measured over quarters, not a launch-week tactic.
Are paid links worth it?
Only when they are clearly sponsored and the placement is genuinely useful for reach. Undisclosed paid links violate Google's policies and can put a new site at risk. If you pay, disclose it.
Can I get links without a blog?
Yes. A free tool, a data page, a comparison page, a press page and a partner page can all earn links without a blog. A blog is one format, not a requirement.
Do directory links help SEO?
Some do, many are nofollow. Their bigger value is referral traffic, a permanent product page and a brand mention. Do not rely on them for link equity.
How do I find competitor backlinks for free?
Start with “alternatives”, “review” and “best tools” searches, then check the pages that rank. Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is free for your own site; competitor data is usually limited on free plans. Search Console and manual prospecting will get you further than a scraped list.
Is guest posting dead?
No, but low-value guest posting is. A specific, original article on a publication your buyers read still works. A rewritten product page on a link farm does not.
The short version
Build one page that deserves a link. Claim the free listings once. Find thirty relevant prospects by hand. Send specific emails to the people who already publish about the problem. Follow up twice. Measure referring domains and referral traffic, not the number of submissions.
If you want a place to start, launch free on Rebupl to get a permanent product page, then use the launch directory to see which platforms match your audience. If you want the story behind Rebupl, read why I built it. And if you are still choosing where to launch, read the Product Hunt alternatives guide before you spend a week on submissions.
