How to get backlinks for a new website (without buying them)

A brand-new website gets its first backlinks the same way an unknown person gets introduced around a room: by being genuinely useful to someone who already has an audience, and then asking. That means a handful of free directory listings in week one, then real work — finding unlinked mentions of your project, pitching resource pages, and personally asking people who cover your space — spread over the following weeks. There's no shortcut that doesn't risk a Google penalty: buying links, swapping links in bulk, or spinning up "directories" nobody visits are all things Google explicitly treats as manipulation.

What actually counts as a backlink, and why does it matter for a new site?

A backlink is any link from another website to yours. Search engines use them as a signal of trust: if other sites vouch for you by linking to you, you're more likely to be worth showing to searchers. A brand-new domain starts with zero of these signals, which is part of why new sites take longer to rank than old ones — it's not just content quality, it's that nobody has vouched for you yet.

You don't need hundreds of backlinks. A dozen or so from real, relevant sites — a directory, a few mentions in posts that are actually about your space, one or two people linking to you because your tool solved their problem — outweighs a pile of low-quality ones.

Is it against Google's rules to build backlinks?

No — earning links is normal and expected. What Google's spam policies prohibit is link manipulation, which it defines as "creating links to or from a site primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings." Specifically called out as violations:

• Buying or selling links for ranking purposes, including exchanging money, goods, or services for a link.
• Excessive link exchanges ("link to me and I'll link to you") or partner pages that exist only to cross-link.
• Using automated programs or services to create links to your site.
• Low-quality directory or bookmark site links — the kind that exist purely to sell listings, not to be useful to visitors.

Google does allow paid or exchanged links when they're marked rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored", since that tells search engines not to count them as a vote of confidence. Everything below is built around links you earn because a real person found your project worth pointing to — the only kind that's both safe and actually durable.

What's the fastest realistic way to get your first backlinks?

In roughly your first week:

1. Submit to the free directories that are actually still free. Several launch boards still take submissions at no cost and give you a permanent link — see our rundown of which startup directories are worth it and which now charge before you spend an afternoon on ones that no longer are.
2. Claim listings on the tools you already use. If you're built on free tiers of search or email tools, some of those vendors have a "built with" or community showcase page — worth checking, since it's a link that costs you nothing beyond asking.
3. If your project is open source, make sure it's easy to find. A well-tagged GitHub repo picks up organic links from people who reference it in their own READMEs and blog posts without you asking.

These are quick, but they're a starting point, not a strategy — a stack of directory links looks identical to what everyone else's new site has. The next three tactics are what actually differentiate you.

How do you find and claim unlinked mentions of your project?

An unlinked mention is when someone writes about your project, quotes you, or names your product — without linking to it. These are close to the easiest backlinks to get, because the person has already decided you're worth mentioning; they just didn't think to link.

To find them: set up a free alert (a Google Alert, or a mention-tracking tool) for your product's name and any distinctive phrase from your tagline, then check periodically for pages that mention you without a link. When you find one, email the author (or use their contact form) and ask, politely and specifically, if they'd add a link — it helps their readers find you, and it takes them thirty seconds.

How do you get a link from a resource page?

A resource page is a page someone maintains specifically to list useful tools or reading in a topic — search "resources" OR "useful tools" intitle:resources <your topic> (or similar phrasing) to find them. Read the page first: does it actually fit what you built, and is it still maintained (check for recently added or recently dead links)? If it's a genuine fit, email whoever maintains it, name the exact page, and explain in one line why your project belongs among the others already listed. A generic "please add my link" pitch to a page that isn't relevant is exactly the kind of low-value outreach recipients ignore — and Google's own spam guidance treats mass, irrelevant link requests as manipulation, not legitimate outreach.

How do you get a backlink by helping someone who already covers your space?

Look for people who've already written about the problem you solve — a blog post, a comparison article, a "best tools for X" roundup. Read what they wrote, then reach out with something specific: a correction, an addition they missed, or an offer to write a short guest contribution for their audience. The pitch that works names the exact post and the exact thing you'd add — not "I'd love to contribute to your blog." This is slower than directories, but the links it earns come from sites Google already trusts in your topic, which matters more than the total count.

How long does it realistically take to build backlinks for a new site?

Weeks, not days, and the honest answer is that most of your outreach won't get a reply. A realistic first month looks like: a handful of free directory links in week one, a handful of unlinked-mention or resource-page emails sent every week after that, and maybe one or two of them turning into an actual link. That's normal. The sites that end up with real link profiles got there by doing this steadily for months, not by finding one trick that worked once.

Finding the unlinked mentions and resource pages yourself means a lot of manual searching. Larvabot's site analysis reads your project first, then uses free search APIs like Tavily to find pages already talking about your space and drafts a short, specific outreach email for each one — you approve every email before anything sends (see how it works). For more on link-building tactics for small sites, see the backlinks cluster hub.

Frequently asked questions

How many backlinks does a new website need?

There's no fixed number. A dozen or so links from real, relevant sites does more for a new site than hundreds from low-quality directories — Google's own spam policies specifically flag low-quality directory links and automated link creation as manipulation, not a shortcut to more authority.

Is it safe to buy backlinks?

No. Google's spam policies explicitly list "exchanging money for links" as a violation unless the link is marked nofollow or sponsored, in which case it doesn't count toward rankings anyway — so a paid link that isn't disclosed risks a penalty, and one that is disclosed doesn't help your SEO.

What's the difference between a backlink and an unlinked mention?

A backlink is a clickable link to your site; an unlinked mention names your product or quotes you without a link. Unlinked mentions are often the easiest to convert into backlinks, since the person already decided you were worth writing about — they just didn't add the link.

Do social media links count as backlinks?

Most links from major social platforms are marked nofollow, meaning they don't pass the ranking signal a normal backlink does, though they can still send real visitors and get your project seen by people who might link to it from their own sites.

Should I focus on the number of backlinks or the quality of the sites linking to me?

Quality. A link from a real, relevant, actively maintained site is worth far more than several from low-quality directories or exchange schemes — the latter is exactly what Google's spam policies are built to catch.