Finding Websites To Get Backlinks From

There are multiple methods, which are listed below, that you can use to find websites to get backlinks from. It’s recommended that you use all of the methods, so as to discover as many sites as possible. How many websites you need to find depends on how many backlinks you need, but you should aim for a minimum of 300 from your initial research.

Once you have used the methods below to find websites to get backlinks from, and checked each of the sites to ensure that they don’t meet any of the criteria for websites that you don’t want links from, you then to need to think about ways to get links from the sites, and what reasons there are for them to link to your site.

Websites Already Ranking For Your Target Keywords

Search on Google for each of your target keywords in quotation marks (i.e. “your keyword phrase”). The sites on the first 5 pages of the search results are probably targeting the same keyword as you, and so won’t be open to linking to your site.

The websites ranking on pages 6-10 of the search results though are less likely to be actively trying to rank for that keyword, and so can possibly be persuaded to link to your site.

Look through the search results, from pages 6 to 10, and note down any websites where the url, title and description indicate that it might be a good, relevant, realistic source to get a link from.

Websites Ranking For Keywords Related To Your Target Keywords

Search for each of your target keywords, and click on the keywords suggested in the “Searches related to” feature, which is located below the bottom listing on a search results page.

Look through the search results, up to page 10, and note down any websites where the url, title and description indicate that it might be a good, relevant, realistic source to get a link from.

Next, search for the below phrases on Google. Replace ‘keyword’ with a broad keyword (e.g. dentistry, insurance, interior design, clothes, etc.) that covers your target keywords.

Note: Some of the search queries work better in some industries than others. If a particular search query doesn’t return good results, then ignore it and move on to the next one.

blog + intitle:”keyword” OR inurl:”keyword”

article + intitle:”keyword” OR inurl:”keyword”

directory + intitle:”keyword” OR inurl:”keyword”

website + intitle:”keyword” OR inurl:”keyword”

links + intitle:”keyword” OR inurl:”keyword”

roundup + intitle:”keyword” OR inurl:”keyword”

guide + intitle:”keyword” OR inurl:”keyword”

tag + intitle:”keyword” OR inurl:”keyword”

news + intitle:”keyword” OR inurl:”keyword”

magazine + intitle:”keyword” OR inurl:”keyword”

resource + intitle:”keyword” OR inurl:”keyword”

research + intitle:”keyword” OR inurl:”keyword”

write for us + intitle:”keyword” OR inurl:”keyword”

guest blog + intitle:”keyword” OR inurl:”keyword”

guest blogger + intitle:”keyword” OR inurl:”keyword”

guest column + intitle:”keyword” OR inurl:”keyword”

guest article + intitle:”keyword” OR inurl:”keyword”

become a contributor + intitle:”keyword” OR inurl:”keyword”

guest author + intitle:”keyword” OR inurl:”keyword”

guest post + intitle:”keyword” OR inurl:”keyword”

contribute to our + intitle:”keyword” OR inurl:”keyword”

contribute to this + intitle:”keyword” OR inurl:”keyword”

Look through the search results, up to page 10, and note down any websites where the url, title and description indicate that it might be a good, relevant, realistic source to get a link from.

Try these search queries with related keywords too. For example, if you’re an accountant, also try replacing ‘keyword’ with tax, payroll, bookkeeping, audits, etc.

You can use this method to find location relevant websites too, by searching for the below phrases on Google. Replace ‘location’ with the area that you’re based in.

forum + intitle:“location” OR inurl:“location”

blog + intitle:“location” OR inurl:“location”

directory + intitle:“location” OR inurl:“location”

businesses + intitle:“location” OR inurl:“location”

magazine + intitle:“location” OR inurl:“location”

news + intitle:“location” OR inurl:“location”

Websites Linking To Your Competitors

If a website is already linking to one of your competitors, then there’s a reasonable chance that you can persuade them to link to your website too.

You’ll need to use a paid backlink analysis tool to be able see who is linking to your competitors, of which there are 2 options: Ahrefs and Open Site Explorer.

Ahrefs is recommended because it has the largest database of live links. It costs around $80 per month, however, you only need to sign-up for 1 month, which is plenty of time to research all of your competitors’ backlink profiles.

First, make a list of your online competitors, which are the websites ranking on the first 3 pages of the search results for your target keywords.

If there are big brand/authority websites, like Wikipedia, Amazon, etc., ranking on the first 3 pages of the search results, then remove them from your list, as most of their links you won’t be able to replicate.

Next, from your list, choose a competitor and enter the url of their site’s homepage into Ahrefs. You’ll be shown a list of sites that are linking to that competitor.

Click on ‘External’ in the backlinks section, click on ‘One Link Per Domain’ to remove duplicated websites from the list, and sort the results by Domain Rank.

Look through the list of websites linking to your competitor, that have a Domain Rank of 40+, and note down any websites where the url, title and link text indicate that it might be a good, relevant, realistic source to get a link from.

Websites That Mention Your Business Or Your Competitors

One by one, search on Google for your competitors’ business names. Use this search query…

“SEOexpert” -site:https://www.seoexpert.co.uk

…but replace SEOexpert with the competitor’s name (keep the quotation marks in place) and www.seoexpert.co.uk with the homepage url of the competitor.

The search results will show all of the websites that have mentioned the competitor, regardless of whether or not they have actually linked to their site.

Look through the search results, up to page 10, and note down any websites where the url, title and description indicate that it might be a good, relevant, realistic source to get a link from.

Websites Related To Existing And New Backlink Sources

Google’s related: search query can be used to find websites that Google thinks are related to the site you use in the search query.

For example, related:www.bbc.co.uk returns a list of news sources and broadcasters that that are similar to www.bbc.co.uk

Use this search query on sites that are already linking to yours and on the list of targets for new backlinks that you compile using the methods set out above.

Look through the search results, up to page 10, and note down any websites where the url, title and description indicate that it might be a good, relevant, realistic source to get a link from.

Note: The related: search query only works for some sites. So, if no results are returned, just move on to the next one.