Your first 20 backlinks for a new site

Google says it finds most new pages through links from pages it has already crawled (SEO Starter Guide). For a new domain, that is the first job of a link: it gives crawlers a way in, and it gives people a way to click through. Ranking comes later and depends on much more than a link count.

The same guide is plain about expectations. Some changes show up in hours and others take months, not every change has a visible effect, and there is no guarantee that a site gets indexed at all. Treat the list below as groundwork. If your site isn’t in the index yet, start with getting indexed on Google and Bing, because links to a page that blocks crawlers do nothing.

Profiles you control

Every account you already have with a website field: your code hosting profile and the project’s README, your social profiles, your personal site or blog, your company page, the footer of your other products, your newsletter archive. These take an hour. Expect most to carry nofollow or ugc, which is what Google recommends for links that users add themselves (source). They are still how someone who reads your profile reaches your product.

Launch boards and directories

A listing on a launch board gives you a page about your product with a link to your site. Where to launch covers how to pick them, and the list of launch directories is a place to start. Choose by audience and by whether listing pages get indexed, using the checks in which launch directories are still worth it. Five good listings are worth more of your time than fifty submissions to sites nobody visits. Google’s policies name “low-quality directory or bookmark site links” as link spam (source).

Review and comparison sites

Software review sites let you claim or create a product profile. People read them when they are close to choosing, so the visitors are worth more than the link. In an early study of Ahrefs’ DR4 preview, review sites and communities held their scores while launch directories fell (SaaSCity’s study; SaaSCity is a directory that sells listings and says so in the post). Pages that compare you with a better-known product are covered in alternatives pages.

Integration and partner directories

If your product connects to another one, that product may have an app directory, a marketplace or an integrations page. A listing there puts you in front of people who already use the tool you extend. The same goes for the frameworks, hosts and libraries you build on: some keep a showcase or a “built with” page and accept submissions.

Communities

Forums and communities in your niche, where you answer questions and mention your product when it is the answer. These links are usually user-generated and marked that way. The value is the readers. The guides on launching on Reddit and writing a Show HN post cover two of them. Google lists “forum comments with optimized links in the post or signature” as link spam, so write for the thread, not for the link.

Something worth linking to

Every source so far is a place where you add yourself. Links that other people choose to give need a reason: a free tool that does one job without a signup, a small dataset you collected, a benchmark, a template, a clear explanation of something your field finds confusing. One page like that gives writers and forum posters something to cite. If you make an embeddable widget, don’t hide a keyword link inside it; Google’s policies call that out too.

Being a source for writers

Journalists, newsletter writers and bloggers who cover your field need examples, numbers and people to quote. Tell them what you know and can show, in two or three sentences, with the data attached. Sending someone a product in exchange for writing about it and including a link is on Google’s list of link spam, so offer information and leave the decision to link with the writer.

Google defines link spam as creating links mainly to manipulate rankings, and says sites that break its policies may rank lower or not appear at all (spam policies). The examples that matter to a new site:

• Buying or selling links for ranking, including paying for a post that contains a link.
• Exchanging goods or services for links.
• Excessive link exchanges (“link to me and I’ll link to you”) and partner pages made only to cross-link.
• Automated programs or services that create links to your site.
• Low-quality directory and bookmark site links.
• Links spread widely through the footers or templates of other sites.

Paying for an ad or a sponsorship is fine as long as the link is marked rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow". The same page says so directly. What each rel value means is its own guide, as are badge-for-backlink deals and directory submission services.

The numbers are a rough split of twenty, not a target for each line.

1. Make the site ready. One clear page per thing you want linked, a working title and description, nothing blocking crawlers. The launch readiness checker covers the basics.
2. Profiles you control (about five). Do them all in one sitting and use the same name and one-line description everywhere.
3. Launch boards and directories (about five). Pick the ones with real visitors and spread them over a few weeks so each launch gets your attention.
4. Review sites (two or three). Complete the profile fully. Half-filled profiles look abandoned.
5. Integration and showcase pages (two or three). Apply to every platform you really integrate with or build on.
6. Communities (two or three). Take part before you post about yourself.
7. One linkable page. Build the free tool or publish the data, then tell the people who would use it.
8. Writers. Keep a short list of people who cover your field and send something useful when you have it.

Wherever you can choose the link text, use your product name or your domain. Google’s advice on link text is that it should describe the page being linked to (source), and its spam policies show keyword-stuffed anchors as an example of link spam. A link that reads “Acme Invoices” is normal. Twenty links that all read “best free invoicing software for freelancers” are not.

When you write to a site owner, be specific and make it easy to say yes:

• Good: “Your page on invoice tools for freelancers lists six options. We make one that handles EU VAT, which none of the six do. Here is the page that explains how.”
• Bad: “I loved your article! Could you add a dofollow link to my site? Happy to link back to you in return.”

The second message offers nothing to the reader of that page, and the trade it proposes is a link exchange.

Keep a simple list: the page that links to you, the date, and what kind of link it is. When a listing goes live, run it through the backlink checker to see whether the link is in the page’s HTML and what its rel attribute says. How to check that a directory really links to you goes through the full set of checks.

Then give it time. The Links report in Google Search Console shows a sample of the links Google has found, not a complete list (Search Console help), and third-party tools each have their own crawl schedule. Why new backlinks take time to show up explains the delay. If a link brings visitors, you’ll see it in your analytics before any tool reports it.