Backlinks are a crucial component of search engine optimization. Link building is incomplete without quality backlinks. Webmasters and digital marketers, especially those specializing in search engine optimization and link building, should explore every available avenue to generate quality backlinks. It should always be remembered that creating or getting backlinks is not enough. The backlinks should be from authority sites within the relevant content.

There are organic and inorganic ways to get backlinks. Paid backlinks can prove to be costly if the organic strategy is not effective enough. You can always buy backlinks but a vast majority of them have to be generated organically. Organic backlinks tend to generate more traffic. The redirected traffic also happens to be more relevant as people getting diverted are actually looking for the information you provide on your website. Here are nearly two dozen proven tactics to get free backlinks.

The easiest way to get free backlinks is to work on internal links. Backlinks do not necessarily have to be external links. Any link connecting to a webpage serves as its backlink. Internal backlinks work wonders if they are carefully placed. Some of the most successful websites in the world have perfected their internal linking. Search engines pay a lot of attention and assign a great deal of significance to such internal backlinks.

Use guest posts to generate quality backlinks. Guest posting is an effective search engine optimization tactic. Many companies rely heavily on user generated content. Guest posting is not exactly user generated content as some of it may be well planned and also paid for but it is a useful source of backlinks. You should also leverage the profiles of those guests and their websites to generate backlinks.

Use HARO or Help A Reporter Out to generate backlinks. You can get sites known for authoritative and reliable news linking back to your chosen webpage or different pages on your website. There is a standard process to sign up with this resource and you should explore every possibility the platform offers.

Utilize comments on blogs and forums. Your website may have a blog or forum, perhaps both. You may also find relevant blogs and forums where you might be able to generate quality traffic. Place smart backlinks in comments on such forums and blogs. The only criteria should be relevance and authority while choosing the blogs and forums.

Testimonials can serve as effective backlinks. You can use review sites and third party platforms where the general public is invited to share their views. You can also have official profiles of your business to interact with the audience and then leave backlinks in an organic manner.

You can consider reviews by bloggers to place backlinks. Not all bloggers may be forthcoming in this regard so you may have to entice a few with a nominal commission. Others may be proactive, especially if they are trying to leverage affiliate marketing.

Look for high authority websites that may no longer be live. Businesses and websites may shut down for various reasons. Many of these domains will become inactive but some remain accessible and all their backlinks remain active as well. You can purchase expired domain and redirect them to your website if you operate in the same or a related niche.

Look for broken links, to and from you website. Fix these broken links. Such links usually lead to an error page. The links are still there but people cannot use them to get access to the page they want. Such broken links can be fixed and they can bring in relevant traffic.

Another easy tactic is link reclamation. Your website, business name, products or services may be mentioned on different pages or third party platforms but without links. You can claim mentions and set up backlinks.

Contacting webmasters or owners of hacked sites and letting them know of their vulnerability can earn you the goodwill to ask for a backlink. This is good old reciprocity and it works well most of the time.

There are a few sites that provide feedback for website owners and webmasters. Submitting your website to these sites will generate backlinks and you will also find out if your website can be improved in one or more ways for better impact.

Give interviews to generate backlinks. Exposure is the key today, not just for brands but also individuals. Every effort should be made to enhance the exposure and interviews can generate high quality backlinks.

Use different public profiles or social media accounts to generate backlinks. There is no limit to how much you can use social media. The only concern should be on the type of backlinks. Do not keep bombarding your audience with the same links and information. Have enough diversity and keep the engagement enticing enough.

One of the most effective ways to get free backlinks is content. Create different types of content and share the pieces as much as you can. Explore guest posting, blogging, publish articles and get featured on news portals or popular platforms.

You may want to keep an eye on what your competition is doing to get free backlinks. Follow what they are doing, study their methods, assess the impacts and then implement effective tactics into your strategy.

Generating specific types of content that are already proven to be effective at generating backlinks is another rather easy way. This becomes simpler if you are effective at observing and understanding what your competitors are doing right.

Come up with information in the form of lists. This can be short or long articles providing insights. These can be fact sheets. You may also create threads of posts for social media. You can place relevant backlinks in such lists.

As you prepare a few contents using the list format, create some more in the form of info-graphics. People love info-graphics. These are more popular than list format articles because the experience is visually engaging. You should use both lists and info-graphics.

Textual content should not be the only avenue of generating backlinks. Audio should be explored too. All major social media sites enable sharing audio files. There are popular platforms dedicated to audio content. Use these sites and generate backlinks accompanying your audio content.

An easy way to generate high quality backlinks is to harness the credibility of resource pages, especially .edu sites. These websites have high authority and they rank well. Having backlinks on such pages will not only redirect traffic to your website but also raise the reputation of your site for the search engines.

Blog aggregators are a good source for backlinks. The role of aggregators has already become vital in many niches. Aggregators are necessary in a digital world that keeps getting bigger with more content.

Use the Scoop It tool to create backlinks. The tool can curate content and also serves as a backlink builder. It is similar to blog aggregators but offers much more.

Use best of lists and similar posts to draw more visitors. The purpose of backlinks is not only to just have links across the web with sprinkled presences at relevant places, but also generate traffic. Best of style articles or posts entice people and you are likely to get more clicks on your links.