The honest answer to how to get backlinks for a new website is that you earn them in layers. First you make sure nothing you already have is wasted, then you collect the easy, legitimate listings, then you build one page that deserves to be cited, and only then do you start asking people for links. Skipping straight to outreach with nothing worth linking to is why most link building feels like shouting into a void.
This guide walks through those layers in the order they pay off, and it stays away from anything that breaks search engine spam policies.
Why backlinks still matter for a new site
A new domain has no history. Search engines have little evidence that it is trustworthy or useful, so even a well-written page can sit on page five for months. Links from relevant, established sites are one of the strongest signals that other people vouch for you. They also send real visitors, which is easy to forget when you are staring at a metric.
What matters is not the raw number of links. One link from a site your audience actually reads is worth more than dozens from directories nobody visits. Keep that in mind at every step below.
Run the checks yourself
Paste your URL and get the audit, not a checklist.
Launchkit checks metadata, canonicals, structured data, and Lighthouse in one pass.
Step 1: Stop leaking the authority you already have
Before chasing new links, check what you already earned.
- Redirect old URLs. If you changed your URL structure or deleted pages, any links pointing at them now hit a 404. Find those URLs in Search Console's Links report or a free backlink checker, and 301 redirect each one to the closest live page.
- Pick one hostname.
wwwand non-www,httpandhttpsshould all redirect to a single version, so links to any variant count toward the same site. - Fix internal linking. Authority flows through your own links too. Make sure your homepage and most popular pages link to the pages you want to rank. Our internal linking guide covers this in detail.
None of this earns a new link, but it makes every future link count.
Step 2: Claim the listings that are yours to claim
These links are easy because they are expected. Most are nofollow and carry little ranking weight on their own, but they establish your brand as a real entity and send some referral traffic.
- Create consistent profiles on LinkedIn, X, GitHub (for developer products), YouTube and Crunchbase. Use the same name, one-line description and URL on every one.
- List your product where your buyers browse. For software that means places like Product Hunt, G2, Capterra, AlternativeTo and SaaSHub. For a local business it means your industry association and chamber of commerce.
- Ask the tools you integrate with, and the vendors you pay, whether they have a partners, integrations or customers page. These pages exist to link out, and the links are topically relevant.
Skip generic directories that accept anyone for a fee. They add nothing and some are flagged as spam.
Step 3: Build one asset worth linking to
People link to things that help them make a point or finish a task. Your pricing page is not that. Pick one of these and do it properly:
- Original data. A survey of your users, a benchmark you ran, or an analysis of anonymised product data. Writers need sources for claims, and a fresh, specific number gets cited.
- A free tool or template. A calculator, a checklist, a generator. Small tools that solve one job keep earning links for years.
- A definitive guide. One long, well-organised page on the core problem your product solves, which your other posts link up to.
A press page helps too: logos, founder bio and photo, a short company description and key facts. It removes friction for anyone writing about you.
Step 4: Targeted outreach
Now you have something to point at. Outreach works when it is specific and saves the other person time.
Turn unlinked mentions into links
Search for your brand name and exclude your own domain, and set up an alert for new mentions. When a page mentions you without linking, send a short note thanking them and asking if they would add the link. This has the highest success rate of any outreach because they already chose to write about you.
Run a competitor link gap
List the sites that link to two or more of your competitors but not to you. They already cover your category, so a pitch that offers something genuinely new (your data, your tool, your guide) is relevant to them.
Replace broken links
Find resource pages in your niche that link to pages which no longer exist. Tell the owner about the dead link and suggest your page as a replacement, but only when it truly covers the same thing.
Be a source
Platforms that connect journalists with experts, such as Qwoted and Featured, publish requests every day. Fast, specific, quotable answers get used, and the published piece usually links back. Podcast guest spots work the same way through show notes.
What to avoid
Buying links that pass ranking credit, joining private blog networks, and large-scale link swaps all violate Google's spam policies. At best those links are ignored; at worst your site is demoted. The same goes for asking for exact-match keyword anchor text on every link. Most natural links use your brand name or URL, and your profile should look like that too.
How to measure progress
Track referring domains, not total backlinks, since one site linking a thousand times is still one vote. Third-party scores like Ahrefs' Domain Rating are useful as a trend line, as explained in our guide to domain rating, but judge each new link by whether a real person might click it.
Launchkit's Backlinks tab turns this guide into a checklist per project, so you can tick off each step and see where you are.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take for backlinks to affect rankings?
Usually weeks to a few months. Search engines have to recrawl the linking page, and one link rarely moves a ranking on its own. Consistent, relevant links over several months are what change results.
Are nofollow links worthless?
No. They can still send visitors and build brand recognition, and Google treats nofollow as a hint rather than a strict rule. They just should not be the whole strategy.
How many backlinks does a new website need?
There is no fixed number. It depends on how competitive your topic is. Look at the referring domains of pages that rank for your target query and aim to earn relevant links steadily rather than chasing a target count.