How to Get Your First 10 Backlinks: Realistic Sources for a Brand-New Website

#Why "create great content" doesn't work on day one

Great content earns links once people can find it. A new site has no rankings, no audience and no reason for anyone to stumble onto it, so waiting for links to arrive naturally mostly means waiting. Your first ten links are different: you go and get them from places that already accept new products, then use them to get discovered.

That's also how Google finds you. Its SEO Starter Guide says Google "primarily finds pages through links from other pages it already crawled." A handful of links from real, relevant pages gets you crawled, sends a few visitors and tells people what you do. If your site isn't on Google at all yet, fix indexing first with our guide to new sites missing from Google. Links won't help a page Google can't index.

#What makes a good first backlink

A good first link has three things. It sits on a real page that people in your niche actually read, the page is related to what you do, and it's a normal link a visitor can click. Relevance beats size: a link from a small newsletter in your exact niche is worth more than a profile on a generic directory nobody visits.

#Followed vs nofollow, without the myths

Sites can mark a link with rel="nofollow", rel="ugc" (user-generated content) or rel="sponsored" (paid). Since 2019, Google has said all three "are treated as hints about which links to consider or exclude within Search," so a nofollow link is not the same as no link. It still sends visitors, still helps crawlers discover your URL, and still puts a description of your product on a public page.

What a nofollow link probably won't do is pass much ranking credit. Most of the easy links in this guide are nofollow, and that's fine: their job is discovery, traffic and credibility. The followed, editorial links tend to come from the harder sources further down the list.

#The 10 sources at a glance

The link types below come from spot checks we ran on specific pages on September 28, 2026. Sites change their markup, so treat them as a snapshot. "Varies" means we couldn't check it or it depends on the page.

#The 10 sources, from least to most effort

#1. "Built with" showcases of the tools you use

Frameworks, hosting platforms, UI kits and backends often run a public gallery of sites built with them. If you actually use the tool, submitting takes about 15 minutes, and the gallery is browsed by builders who like trying new things. Astro's showcase says "anyone is welcome to submit a site," and Made with Supabase is a community showcase of projects built on Supabase.

Check the docs and footer of every tool in your stack for a "showcase", "made with" or "built with" page. Expect nofollow here (Astro's showcase links carried nofollow ugc when we checked), so value these for the audience, not for rankings. Only submit to showcases of tools you really use.

#2. Launch platforms and startup directories

Launch boards like Product Hunt, BetaList, Uneed and Peerlist, plus directories for your category, give every product a page with a link. It's the fastest way to get five links in a single week, and the good boards send real visitors on launch day.

Link types vary a lot, even on one page. BetaList (paid only now) says its "Visit Site" button is a followed link that passes through its own redirect; in our spot check of live listings that button had no nofollow, while the logo link to the same site did. On Hacker News, our spot check of the Show HN page found that every post with 8 points or fewer had rel="nofollow" on its link and every post with 14 or more had none, so a Show HN that gets traction can earn a followed link. Pick 5 to 10 places that fit your product instead of blasting 100. Our guides to startup and SaaS directories and Product Hunt alternatives cover which ones are worth your time.

#3. Alternatives listings

People searching "alternatives to [big tool]" are ready to switch, which makes these listings unusually valuable. On AlternativeTo, adding your app is free, but its FAQ says a standard submission "usually sits in our backlog for at least a few months," with an optional one-time $5 fee to jump the queue (as of September 2026). SaaSHub also builds alternatives and comparison pages around each listing.

The SaaSHub listing we checked linked out with rel="nofollow". The real value is placement: you show up on the alternatives pages of the tools you replace, right where switchers look. List yourself only against products you're a genuine alternative to.

#4. Awesome lists on GitHub

If you build for developers, curated "awesome" lists on GitHub are read by exactly your audience. Getting in usually takes one small pull request: one line, the list's exact format, no marketing language, and the contribution guidelines followed to the letter.

Be clear-eyed about the link. When we pulled the rendered README of a large awesome list through GitHub's API, all 348 external links carried rel="nofollow". You're doing this for developer traffic and discovery, not ranking credit. Skip it if your product isn't a developer tool, open source or AI.

#5. Integration and partner pages

If your product connects to other tools, their integration directories and partner pages are some of the most relevant links you can get: a page about your exact use case, on a site your buyers already trust. Zapier's App Directory is one example, but its publishing rules require that your app "has been fully launched to the public and isn't an invite-only or 'beta' app," so it's a post-launch move.

Smaller companies are easier. Email the tools you integrate with, show them the integration working, and ask whether they have an integrations page. Offering a short write-up makes it easy to say yes.

#6. Unlinked mentions

Once you launch, people will write about you without linking. Set up Google Alerts for your product name in quotes, and when a mention appears, send a two-line note thanking the author and asking if they'd add a link so readers can find you. These are editorial links on pages already about you, which makes them some of the most relevant links you'll ever get.

It's tiny at first, but it grows with every launch, interview and podcast, so set it up now.

#7. Resource pages

Blogs, associations, universities and communities keep curated pages of useful tools. Search your topic plus "resources" or "useful tools," or try intitle:resources with a topic keyword, and look for pages that were updated recently and already link to tools like yours.

Keep the pitch short and personal: what the page covers, why your product fits it, one line on what it does. This works best for free tools and genuinely useful resources. A product with a free tier or a free calculator has a much easier time here than a pricing page.

#8. Journalist request platforms (what replaced HARO)

Journalists and writers post requests for expert sources, and if your answer gets used, you get quoted, often with a link. HARO itself is back: Featured.com bought it from Cision in April 2025 and sent the first relaunched edition on April 22, 2025. Featured says HARO is free for journalists and sources and is supported by newsletter advertising.

The main options, as of September 2026:

• HARO: the free daily email of journalist queries, now run by Featured.
• Featured: expert questions that get answered and published in articles. It has a free plan; paid individual plans start at $29 a month billed annually ($39 month to month).
• Qwoted: the free Basic plan allows 2 pitches a month with a 2-hour delay; Pro is $149 a month for 35 pitches.
• Help a B2B Writer: matches B2B writers with expert sources. Its domain now redirects to MentionMatch.

Answer only where you're genuinely an expert, answer fast, and make your first two sentences quotable. Expect a low hit rate. Fifteen minutes a day for a month is a fair trial.

#9. Podcast guesting

Niche podcasts are always looking for guests, and many publish show notes with links to them. An appearance also gives you a new audience and a recording you can reuse. Services like PodMatch match hosts with guests (check current pricing on its site), but pitching shows you already listen to works too.

Pitch a story, not your product: the problem you hit, what you learned building the fix, a number or two. Then ask the host directly for a link in the show notes, since not every show adds one by default.

#10. Guest posts on niche blogs

A genuinely useful article on a blog your buyers read is the most effort on this list, and it can produce a followed, in-context link plus readers who arrive already interested. Search your topic plus "write for us," pick blogs with real readers, and pitch one specific article idea with a working title and outline.

Stay on the right side of Google. Its spam policies list "links with optimized anchor text in articles, guest posts, or press releases distributed on other sites" as link spam. Write for the readers, link to yourself with your brand name or a plain URL, and do one or two great posts rather than a campaign.

#What not to do

Google's spam policies define link spam as "creating links to or from a site primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings." The examples that most often catch new founders:

• Buying links, or trading goods or services for them, including "sending someone a product in exchange for them writing about it and including a link."
• "Excessive link exchanges" and partner pages that exist only to cross-link.
• "Using automated programs or services to create links to your site," which covers most "submit to 500 directories" gigs.
• "Low-quality directory or bookmark site links."
• Forum comments with optimized links in the post or signature.

Some small directories ask for a badge or a link back in exchange for a free or faster listing. One badge for a site you'd happily recommend anyway is a judgment call. A footer full of reciprocal badges looks like the exchange pattern Google describes.

Paying for visibility is allowed. Google says paid links don't violate its policies as long as they carry rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored", so a paid featured listing should be marked that way. Paying for ranking credit is the part that isn't.

#How to confirm your links exist

Listings get rejected, pages get redesigned and links quietly disappear, so check.

1. Google Search Console, Links report. It shows your top linking sites, top linked pages and top linking text. Google notes it shows "a sample" of links rather than every one, and that it "doesn't specify if a link is marked as nofollow."
2. A free backlink checker. Ahrefs' free Backlink Checker shows the top 20 backlinks to any site. Verify your site in Ahrefs Free (formerly Ahrefs Webmaster Tools) and you can see up to 1,000 backlinks and keywords at once, as of September 2026. Bing Webmaster Tools has a free backlinks report too, with referring domains and anchor text.
3. The page itself. Open the listing, find your link and inspect its rel attribute. It's the only way to be sure of the link type.
4. Verdy's launch console. The launch console tracks backlink opportunities next to your launches and verifies that your listings link back to you.

Keep a simple sheet of where you submitted, the listing URL, whether it's live and the link type. After a month you'll know which sources delivered.

#A realistic first month

• Week 1: Submit to showcases for tools you use, 5 to 10 launch platforms or directories that fit, and one or two alternatives sites.
• Week 2: Open an awesome-list pull request if you make a dev tool, and email two or three tools you integrate with.
• Week 3: Set up Google Alerts, spend 15 minutes a day on journalist requests, and send five resource-page pitches.
• Week 4: Pitch three podcasts and one guest post.

If things go reasonably well, that's around ten links: a mix of nofollow listings and a few editorial links, all from relevant places. It's a better foundation than a thousand directory links, and none of it puts your site at risk.

#FAQ

#How many backlinks does a new website need?

There's no magic number, and Google doesn't publish one. For a new site, the first job of links is discovery and credibility, and ten relevant links from real sites in your niche usually do more than hundreds from unrelated directories. After that, links should grow with your content and reputation, not from a quota.

#Are nofollow backlinks worthless?

No. Google has said since 2019 that nofollow, ugc and sponsored are treated as hints rather than strict rules, and a nofollow link still sends visitors and helps crawlers find your URL. It likely passes less ranking credit than a followed editorial link, which is why you want a mix of both.

#Is HARO still running in 2026?

Yes. Featured.com acquired HARO from Cision in April 2025 and relaunched it on April 22, 2025. According to Featured, it's free for journalists and sources and is supported by newsletter advertising. Qwoted, Featured and Help a B2B Writer (which now redirects to MentionMatch) are the other common options.

#Should I pay for a directory submission service?

Usually not. Google's spam policies list "using automated programs or services to create links to your site" and "low-quality directory or bookmark site links" as link spam, and mass-submission services tend to produce exactly that. Paying one relevant directory for faster review or a featured spot is different, but expect that paid placement to be marked nofollow or sponsored.

#Are guest posts against Google's rules?

Not in themselves. Google's policies target "links with optimized anchor text in articles, guest posts, or press releases distributed on other sites," meaning guest posting done to manipulate rankings. A useful article for a real audience, with a natural brand-name link, is ordinary publishing.

#How do I check if a site actually links to me?

Use the Links report in Google Search Console, a free checker such as Ahrefs' Backlink Checker, or the backlinks report in Bing Webmaster Tools. Search Console shows a sample and doesn't tell you whether a link is nofollow, so for any link that matters, open the page and inspect the link's rel attribute.

#Final recommendation

Start this week with the low-effort sources: showcases, a short list of launch platforms, alternatives listings and, for dev tools, one awesome list. They're mostly nofollow, and that's fine, because they get you found. Then put your real effort into editorial links from partners, unlinked mentions, resource pages, journalist requests, podcasts and one strong guest post.

Once you have your first ten, work through the rest of your website launch checklist and plan for your first 100 visitors. If you're wondering whether you need a paid backlink tool yet, Verdy vs Ahrefs covers when it's worth paying for one.