Link building is the practice of earning or acquiring hyperlinks from external websites to your own. Backlinks remain one of the strongest ranking signals in Google's algorithm — they function as votes of confidence from one site to another.

Legitimate Strategies

Earned media: the strongest link-building channel. A press placement in Forbes, TechCrunch, or The Wall Street Journal earns a high-authority backlink naturally. Original research: data-driven studies, surveys, and indexes that other sites cite and link to. Guest contributions: bylines on authoritative industry sites. Resource pages: getting listed on curated "best of" or resource lists. Digital PR: creative campaigns designed to generate press coverage and links simultaneously. Broken-link building: finding broken links on authoritative pages and offering your content as a replacement.

What to Avoid

Paid link schemes, link farms, private blog networks (PBNs), excessive reciprocal linking, and automated link building all violate Google's guidelines and risk manual penalties. Google's algorithms have become increasingly sophisticated at detecting and discounting manipulative links.

Measurement

Track referring domains (not just total links — one link from 100 domains is more valuable than 100 links from one domain), Domain Authority of linking sites, relevance of linking sites, and anchor text distribution.

PR's Natural Advantage

PR teams build links through relationships and newsworthiness — the two inputs Google's algorithm was designed to reward. Earned media link building is the most sustainable, penalty-proof link strategy available.