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Google's spam guidelines particularly call out low-effort online forum remark links as a manipulative link scheme, and most moderators ban accounts that post links without participating in the actual discussion. Genuine editorial websites that publish outside contributors, sourced from Backlinko's and independent 2026 guest-posting roundups. These require an actual pitch and a genuine piece of composing, not a submission form.
Verify the site still accepts posts before pitching. Editorial guest-post programs open and close often. HARO closed down in 2024 after Cision rebranded it as Connectively, then wound the platform down; the HARO trademark was later on acquired by If you're trying to find the "address a journalist's concern, get quoted with a link" model, these are the platforms really running it in 2026: PlatformURLWhat it (owns the previous HARO/Connectively trademark)featured.comJournalists and content creators post questions, you send an answer for considerationQwotedqwoted.comSearchable database of live reporter and PR media requestsSource of Sourcessourceofsources.comEmail-newsletter format, developed by HARO's initial creator, Peter Shankman Likewise worth doing directly: local paper and trade publication websites.
If you build products, websites, or visual work, these platforms operate as both a portfolio and a backlink source. SiteURLReported DAWhat you submitDribbbledribbble.com90+Design shots, profile linkBehancebehance.net90+Full case research studies and theme/plugin directorywordpress.org94+Totally free themes/plugins, dofollow link back to your website from the listingCodePencodepen.io80+Code demos, profile and project linksGitHub task websites, dofollow (also listed above) Most "complimentary backlink websites" roundups stop at directories, guest posts, and social profiles.
These take more effort than completing a directory type (you need an actual extension, app, or plan to release), but a few of them are dofollow from domains with real authority, which puts them ahead of the majority of the directory sites above. PlatformURLReported DA/DRFollowWhat it takesChrome Web, confirmedOne-time $5 developer registration charge, then a released extension with a website link filled out under the listing's extra fields.
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Press an image and set the "Source Repository" field on your repository page; that outbound link carries no nofollow, sponsored, or ugc attribute.npmnpmjs.com93Nofollow (rel="nofollow")Free. PyPIpypi.org94Nofollow (rel="nofollow")Free.
Google Play Store (designer profile) $25 Play Console registration cost plus identity verification, then a published app with a designer website link. Treat as a brand and indexing play, not link equity, consistent with how Google treats outgoing links from its other consumer-facing profile surface areas (Organization Profile, Blog writer) elsewhere on this list.
GSA SER verified listThis is unique from the individual Pinterest profile noted in the social area above. Follow-status notes: GitHub, npm, and PyPI were confirmed by pulling the live page source directly (all 3 bring an explicit nofollow quality on the profile/project site link). Docker Hub's Source Repository link was verified the very same method and carries no nofollow quality.
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Google Play Store and Pinterest Business weren't directly inspectable (both render through JavaScript), so they're significant nofollow on pattern consistency with Google's and Pinterest's other profile surface areas rather than a validated source read, flagged here instead of mentioned as truth. Item Hunt, Crunchbase, AngelList (Wellfound), Dribbble, Behance, and SlideShare belong in this same category by function, they're currently covered above in the Startup/SaaS directory sites, Web 2.0, and Design and designer showcases areas, so they aren't repeated here.
There's no fixed list of these because they're produced continuously and stagnate fast, however the search-operator technique Backlinko and other link-building guides utilize is reliable: Search intitle:"resources" + "your subject" or inurl: resources + "your topic". Check your closest competitors' backlink profiles for pages with "resources," "links," or "tools" in the title, then pitch the same page.
When you find one resource page in your specific niche, others in the very same space typically follow the same structure, so the first one you land generally leads to numerous more. If you 'd rather not run this process manually every quarter, it's the kind of repeatable research-and-outreach work that fits into a more comprehensive custom-made workflow automation setup, where the prospecting and first-touch outreach draft get automated and a human only handles the real pitch and relationship.
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Directory sites and platforms with genuine traffic and editorial review (company directories with active moderation, SaaS directory sites like G2 or Capterra, guest-post sites with an actual editor) still help. Mass-submission directory site lists with numerous low-grade sites primarily produce nofollow links beside spam and do little for rankings. A dofollow link passes PageRank and ranking signal to your website.
