No single website is best for getting backlinks. Most of the famous platforms (Reddit, Quora, Medium, LinkedIn, GitHub, Wikipedia, YouTube) tag their links nofollow or ugc, so they pass no ranking credit. The sites that do help are smaller and specific to you: blogs in your niche, directories people use, publications that take sources, and site owners willing to trade.
You have probably opened three "top 100 websites for backlinks" lists, found the same profile sites on each, built a dozen accounts, and watched nothing move. Here is why, and which sites are worth the afternoon instead.
What makes a website good for backlinks
A website is good for backlinks when it will link to you from inside an article, without a nofollow tag, and its readers are the people you want. Google's guide to qualifying outbound links (updated December 10, 2025) says links marked rel="sponsored", rel="ugc" or rel="nofollow" "will generally not be followed", and it tells site owners to tag paid placements as sponsored and comments and forum posts as ugc. That one rule eliminates most of the famous platforms, because anything you can post yourself gets the ugc or nofollow tag.
So the three tests, in order: is the link followed, is it inside content a human wrote, and does the site publish on your topic. Which backlink is best explains why relevance beats raw authority once the first two tests pass.
The famous platforms, ranked by what you actually get
Every big platform on the usual lists fails the first test, so rank them by their second-order value, not by the link. We have checked each one separately:
| Website | Link attribute | What it is good for | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| nofollow / ugc | Threads rank for commercial queries; heavily cited by AI assistants | Do Reddit links help SEO? | |
| Wikipedia | nofollow | Entity data that Google and LLMs use to understand your brand | Are Wikipedia backlinks worth it? |
| Medium | ugc nofollow | Readers and referral clicks, with a canonical back to your original | Are Medium backlinks good for SEO? |
| nofollow | Visibility for your name; referral clicks | Do LinkedIn article links count? | |
| GitHub | nofollow | Downstream editorial links from developers who use your project | Are GitHub links good for SEO? |
| Product Hunt | nofollow | The newsletters and roundups that follow a good launch | Do Product Hunt links help SEO? |
| YouTube | nofollow | The video's own ranking, not the description link | Do YouTube description links count? |
| Quora | nofollow | Only when the question itself ranks for a term you care about | Are Quora backlinks worth it? |
| Web 2.0 sites (Blogspot, Google Sites) | often followed, no authority | Almost nothing; built-to-link sites are ignored | Do Web 2.0 backlinks still work? |
The honest ranking of that table is: Reddit and Wikipedia for how AI assistants describe you, Medium and LinkedIn for readers, GitHub and Product Hunt for the links other people write afterwards, and the rest barely at all. Fill in the profiles you would have anyway and stop; best profile backlink sites lists which ones.
The websites that actually give you backlinks
The best sites for getting backlinks are the ones nobody can list for you, because they are specific to your topic. Five kinds, ranked by how much a single link is worth:
- Blogs and publications in your niche that accept articles. An article you write for a relevant site, with a followed in-content link, is the standard unit of link building. Ahrefs' survey of link building services (March 15, 2023) put the agency price of one such placement at $250 to $400, which is a fair measure of what you save by earning it. How to write a guest post that gets accepted covers the pitch.
- Sites that already rank for your topic and could cite you. Resource pages, "further reading" lists and old articles with a gap your page fills. What is a resource page link and what is broken link building are the two standard approaches.
- Journalist-request platforms. Publications looking for quotes give followed editorial links when your answer is used. Does HARO still work and best HARO alternatives cover the current services.
- Curated directories people actually use. Industry associations, local chambers, the two or three directories your customers search. Are business directory listings worth it separates the useful few from the hundreds that are not.
- Other site owners who want the same thing. Two sites in related niches each publish an article linking to the other. No fee changes hands, so no sponsored tag is needed; keep it relevant and moderate, because Google's spam policies name "excessive link exchanges" as link spam.
The catch with the first four is that they run on cold email. Backlinko's study of 12 million outreach emails found only 8.5% get any reply, so forty pitches typically produce three or four conversations and one or two links.
Top 10 websites for getting backlinks: the honest version
A ranked list of ten named sites would be a list of nofollow profiles, so here is the ranked list of where your next ten backlinks should come from instead:
- Three niche blogs that publish guest articles
- Two pages that already rank for your topic and are missing a source
- One journalist request answered well
- One industry or local directory your customers use
- Two link swaps with site owners in adjacent niches
- One profile on the platform your audience actually uses (for readers, not rank)
That mix gives you nine followed in-content links and one that brings people, which is a better quarter than a hundred profile links.
We make Backlinkster, which handles item five: members in related niches are matched to trade one in-content link for one. Whoever starts a swap publishes the partner's article first, the link must sit in a real article on the member's own domain, one published link cannot be reused for two live swaps, and each swap is verified by API. The free plan covers 5 swaps a month, Pro is $19.
When Backlinkster is not the right fit
It is not the right fit if you need links from major publications that would never trade, if your site cannot link out to other businesses (some regulated and enterprise sites cannot), or if the links you want are from sites with no interest in a link back. For those, the first four kinds above are the honest route, and best free link exchange platforms compares the exchange options, including ones that are not us.
Frequently asked questions
Which site is the best for getting backlinks? None of the famous ones. Reddit, Quora, Medium, LinkedIn, GitHub, Wikipedia and YouTube all tag outbound links nofollow or ugc, which Google says are generally not followed. The best site for a backlink is a blog or publication in your niche that links from inside an article without a tag.
What are the top websites for backlinks? Ranked by what a link is worth: niche blogs that accept guest articles, pages that already rank for your topic and need a source, journalist-request platforms, curated industry directories, and site owners in adjacent niches willing to trade links. Profile platforms come last.
Are there good websites for backlinking for free? Yes, and the best ones cost time rather than money: earned guest articles, resource page additions, journalist requests and link swaps are all free. Expect low reply rates on cold email, about 8.5% in Backlinko's study of 12 million outreach messages.
Do Reddit and Quora links count as backlinks? They are backlinks in the literal sense but pass no ranking credit, because both platforms tag outbound links nofollow or ugc. Reddit is still worth attention for a different reason: its threads rank and AI assistants cite them.
What are the top 10 websites for getting backlinks? A top-10 of named sites would be ten nofollow profiles. The useful top 10 is a mix of places: three niche blogs, two ranking pages missing a source, one journalist request, one real directory, two link swaps and one profile where your audience is.
The bottom line
The best website for getting backlinks is not on any list, because it is a site in your niche that will cite you from inside an article. The platforms that fill the "top 100" lists tag their links nofollow, so they are worth having for readers and for how AI assistants describe you, not for rankings. Spend the afternoon on guest articles, resource pages, journalist requests, a real directory and a couple of relevant swaps, and leave the profile farms alone.
Related: Best profile backlink sites · The best ways to get backlinks in 2026 · How to get high-authority free backlinks · Best free link exchange platforms · Which backlink is best? · How to get free backlinks in 2026