If there’s a single question that most commonly keeps SEOs up at night, it’s probably: “how do I get backlinks?”

Most other activities in SEO are pretty straightforward. You perform keyword research. You include your keywords in your post content and in all the relevant meta tags.

But to get backlinks, more brain-wracking is involved.

Link-building can seem to depend on factors outside of your control. What if you spend hours upon hours doing email outreach only to come up empty-handed?

Trying to get backlinks to no avail is stressful enough when you’re working on your own money sites. It’s not even an option when you’re working on others’ sites.

If you’re doing SEO for clients, you need ways to get backlinks that are scalable.

Fortunately, there are plenty of creative ways to grow your backlink profile that go beyond simple email outreach.

By using these off the beaten path strategies, you will get more backlinks and move your sites up the rankings. You’ll also have more fun.

Give Your Product to Reviewers

Reaching out to reviewers is a simple way to get backlinks for your website.

Remember, there are bloggers out there who make a living reviewing products and services. All you have to do is search online for the ones who cover your industry.

Once you’ve found them, create a list of emails of those you will contact.

To save time, create a template to which you can adjust the name upon sending each email.

When someone says he’s interested in reviewing what you have to offer, send your product over!

In order for product reviews to be worth your while, you need to make sure the reviewer does one important thing: add a link to your website in his post!

Placing a backlink to your site should be a given. It’s how readers will learn more about the reviewed product. But if you don’t see one, don’t be afraid to gently remind them.

Review outreach is a fantastic strategy to get backlinks because it also gets readers pumped about your product (assuming the review is favorable) and gives you good traffic.

Interview and Be Interviewed

Want to experience being a hard-hitting journalist? Or do you dream of being the star subject of 60 Minutes?

You can get backlinks through interviewing and being interviewed by others.

To get backlinks by interviewing interesting people in your industry, ask your interview subjects to provide a link back to your post on their website.

For extra SEO kick, set up interviews with university professors. The link juice from .edu sites is powerful.

You can also get backlinks by being interviewed. When the interviewer posts the write-up or recording on his blog, he’ll naturally include a link back to your website, scoring you some more SEO points.

Write Regular Statistics Posts

As you know, part of good on-page SEO including outbound leaks to authority sites within your content.

With every blogger on the internet freely handing out links in this way, wouldn’t it be awesome to get a slice of the pie?

You can–and it isn’t as complicated as you might think!

All it takes to get backlinks from bloggers is to write statistics posts.

Think about it: the content most writers link out to is statistics backing up the points they make.

So if you want them to give you a backlink, all you have to do is provide them with the stats they can use as a source.

Research the industry-relevant stats that bloggers in your niche often rely on. Write a post that incorporates all these juicy numbers.

Optimize your post for SEO. When you’re done, share your work!

Send a link t bloggers already using stats and ask them to consider using yours instead. And reach out to bloggers who may find your statistics useful in the future.

Not only will this method get you backlinks; it will also establish you as a credible authority in your field!

Write Testimonials

When you write testimonials, you probably feel like you’re doing the person you review a favor. You are, but you can also turn it into a huge opportunity for your own business.

By simply ask the company you review to include a link to your website along with your testimonial. Because they’re happy you took the time to write kind words (and they want to keep customers happy), they will almost always oblige.

It’s a super clever way to get backlinks!

Do Something Newsworthy

Journalists are always looking for news to report. If you can catch the attention of someone who writes for a news organization, that can be an effective way to get backlinks.

It’s best to start on a smaller scale and work your way up. Build relationships with the journalists who work for the local papers.

Come up with something interesting and out of the ordinary, you can do to for publicity. Hold a charity event. Or an outrageous prank.

When you’re written up, the backlinks from news publications are some of the best you can get.

Get Backlinks with HARO

Most people know about Help a Reporter Out, or HARO. Sometimes you reply to query after query to no avail.

But there’s a much better way to get backlinks from HARO than by sending out individual emails.

If your site has an Alexa Rating of more than 1 million, you can submit a query as a reporter.

Use this to gather responses for roundup posts. Bloggers will respond happily in the hopes of getting backlinks.

Once you have your roundup post ready, publish it and promote. The collective sharing from all the people included in your article will bring massive traffic and backlinks.

Speak at Events

Participating in events is a great way to build your reputation as an authority. It’s also a great way to get backlinks.

When you are scheduled to appear somewhere, make sure you are listed on the event’s website and that there is a link to your site. This will give you some extra link mojo.

Conclusion

There are lots of creative ways to get backlinks. Using a variety helps you diversify your link profile for long-lasting SERP results.