How to Get Dofollow Backlinks Without Paying for Them

A dofollow backlink from a credible site does two things: it passes domain authority (which improves your Google rankings) and it drives referral traffic from people who actually follow the link. A nofollow link does the second thing but not the first. Most links you can get for free are nofollow. Here is how to get the dofollow ones without paying.

Why dofollow backlinks are hard to get for free

The reason most directories and platforms default to nofollow is straightforward: dofollow links have monetary value, and platforms want either to capture that value (through paid placements) or avoid spam (by stripping link equity from all submissions). The free dofollow sources that exist have usually made a deliberate decision to pass link equity as part of their model — often because they benefit from reciprocal signals or because they have a badge-based system that validates the link.

Understanding this changes your strategy. You are not looking for loopholes — you are looking for platforms where the dofollow link is a feature of their business model, not an accident.

Startup directories with dofollow badge backlinks

Several startup directories give you a dofollow backlink in exchange for placing their badge on your site. This is a legitimate exchange: they get brand exposure on your product, you get link equity from their domain. The directories that do this well have domain ratings of 30–70+, so the link is genuinely valuable.

• Launchstag — Weekly indie launch directory. Submit your product, add the Launchstag badge, and the link flips to dofollow. Permanent indexed listing included. Free.
• tools.cafe — Curated tool directory for builders. Badge-based dofollow link. Curated quality means your listing is alongside genuinely good products.
• launchbuff.com — Bracket competition for indie products. Permanent dofollow listing regardless of competition placement. Free to enter.
• Startupfa.me — Curated indie directory. Manual review, dofollow links, growing domain authority.
• SaaSCity — Submit your SaaS, place the badge, get a dofollow link. Simple, fast, works.

Submitting to all five takes about two hours. The combined DR of those domains means your site will see measurable movement in Ahrefs within 30–60 days. Do this first — it is the highest-leverage activity per hour of time invested.

HARO and journalist queries

Help a Reporter Out (HARO) — now Connectively — sends journalist queries to your inbox three times a day. When a journalist is writing about a topic where you have genuine expertise, you respond with a quote. If they use it, you get a link from their publication.

The publications that use HARO range from small blogs (not very useful) to Forbes, Inc, TechCrunch, and major trade publications (extremely useful — DR 80+). The key is selectivity: only respond to queries where you can give a genuinely useful, specific answer. Journalists can tell when a response is generic AI-assisted filler.

Response rate: roughly 1 in 10–20 pitches results in a placed link. One link from a major publication can jump your DR by 5–10 points in a single month.

Resource page link building

Many websites — SaaS blogs, agency sites, university pages, community wikis — maintain "resources" or "tools" pages that link out to useful products in their niche. These are almost always dofollow and are relatively easy to get onto if your product is genuinely relevant.

The process:

1. Search Google for: [your niche] + "useful tools" or [your niche] + "recommended tools"
2. Find pages that already link to your competitors
3. Email the site owner with a brief, honest pitch: "I noticed you recommend [competitor] for [use case] — I built [your product] which does [specific differentiator]. Happy to share if it would be useful for your readers."
4. Make it easy for them to add you: provide the exact anchor text and URL you want

Conversion rate is low — maybe 5–10% — but every yes is a permanent dofollow link from a contextually relevant page. Those are the best kind.

Broken link building

Pages that once linked to content that no longer exists are a reliable source of free dofollow links. The site owner has a broken link they need to fix; you offer a working replacement.

Tools like Ahrefs Site Explorer, Semrush, or the free Check My Links browser extension let you find broken links on target pages. Email the site owner: "I noticed the link to [dead URL] on your [page name] returns a 404. I wrote a post on [equivalent topic] that might be a good replacement — happy to share the URL if useful."

Keep it conversational, not transactional. Offer value first, let them make the decision.

Guest posts on niche blogs

Writing guest posts is time-intensive but produces high-quality, contextual dofollow links on real editorial sites. For indie founders, the most accessible targets are:

• Other founders' blogs (genuine knowledge exchange)
• Community blogs (Indie Hackers, Dev.to)
• Niche trade blogs in your product category

Pitch with a specific article idea — not a generic "I would love to contribute." Show that you have read their site, identify a gap in their content, and offer to fill it. One guest post per month compounds meaningfully over 12 months.

The compounding effect

None of these tactics produce instant results. But a founder who spends 5 hours per week on backlink building for 12 months, using only free methods, can reach DR 40–50 on a new domain. That is enough to rank for hundreds of long-tail keywords and generate meaningful organic traffic without ever running an ad.

Start with the directory badges — specifically Launchstag and the others listed above. It is 2 hours of work with guaranteed results. Then layer in the HARO responses, the resource page outreach, and one guest post per month. The compounding starts from the first link, not the hundredth.