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How to Get on the First Page of Google in 2023

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How to Get on the First Page of Google in 2023

If you rank on page two of Google or beyond, you’re practically invisible.

In fact, almost all of the traffic to our blog comes from first-page Google rankings:

93% of our blog traffic comes from first-page Google rankings

Unfortunately, nobody can guarantee first-page Google rankings. But you can improve your chances of getting them by following a logical process.

Here it is:

How to get on the first page of Google

Let’s go through it step by step.

Sidenote.

If you run a local business, read our guide to local SEO instead because there are two main ways to rank on the first page.

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1. Make sure your page aligns with search intent

Google wants to rank the type of pages that searchers are looking for. Unless your page aligns with the searcher’s intent, it’ll be near impossible to rank on the first page.

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to say for sure what searchers want. But as the point of Google is to rank the most relevant results, you can get a good idea by looking for the most common type, format, and angle of the pages ranking on page one.

Content type

The results you see ranking on the first page will usually be one of these: 

  • Blog posts
  • Interactive tools
  • Videos
  • Product pages
  • Category pages

For example, all first-page results for “days between dates” are interactive calculators:

A few of the interactive calculators ranking on the first page for "days between dates"

For “sweaters,” they’re all e-commerce category pages:

A few of the e-commerce category pages ranking on the first page for "sweaters"
How to Get on the First Page of Google in

Content format

This applies mainly to blog posts. If you’re mainly seeing this content type on the first page, check to see which of these formats appears the most: 

  • Step-by-step tutorials (i.e., how to do x)
  • Listicles
  • Opinion pieces
  • Reviews
  • Comparisons (e.g., x vs. y)

For example, you can tell that most results for “how to get on the first page of google” are step-by-step tutorials from the page titles:

Examples of "how to" guides ranking on the first page for "how to get on the first page of google"

For “best chrome extensions for seo,” on the other hand, they’re mostly listicles:

Examples of listicles ranking on the first page for "best chrome extensions for seo"

Content angle

This is harder to quantify than type and format, but it’s basically the most common unique selling proposition. 

For example, almost all first-page results for “best savings account” have 2023 in their titles:

Examples of fresh results on the first page for "best savings account"

This indicates that searchers are looking for fresh information.

On the other hand, most first-page results for “blogging tips and tricks” are aimed at beginners:

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Examples of beginners' guides on the first page for "blogging tips and tricks"

Can’t align your page with search intent?

It’s best to switch gears and target a more relevant keyword. If you try to force an irrelevant page to rank, you’ll be fighting a losing battle.

2. Make sure your page covers the topic in full

Having content that broadly aligns with search intent isn’t enough. It also needs to cover everything searchers want to know or expect to see.

For example, every first-page result for “mens sneakers” has a size filter:

Every first-page result for "mens sneakers" has a size filter

This is because searchers will inevitably want to filter for shoes that actually fit. 

Similarly, all first-page results for “best mens sneakers” break down recommendations into categories like the best for walking, running, or cross training.

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Every first-page result for "best mens sneakers" breaks recommendations into categories

This is because the “best” sneakers depend on the activity you need them for.

Here are a few ways to find what searchers may be expecting to see covered on your page:

Look for commonalities among first-page results

This is a manual process where you open and eyeball the pages that rank. 

For example, many first-page results for “best running shoes for flat feet” talk about the best budget option: 

Many first-page results for "best running shoes for flat feet" talk about the best budget option

Look for common keyword mentions on first-page results

Here’s how to do this with Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer:

  1. Enter your keyword
  2. Choose your target country
  3. Go to the Related terms report
  4. Toggle “Also talk about”
  5. Toggle “Top 10” 
Finding common keyword mentions on first-page results with Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer

For example, many first-page results for “best running shoes for flat feet” mention “arch support” and “muscle weakness”: 

Common keyword mentions across pages ranking for "best running shoes for flat feet"

These are obviously problems that folks with flat feet care about, so your content should address them.

Look for common keyword rankings among first-page results

Here’s how to do this with Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer:

  1. Enter your keyword
  2. Choose your target country
  3. Go to the Related terms report
  4. Toggle “Also rank for”
  5. Toggle “Top 10” 

For example, the first-page results for “best running shoes for flat feet” frequently also rank for keywords related to support:

Common keyword rankings for pages ranking for "best running shoes for flat feet"

This is clearly an important quality that flat-footed searchers are looking for in a pair of running shoes.

If you’d prefer to see common keyword rankings for specific top-ranking pages, use the Content Gap tool in Ahrefs’ Site Explorer. The quickest way to do this is to enter your keyword in Keywords Explorer, scroll to the SERP overview, and then: 

  1. Select which first-page results to include in the gap analysis.
  2. Click “Open in” and choose “Content gap.”
How to send top-ranking pages for a content gap analysis from Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer

For example, these three pages all rank on the first page for “best brooks for flat feet”:

Example of a common keyword ranking for three of the top results

This tells you that some searchers are looking for the best options from this brand (Brooks), so you should probably include them in your post.

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3. Make sure your page is optimized for on-page SEO

Google looks at things on the page itself to help decide if it should rank. This is where on-page SEO comes in. 

Most on-page signals are only small ranking factors. However, as most of them are quick to change and fully within your control, they’re worth optimizing. 

Let’s look at a few easy things you can do to improve on-page SEO.

Mention your keyword in the URL

Google says to avoid lengthiness and use words that are relevant to your site’s content in your URLs. This doesn’t mean that you have to use your target keyword. But it makes sense, as it’s short and describes your page. 

For example, the target keyword for this post is “how to get on the first page of google,” so that’s what we used for the URL.

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Example of a URL used with the target keyword in mind

Mention your keyword in the title tag

A title tag is a bit of HTML code that wraps around the page title. You’ll often see it displayed in search engine results, social networks like Twitter, and browser tabs.

The title tag shows up in browser tabs

Google’s John Mueller says it’s only a tiny ranking factor, but we think it’s still a good place to mention your keyword. Just make sure to do it naturally.

Wrap the visible page title in an H1 tag

H1 tags are HTML code used to mark up page titles.

How H1s look in the code vs. on the page

Google is a bit unclear on the importance of H1 tags. John is on record saying that they’re not critical for search ranking, but Google’s official documentation says to “place the title of your article in a prominent spot above the article body, such as in a <h1> tag.”

Our advice is to use one per page for the page title and to include your keyword where relevant.

Use subheadings to improve readability

Google uses subheadings to try to better understand the content on the page. 

This doesn’t necessarily mean they’re a ranking factor, but they improve your content by making it easier to digest and skim. That can have an indirect impact on SEO.

Our advice is to use subheadings for important subtopics.

Subheadings improve readability by creating visual hierarchy

Showcase the author’s expertise

Google wants to rank content written by experts, so it’s important to demonstrate that expertise on the page. 

Here are a few ways Google suggests to do that:

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  • Provide clear sourcing
  • Provide background information about the author
  • Keep the content free of easily verified factual errors

Here’s a great example from Healthline:

Example of how to showcase the author's expertise on the page

4. Make sure your page is internally linked

Internal links are backlinks from one page on your website to another.

Generally speaking, the more of these a page has, the more PageRank (PR) it will receive. That’s good because Google still uses PR to help rank webpages.

Let’s look at a few ways to find relevant internal linking opportunities. 

Use the Internal Link Opportunities report in Ahrefs’ Site Audit

This report finds on-site mentions of words and phrases your page already ranks for. It’s free to use with an Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (AWT) account. 

Here’s how to use it: 

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  1. Go to Site Audit (and choose your project)
  2. Click the Internal link opportunities report
  3. Search for the URL of the page you want to rank on the first page, and choose “Target URL” from the dropdown
Using the Internal Link Opportunities tool in Site Audit to find internal links to add

For example, as our keyword research guide ranks for “keyword research,” the report finds unlinked mentions of that keyword on our site. We can then internally link those words and phrases to our guide. 

Use the Page Explorer tool in Ahrefs’ Site Audit

This tool shows all kinds of data about the pages on your website, but you can apply filters to find internal linking opportunities. It’s free to use with Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (AWT)

How’s how to use it: 

  1. Go to Site Audit (and choose your project)
  2. Click the Page Explorer tool
  3. Click “Advanced filter”
  4. Set the first rule to URL Not contains [URL of the page you want to add internal links to]
  5. Set the second rule to Internal outlinks Not contains [URL of the page you want to add internal links to]
  6. Set the third rule to Page text Contains [keyword you want to rank for on the first page]
Using the Page Explorer in Ahrefs' Site Audit to find internal link opportunities

For example, the tool tells us that our pogo-sticking guide mentions the keyword “free keyword research tools” but doesn’t link to our list of free keyword tools

If we open the page and search for this keyword, we see a clear opportunity for a relevant internal link:

Example of an unlinked keyword mention on a page

Use Google

If you search Google for site:yourwebsite.com "keyword", you’ll see all pages on your website that mention the keyword. 

For example, it tells us that our keyword research guide mentions “free keyword research tools”:

Searching for internal link opportunities in Google

The problem with this tactic is that it doesn’t tell you whether there’s already an internal link. 

In fact, in this case, the internal link is already there:

Example of an opportunity that's already linked

This makes it time-consuming and inefficient compared to the previous methods.

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5. Make sure you have enough backlinks

Backlinks are an important ranking factor. If you don’t rank on the first page of Google by now, it’s probably because you don’t have enough of them. 

But how many backlinks do you need, and how do you get them?

Given that some backlinks are more powerful than others, it’s impossible to say exactly how many you’ll need to rank on the first page. However, we do offer a rough estimate below the Keyword Difficulty score shown in Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer

Very rough estimation of how many backlinks you'll need to rank on the first page in Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer

Just remember to take this number with a very large pinch of salt, as it’s far from an exact science.

For example, Ahrefs estimates that you’ll need backlinks from ~53 websites to rank on the first page for “cardigan sweater.” But if you plug one of the first-page results into Ahrefs’ Site Explorer (or our free backlink checker), you’ll see it only has links from two referring domains.

Number of websites linking to the top-ranking result for "cardigan sweater"

This happens for two reasons:

  1. Backlinks aren’t the only ranking factor – There are other ranking factors that matter. 
  2. Some backlinks are more powerful than others – You’ll need fewer of these to rank. 

If you think you need more backlinks to rank, check out the resources below or take our free link building course. Just know that building backlinks can be challenging, so it may take a while to build enough to rank for competitive keywords.

Final thoughts

Following this process should help you rank on the first page of Google, but it still takes time.

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How much time? It’s hard to say. But our poll of 4,300 SEOs revealed that 83.8% think SEO takes three months or more to show results.

Results of our survey asking how long SEO takes

It’s also true that unless you rank high on Google’s first page, you likely won’t get much traffic.

For example, we rank #8 for “what is affiliate marketing.” But despite having a monthly search volume of 30K, the keyword only sends us an estimated 885 monthly visits from the U.S.

Our current ranking position for "what is affiliate marketing," via Ahrefs' Site Explorer

So once you’re on the first page, your goal should be to rank #1. 

Following these two guides will help: 

Got questions? Leave a comment or ping me on Twitter.



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How To Drive Pipeline With A Silo-Free Strategy

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How To Drive Pipeline With A Silo-Free Strategy

When it comes to B2B strategy, a holistic approach is the only approach. 

Revenue organizations usually operate with siloed teams, and often expect a one-size-fits-all solution (usually buying clicks with paid media). 

However, without cohesive brand, infrastructure, and pipeline generation efforts, they’re pretty much doomed to fail. 

It’s just like rowing crew, where each member of the team must synchronize their movements to propel the boat forward – successful B2B marketing requires an integrated strategy. 

So if you’re ready to ditch your disjointed marketing efforts and try a holistic approach, we’ve got you covered.

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Join us on May 15, for an insightful live session with Digital Reach Agency on how to craft a compelling brand and PMF. 

We’ll walk through the critical infrastructure you need, and the reliances and dependences of the core digital marketing disciplines.

Key takeaways from this webinar:

  • Thinking Beyond Traditional Silos: Learn why traditional marketing silos are no longer viable and how they spell doom for modern revenue organizations.
  • How To Identify and Fix Silos: Discover actionable strategies for pinpointing and sealing the gaps in your marketing silos. 
  • The Power of Integration: Uncover the secrets to successfully integrating brand strategy, digital infrastructure, and pipeline generation efforts.

Ben Childs, President and Founder of Digital Reach Agency, and Jordan Gibson, Head of Growth at Digital Reach Agency, will show you how to seamlessly integrate various elements of your marketing strategy for optimal results.

Don’t make the common mistake of using traditional marketing silos – sign up now and learn what it takes to transform your B2B go-to-market.

You’ll also get the opportunity to ask Ben and Jordan your most pressing questions, following the presentation.

And if you can’t make it to the live event, register anyway and we’ll send you a recording shortly after the webinar. 

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Why Big Companies Make Bad Content

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Why Big Companies Make Bad Content

It’s like death and taxes: inevitable. The bigger a company gets, the worse its content marketing becomes.

HubSpot teaching you how to type the shrug emoji or buy bitcoin stock. Salesforce sharing inspiring business quotes. GoDaddy helping you use Bing AI, or Zendesk sharing catchy sales slogans.

Judged by content marketing best practice, these articles are bad.

They won’t resonate with decision-makers. Nobody will buy a HubSpot license after Googling “how to buy bitcoin stock.” It’s the very definition of vanity traffic: tons of visits with no obvious impact on the business.

So why does this happen?

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I did a double-take the first time I discovered this article on the HubSpot blog.

There’s an obvious (but flawed) answer to this question: big companies are inefficient.

As companies grow, they become more complicated, and writing good, relevant content becomes harder. I’ve experienced this firsthand:

  • extra rounds of legal review and stakeholder approval creeping into processes.
  • content watered down to serve an ever-more generic “brand voice”.
  • growing misalignment between search and content teams.
  • a lack of content leadership within the company as early employees leave.
Why Big Companies Make Bad ContentWhy Big Companies Make Bad Content
As companies grow, content workflows can get kinda… complicated.

Similarly, funded companies have to grow, even when they’re already huge. Content has to feed the machine, continually increasing traffic… even if that traffic never contributes to the bottom line.

There’s an element of truth here, but I’ve come to think that both these arguments are naive, and certainly not the whole story.

It is wrong to assume that the same people that grew the company suddenly forgot everything they once knew about content, and wrong to assume that companies willfully target useless keywords just to game their OKRs.

Instead, let’s assume that this strategy is deliberate, and not oversight. I think bad content—and the vanity traffic it generates—is actually good for business.

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There are benefits to driving tons of traffic, even if that traffic never directly converts. Or put in meme format:

Why Big Companies Make Bad ContentWhy Big Companies Make Bad Content

Programmatic SEO is a good example. Why does Dialpad create landing pages for local phone numbers?

1714584366 91 Why Big Companies Make Bad Content1714584366 91 Why Big Companies Make Bad Content

Why does Wise target exchange rate keywords?

1714584366 253 Why Big Companies Make Bad Content1714584366 253 Why Big Companies Make Bad Content

Why do we have a list of most popular websites pages?

1714584367 988 Why Big Companies Make Bad Content1714584367 988 Why Big Companies Make Bad Content

As this Twitter user points out, these articles will never convert…

…but they don’t need to.

Every published URL and targeted keyword is a new doorway from the backwaters of the internet into your website. It’s a chance to acquire backlinks that wouldn’t otherwise exist, and an opportunity to get your brand in front of thousands of new, otherwise unfamiliar people.

These benefits might not directly translate into revenue, but over time, in aggregate, they can have a huge indirect impact on revenue. They can:

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  • Strengthen domain authority and the search performance of every other page on the website.
  • Boost brand awareness, and encourage serendipitous interactions that land your brand in front of the right person at the right time.
  • Deny your competitors traffic and dilute their share of voice.

These small benefits become more worthwhile when multiplied across many hundreds or thousands of pages. If you can minimize the cost of the content, there is relatively little downside.

What about topical authority?

“But what about topical authority?!” I hear you cry. “If you stray too far from your area of expertise, won’t rankings suffer for it?”

I reply simply with this screenshot of Forbes’ “health” subfolder, generating almost 4 million estimated monthly organic pageviews:

1714584367 695 Why Big Companies Make Bad Content1714584367 695 Why Big Companies Make Bad Content

And big companies can minimize cost. For large, established brands, the marginal cost of content creation is relatively low.

Many companies scale their output through networks of freelancer writers, avoiding the cost of fully loaded employees. They have established, efficient processes for research, briefing, editorial review, publication and maintenance. The cost of an additional “unit” of content—or ten, or a hundred—is not that great, especially relative to other marketing channels.

There is also relatively little opportunity cost to consider: the fact that energy spent on “vanity” traffic could be better spent elsewhere, on more business-relevant topics.

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In reality, many of the companies engaging in this strategy have already plucked the low-hanging fruit and written almost every product-relevant topic. There are a finite number of high traffic, high relevance topics; blog consistently for a decade and you too will reach these limits.

On top of that, the HubSpots and Salesforces of the world have very established, very efficient sales processes. Content gating, lead capture and scoring, and retargeting allow them to put very small conversion rates to relatively good use.

1714584367 376 Why Big Companies Make Bad Content1714584367 376 Why Big Companies Make Bad Content

Even HubSpot’s article on Bitcoin stock has its own relevant call-to-action—and for HubSpot, building a database of aspiring investors is more valuable than it sounds, because…

The bigger a company grows, the bigger its audience needs to be to continue sustaining that growth rate.

Companies generally expand their total addressable market (TAM) as they grow, like HubSpot broadening from marketing to sales and customer success, launching new product lines for new—much bigger—audiences. This means the target audience for their content marketing grows alongside.

As Peep Laja put its:

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But for the biggest companies, this principle is taken to an extreme. When a company gears up to IPO, its target audience expands to… pretty much everyone.

This was something Janessa Lantz (ex-HubSpot and dbt Labs) helped me understand: the target audience for a post-IPO company is not just end users, but institutional investors, market analysts, journalists, even regular Jane investors.

These are people who can influence the company’s worth in ways beyond simply buying a subscription: they can invest or encourage others to invest and dramatically influence the share price. These people are influenced by billboards, OOH advertising and, you guessed it, seemingly “bad” content showing up whenever they Google something.

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You can think of this as a second, additional marketing funnel for post-IPO companies:

Illustration: When companies IPO, the traditional marketing funnel is accompanied by a second funnel. Website visitors contribute value through stock appreciation, not just revenue.Illustration: When companies IPO, the traditional marketing funnel is accompanied by a second funnel. Website visitors contribute value through stock appreciation, not just revenue.

These visitors might not purchase a software subscription when they see your article in the SERP, but they will notice your brand, and maybe listen more attentively the next time your stock ticker appears on the news.

They won’t become power users, but they might download your eBook and add an extra unit to the email subscribers reported in your S1.

They might not contribute revenue now, but they will in the future: in the form of stock appreciation, or becoming the target audience for a future product line.

Vanity traffic does create value, but in a form most content marketers are not used to measuring.

If any of these benefits apply, then it makes sense to acquire them for your company—but also to deny them to your competitors.

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SEO is an arms race: there are a finite number of keywords and topics, and leaving a rival to claim hundreds, even thousands of SERPs uncontested could very quickly create a headache for your company.

SEO can quickly create a moat of backlinks and brand awareness that can be virtually impossible to challenge; left unchecked, the gap between your company and your rival can accelerate at an accelerating pace.

Pumping out “bad” content and chasing vanity traffic is a chance to deny your rivals unchallenged share of voice, and make sure your brand always has a seat at the table.

Final thoughts

These types of articles are miscategorized—instead of thinking of them as bad content, it’s better to think of them as cheap digital billboards with surprisingly great attribution.

Big companies chasing “vanity traffic” isn’t an accident or oversight—there are good reasons to invest energy into content that will never convert. There is benefit, just not in the format most content marketers are used to.

This is not an argument to suggest that every company should invest in hyper-broad, high-traffic keywords. But if you’ve been blogging for a decade, or you’re gearing up for an IPO, then “bad content” and the vanity traffic it creates might not be so bad.

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Is It Alternatives You’re Looking For?

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Is It Alternatives You’re Looking For?

You probably clicked this result because a) you appreciate a good Lionel Ritchie pun, or b) you’ve heard that HARO is dead and want some alternatives—hopefully both.

Whatever the reason, in this article, I’ll share some alternatives to HARO and a few extra ways to get expert quotes and backlinks for your website.

Disclaimer: I am not a PR expert. I did a bit of outreach a few years ago, but I have only been an occasional user of HARO in the past year or so.

So, rather than providing my opinion on the best alternatives to HARO, I thought it would be fun to ask users of the “new HARO” what they thought were the best alternatives.

I wanted to give the “new HARO”—Connectively—the benefit of the doubt.

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Still, a few minutes after my pitch was accepted, I got two responses that appeared to be AI-generated from two “visionary directors,” both with “extensive experience.”

My experience of Connectively so far mirrored Josh’s experience of old HARO: The responses were most likely automated.

Although I was off to a bad start, looking through most of the responses afterward, these two were the only blatant automated pitches I could spot.

These responses weren’t included in my survey, and anyone who saw my pitch would have to copy and paste the survey link to complete it—increasing the chance of genuine human responses—hopefully.

So, without further ado, here are the results of the survey.

1714560965 992 Is It Alternatives Youre Looking For1714560965 992 Is It Alternatives Youre Looking For

Sidenote.

The survey on Connectively ran for a week and received 101 votes. Respondents could vote for their top three HARO alternatives.

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Price: Free.

Help a B2B Writer was the #1 alternative platform respondents recommended. In my survey it got 22% of the vote.

Help a B2B Writer is a platform run by Superpath that is similar to HARO but focused on connecting business-to-business (B2B) journalists with industry experts and sources for their stories.

Is It Alternatives Youre Looking ForIs It Alternatives Youre Looking For

Price: Free and paid plans. Paid plans start at $99 per month.

Coming in joint second place, Featured was popular, scoring 18% of the vote.

Featured connects journalists with experts and thought leaders. It allows experts to create profiles showcasing their expertise and helps journalists find suitable sources for their stories.

1714560966 485 Is It Alternatives Youre Looking For1714560966 485 Is It Alternatives Youre Looking For

Price: Free and paid plans. Paid plans start at $99 per month.

Qwoted is another platform that I’ve heard talked about a lot. It came in joint second place, scoring 18% of the vote.

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Qwoted matches journalists with expert sources, allowing them to collaborate on creating high-quality content. It streamlines the process of finding and connecting with relevant sources.

1714560966 768 Is It Alternatives Youre Looking For1714560966 768 Is It Alternatives Youre Looking For

Price: Free for ten pitches per month

Despite being the “new HARO,” Connectively came 4th on my list, scoring 12% of the vote—surprisingly, it wasn’t even the top choice for most users on its own platform.

Connectively connects journalists with sources and experts. It helps journalists find relevant sources for their stories and allows experts to gain media exposure.

Is It Alternatives Youre Looking ForIs It Alternatives Youre Looking For

Price: Free and paid plans. Paid plans start at $5.95 per month.

SourceBottle is an online platform that connects journalists, bloggers, and media professionals with expert sources. It allows experts to pitch their ideas and insights to journalists looking for story sources. It scored 9% of the vote in my survey.

1714560967 683 Is It Alternatives Youre Looking For1714560967 683 Is It Alternatives Youre Looking For

Price: Free.

JournoRequest is an X account that shares journalist requests for sources. UK-based journalists and experts often use it, but it can sometimes have international reach. It scored 7% of the vote in my survey.

1714560967 333 Is It Alternatives Youre Looking For1714560967 333 Is It Alternatives Youre Looking For

Price: Paid. Plans start at $1,150 per year.

ProfNet connects journalists to expert sources. It helps journalists find knowledgeable sources for their articles, interviews, and other media content. It helps subject matter experts gain media exposure and share their expertise. It scored 5% of the vote in my survey.

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Price: 7-day free trial and paid plans. Paid plans start at $147 per month.

JustReachOut is a PR and influencer outreach platform that helps businesses find and connect with relevant journalists and influencers. It provides tools for personalized outreach and relationship management. It scored 3% of the vote in my survey.

1714560967 678 Is It Alternatives Youre Looking For1714560967 678 Is It Alternatives Youre Looking For

Price: 14-day free trial and paid plans. Paid plans start at $50 per month.

OnePitch is a platform that simplifies the process of pitching story ideas to journalists. Businesses and PR professionals can create and send targeted pitches to relevant media outlets. It scored 3% of the vote in my survey.

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Price: Free.

PitchRate is a free PR tool that connects journalists and highly rated experts. Useful for subject matter experts looking for free PR leads, media coverage, or publicity. Or journalists looking for credible sources. It scored 1% of the vote in my survey.

1714560967 890 Is It Alternatives Youre Looking For1714560967 890 Is It Alternatives Youre Looking For

Price: Free and paid plans. Paid plans start at ~$105 per month.

A UK service that connects media professionals with expert sources, press releases, and PR contacts. It scored 1% of the vote in my survey.

1714560968 51 Is It Alternatives Youre Looking For1714560968 51 Is It Alternatives Youre Looking For

Price: Invitation-only platform.

Forbes Councils is an invitation-only community for executives and entrepreneurs. Members can contribute expert insights and thought leadership content to Forbes.com and gain media exposure. It scored 1% of the vote in my survey.

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Price: Free.

Yes, you read that right.

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HERO was created by Peter Shankman, the original creator of HARO, who said the platform will always be free. It scored 1% of the vote in my survey.

Peter set up the platform after receiving over 2,000 emails asking him to build a new version of HARO.

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Price: Paid. Sign up for details.

Meltwater received no votes in my survey, but I included it because I’d seen it shared on social media as a paid alternative to HARO.

It’s a media intelligence and social media monitoring platform. It provides tools for tracking media coverage, analyzing sentiment, and identifying influencers and journalists for outreach.

1714560968 923 Is It Alternatives Youre Looking For1714560968 923 Is It Alternatives Youre Looking For

Price: Free.

Expertise Finder also received no votes in my survey, but it was included as I saw it had been recommended as an HARO alternative on LinkedIn. It’s a platform that helps journalists find and connect with expert sources from universities.

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HARO had a dual purpose for SEOs: it was a place to acquire links, but it also was a place to get expert quotes on topics for your next article.

Here are a few more free methods outside the platforms we’ve covered that can help you get expert quotes and links.

We’ve already seen that JournoRequest is a popular X account that shares journalist requests for sources.

But you can also follow hashtags on X to access even more opportunities.

Here are my favorite hashtags to follow:

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I used to track the #journorequest hashtag to find opportunities for my clients when I worked agency-side, so I know it can work well for quotes and link acquisition.

Here are two opportunities I found just checking the #journorequest hashtag:

Journorequest example for HuffPost USJournorequest example for HuffPost US

Here’s another example from the Telegraph—a DR 92 website:

Telegraph example DR 92 website journorequestTelegraph example DR 92 website journorequest

Certain types of content are more likely to be shared by journalists and PRs than others.

One of these types of content is statistics-based content. The reason? Journalists often use statistics to support their points.

Once they have included your statistic in their post, they often add a backlink back to your post.

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We tested this with our SEO statistics post, and as you can see, it still ranks number one in Google.

SERP overview for SEO statisticsSERP overview for SEO statistics

Another method is to use the Linking authors report in Ahrefs’ Site Explorer. This report shows the authors’ names who link to any website you enter.

You can see which authors link to their site by entering your competitor’s domain. Some of these authors may represent outreach opportunities for your website as well.

  1. Head to Site Explorer, click on Linking authors
  2. Type in your competitor’s URL
  3. Contact any authors that you think may be interested in your website and its content
Linking authors report, via Ahrefs.comLinking authors report, via Ahrefs.com

Tip

If you download your website’s linking authors and your competitors into a spreadsheet and put them into separate tabs, you can compare the lists to see which authors are only linking to your competitor’s website.

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When I was about to wrap up this article, I was contacted by Greg Heilers of Jolly SEO on LinkedIn.

He said he’d sent 200,000+ pitches over the years and wanted to share the results with me.

These are his top three platforms over the last 1,000 pitches he sent. Interestingly, we can see that it’s similar to my much smaller-scale survey.

Jolly SEOs 1000 link placements
Jolly SEOs 1000 link placements
Ordered by number of link placements. Average Domain Rating from Ahrefs. Average organic traffic from Ahrefs.

Hopefully, the data here speaks for itself. The high-quality links and traffic from HARO alternatives is considerable.

This research shows that Featured gained the most link placements in this campaign.

We have compiled some helpful content related to link building that you can get your teeth into. These hand-picked guides will take you from beginner to expert in no time.

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Here are my favorite resources on this topic:

Final thoughts

There are many options for sourcing expert quotes and getting links for your next marketing campaigns. HARO may be dead, but its legacy lives on.

My highly unscientific survey suggests that most “new HARO” users liked Help a B2B Writer the most, but for HARO purists, there really is only one choice—HERO.

Give your favorites from this list a whirl, and let me know if you have any success. Got more questions? Ping me on X. 🙂



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