SEO
The Essential Guide To Using Images Legally Online
The information in this article is not intended to and does not constitute legal advice. Only your attorney or your organization’s counsel can provide assurances that the information contained herein – and your interpretation of it – is applicable or appropriate to your particular situation.
Images are an essential component of online content – and it’s obvious why. Images aren’t just pretty—they’re powerful marketing tools that help you stand out.
They pique your audience’s attention, enhance your messaging, and significantly enhance the appeal and effectiveness of your content.
Whether you’re creating a social media post, a webpage, an ebook, a blog post, or something else, adding visuals goes a long way in improving the overall user experience.
However, you can’t just pull images off the internet and use them – and it’s your responsibility to determine if and how you can use the image without breaking the law.
If you violate copyright law – even accidentally – you can face serious consequences. Many online platforms, such as Google and YouTube, have copyright policies that streamline copyright claims and enforcement actions. Often, a minor violation will result in receiving a DMCA notice and the content being removed or demonetized. However, if a violation is egregious or impactful enough, you could face heavier consequences such as hefty fines, court trials, and, in extreme cases, even jail time.
In this article, we’ll explore how you can navigate these murky waters to ensure that you’re using images impactfully and legally online.
What Is Copyright Law?
Copyright law is complex and dynamic, and it requires a careful approach to using images online – especially in the wake of tech advancements like generative AI.
Every image – whether you find it on Google, social media, or a stock photo site – gains copyright as soon as it’s created, and it’s up to you to discern whether or not you have the legal right to use it.
Copyright is designed to protect the creative works of authors, photographers, artists, and other creators. It gives them the exclusive rights to use, distribute, and modify their creations.
Without such laws, creators would have few defenses against individuals and corporations alike simply stealing their work and using it for whatever purposes they desire.
And while the foundational principle of copyright remains unchanged, the landscape around these laws is always evolving.
A recent example of this is the CASE Act of 2020, which created a small claims solution to make it easier for creatives to make copyright complaints without the need for long, expensive legal battles.
This goes to show how important it is to understand and respect copyright law, as its goal is to balance the interests of creators with the need for the public to have access to creative works.
What Is Fair Use?
Another thing you should be familiar with if using images online is the fair use doctrine.
The doctrine of fair use is a legal principle in U.S. copyright law that allows limited use of copyrighted work without requiring permission in certain cases and circumstances. Some of these cases include commentary, criticism, news reporting, or educational purposes.
“Transformative” use of an image can also constitute fair use – which means altering the original visual in such a way that it takes on a new meaning, message, or expression and can include parody.
A search engine showing an image you searched for is an example of fair use.
Teachers and news organizations also have certain protections under fair use for how they use copyrighted material.
Fair use is very nuanced, but the main factors involved in determining whether something is fair use are:
- The purpose and character of the use: Do you want to use the image for commercial or non-commercial purposes? Are you a non-profit organization, a customer packaged goods (CPG) brand, or a journalistic organization?
- The nature of the copyrighted work: Is it a photograph or an art piece?
- The amount and substantiality of the portion used: Are you using a small piece of the work or all of it? Is what you’re using considered the “heart” of the image or whatever it represents?
- The effect of the use on the potential market: By using this image, are you potentially negatively impacting the market value of the original?
Given all of these factors, you should carefully consider whether fair use might apply to an image you would like to use online.
Fair use is not guaranteed protection and you may want to consult your general counsel before relying on it. If a policy for using copyrighted works doesn’t already exist in your organization (for example, editorial guidelines for a news organization) and the stakes of using a copyrighted work don’t necessitate the expense of consulting a lawyer, then you should not use content you don’t have explicit rights to.
General Guidelines For Using Images Online
As we’ve already established, anybody using images online has a responsibility to abide by copyright laws in order to avoid legal issues.
As part of this, you should understand that even if images online seem “free,” they might have hidden restrictions based on how they’re used, where they’re shared, and the purpose of using them.
When using images online – especially for commercial/marketing purposes – you should always:
- Obtain proper licenses or permissions where required. As part of this, make sure to get signed releases for any images using trademarks, logos, identifiable people, or other private entities.
- Respect any terms of use associated with said images.
- Be careful when making fair use determinations. If you’re unsure, seek legal advice.
- When in doubt, seek permission directly from the copyright owner. This is the safest way to use an image, and we would recommend taking this path whenever possible.
And, of course, ensure you stay informed on the latest developments in copyright law, especially as it pertains to your own activity.
Now, let’s get more specific on the types of images you can use online, and best practices for how to put them to use (or not).
1. Public Domain Images (a.k.a. ‘No Copyright’ Images)
Images in the public domain are free to use without any copyright restrictions.
This is because one of the following things is true:
- The copyright has expired.
- The work never had a copyright, to begin with.
- The copyright holder released the work into the public domain, thereby waiving their right to copyright.
- The image is a U.S. work published before January 1, 1929.
That last bullet is why you’ll often hear about certain works “entering the public domain” each year.
Generally, public domain images don’t require citation or permissions, making them a very useful resource when you’re looking for easy-to-use visuals.
But be careful; make sure you verify that the image is indeed in the public domain before using it.
Copyright-free images will have the Public Domain Mark 1.0 or the CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Mark, and you can obtain them on sites like Wikimedia Commons and Flickr Commons.
2. Creative Commons Images
Another great (and free) source of visuals is images with Creative Commons licenses.
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization that provides licenses allowing creators to make their works available to the public while retaining some control over their use.
This means, images under Creative Commons licenses are available for use, but with specific conditions based on the license type.
While some licenses allow for commercial use and even modifications to the original image, others do not – and often, you’re required to provide attribution for the original creator.
There are six different types of Creative Commons licenses that range in terms of how permissive they are and their requirements – but for marketing purposes, they essentially fall into two categories:
- Those that allow commercial use.
- Those that don’t.
Commercial use is defined as use that is “primarily intended for commercial advantage or monetary compensation.”
That compensation, however, can be direct or indirect. So, if you’re using an image in a blog post or on a webpage affiliated with a for-profit company, the use is considered commercial. This would also apply to social media content.
To that end, we would recommend only using Creative Commons photos that are allowed for commercial use – especially if you work for a for-profit company.
Beyond that, photos with a CC license can have other stipulations you must adhere to, including:
- Attribution: This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon the creator’s work as long as they credit the creator for the original creation.
- Attribution-ShareAlike: This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon the creator’s work as long as they credit the creator and license their new creations under the identical terms.
- Attribution-No Derivatives: This license allows for the redistribution of an image as long as the image remains unchanged and is credited to the creator.
As you search through the Creative Commons website, you can filter your search to find images that can be used commercially and/or modified.
3. Stock Photos
Stock photos have long been a favored image resource for marketers, and it’s not hard to see why. They’re a high-quality, convenient solution that often caters to commercial use cases.
Stock photo websites give you access to a massive offering of professional quality images that address almost any need or situation you can think of.
Creators can partner with stock photo companies to license their works to anyone willing to pay their licensing fee.
Buying a license for a stock photo (or paying for a subscription to the stock photo service itself) gives you free rein to use the photo in any way prescribed by the licensing agreement.
That last part is important. Stock photos still come with stipulations, and there are different licenses that apply to different images. These include, among others:
- Royalty-Free (RF) – The most common license type, this gives you the ability to use the photo multiple times across different platforms with just one initial purchase.
- Rights-Managed (RM) – With this license, you get more specific usage rights based on the duration, geography, and how you’re distributing the image. Typically more expensive than RF, but it can be possible to secure exclusivity, meaning you’re the only one who can use that image in that way for a specific period.
- Editorial Use – This license applies to images that are intended solely for journalistic or newsworthy purposes – not commercial use. So, while a writer could use this photo for a newsletter or a blog, a brand could not use it for a Facebook ad, or a corporate homepage. This is typically reserved for images that feature recognizable products or brands, celebrities, events, etc.
Stock photos are a great option for using images online – just be sure to always read the licensing agreement thoroughly.
4. Your Own Images
As far as using images legally online, this is always going to be your best option.
Creating your own images is a straightforward and simple way to avoid copyright infringement and ensure you’re not upsetting any creators out there.
If you’re the photographer, then there’s no danger of violating any copyright – because you own it. You have the flexibility to use the image as you wish, alter it, and distribute it anywhere, for as long as you like.
Plus, the photos will be entirely original, which can go a long way in engaging your audience and setting you apart from the crowd.
Don’t have a fancy camera on hand? Don’t worry. Thanks to advances in smartphone camera technology and accessible photo editing apps and software, you can easily create high-quality photography without spending a bunch of money on a DSLR.
To make your pictures look professional, make sure to consider lighting and background framing.
Alternatively, you could hire outside help like a photographer or designer – just make sure the contract grants you exclusive rights to ownership, use, and distribution of the photos.
And don’t forget to get signed releases from any individuals who might appear in your images.
5. Social Media Images (Only With Permission)
If you’re looking for compelling visual content, chances are you’re looking at social media. With a wealth of imagery to choose from, social media presents tempting opportunities for marketers looking to spiff up their brand messaging.
But beware: Images posted on social media platforms are copyrighted by the original creator who uploaded them – and they require permission from that owner to be legally used.
It’s vital to act responsibly and secure explicit consent from creators if you plan to use their content.
Giving credit to the original owner via a tag or comment is also best practice – and while some consider that to be enough, I recommend always seeking explicit permission first, especially as a brand.
If you use social media content without permission, it could result in legal action – and the legal fees and final judgment could be crippling.
Always err on the side of caution, and research the terms and conditions of the platform you’re using.
Let’s say you have a customer who posted an amazing image of your product on Instagram, and you’d like to use it – sending a simple direct message (or leaving a comment) asking for permission is quick and easy and will protect you – and chances are you’ll get a yes.
It’s worth noting that using native tools to reshare images in-platform is typically okay. That means that you can go ahead and retweet something, or share a photo to your Instagram Story that tagged your brand, just make sure to credit the creator.
Similarly, remixes and duets on platforms like TikTok are more flexible, as the creator implicitly gives permission for their content to be adapted when they enable those features.
But remain mindful of the content itself, the terms of the platform, and the intentions of the original creator.
6. AI-Generated Images
Due to the meteoric rise of generative AI over the past few years, there’s been a surge in AI-generated images.
Now, you can use tools like DALL-E, Midjourney, and ChatGPT to create visual content using only a simple prompt – and this brings up a lot of questions (and debates) around the legality, copyright, and authorship of AI-created content.
There’s no crystal clear answer for you here. This is an issue that is actively evolving, and regulations and policies are certain to keep developing.
[Editor’s note:] SEJ does not recommend publishing content outputs from generative AI models, including images. Some platforms may offer liability protection, such as Shutterstock, which trains a specific model on proprietary images. But always read the fine print, understand how the models are trained, and consult a legal professional.7. GIFs
The internet loves GIFs.
But while GIFs abound throughout online content, that doesn’t mean their use is legal. In reality, it’s a confusing landscape without clear guidelines.
For one thing, it can be argued that GIFs fall under the doctrine of fair use, which I covered above.
You could claim GIFs are used for commentary, criticism, or parody.
You could also argue that GIFs are a “transformative” use of the original work, as a brief, looping clip of something is not representative of the entire piece of content – and, therefore, doesn’t undermine the value of the work as a whole.
Still, this does not constitute blanket permission.
Technically, if you wanted to be operating entirely without risk, you would need written releases from the copyright holder of the original work and the people who appear in the GIF. That sounds like a lot of effort for something that will probably amount to a dead end.
You could get away with it, but why risk it?
Our official recommendation is to simply avoid using GIFs. That way, you can avoid the possibility of getting slapped with a cease and desist order – or worse.
That said, if you insist on using GIFs, here are a few quick tips:
- Create your own GIFs from content you own or have permission to use. With some simple design work, or help from online tools, you can convert your existing content into custom GIFs that you can use to your heart’s content. This is the only way I would confidently recommend leveraging GIFs in your marketing.
- Understand copyright law and fair use. Before deciding to use a GIF, consider the four factors of fair use – purpose and character of the use, nature of the copyrighted work, amount and substantiality of the portion used, and the effect of the use on the potential market for the copyrighted work.
- Source from reputable platforms. Some platforms like Giphy have existing licensing agreements with content creators and copyright owners, making their GIF libraries generally safe to use. However, you should still review each platform’s terms of use and licensing agreements before making the call.
Proceed at your own risk.
In Summary
Images are an essential part of online content.
As such, marketers will inevitably need to use them in their digital marketing efforts – and it’s important to understand how to do so legally and responsibly.
By keeping yourself informed on the latest legal developments, developing an understanding of copyright licenses, and practicing due diligence before leveraging images online, you can create compelling and engaging visual content without the risk.
More resources:
Featured Image: VectorMine/Shutterstock
SEO
How SEO Can Capture Demand You Create Elsewhere
Generating demand is about making people want stuff they had no desire to buy before encountering your marketing.
Sometimes, it’s a short-term play, like an ecommerce store creating buzz before launching a new product. Other times, like with B2B marketing, it’s a long-term play to engage out-of-market audiences.
In either situation, demand generation can quickly become an expensive marketing activity.
Here are some ways SEO can help you capture and retain the demand you’re generating so your marketing budget goes further.
There’s no right or wrong way to generate demand. Any marketing activity that generates a desire to buy something (where there wasn’t such a desire before) can be considered demand generation.
Common examples include using:
- Paid ads
- Word of mouth
- Social media
- Video marketing
- Email newsletters
- Content marketing
- Community marketing
For example, Pryshan is a small local brand in Australia that has created a new type of exfoliating stone from clay. They’ve been selling it offline since 2018, if not earlier.
It’s not a groundbreaking innovation, but it’s also not been done before.
To launch their product online, they started running a bunch of Facebook ads:
Because of their ads, this company is in the early stages of generating demand for its product. Sure, it’s not the type of marketing that will go viral, but it’s still a great example of demand gen.
Looking at search volume data, there are 40 searches per month for the keyword “clay stone exfoliator” in Australia and a handful of other related searches:
However, these same keywords get hardly any searches in the US:
This never happens.
Australia has a much smaller population than the US. For non-localized searches, Australian search volume is usually about 6-10% of US search volume for the same keywords.
Take a look at the most popular searches as an example:
Pryshan’s advertising efforts on other platforms directly create the search demand for exfoliating clay stones.
It doesn’t matter where or how you educate people about the product you sell. What matters is shifting their perceptions from cognitive awareness to emotional desire.
Emotions trigger actions, and usually, the first action people take once they become aware of a cool new thing is to Google it.
If you’re not including SEO as part of your marketing efforts, here are three things you can do to:
- minimize budget wastage
- capture interest when people search
- convert the audiences you’re already reaching
If you’re working hard to create demand for your product, make sure it’s easy for people to discover it when they search Google.
- Give it a simple name that’s easy to remember
- Label it according to how people naturally search
- Avoid any terms that create ambiguities with an existing thing
For example, the concept of a clay exfoliating stone is easy for people to remember.
Even if they don’t remember what Pryshan calls their product, they’ll remember the videos and images they saw of the product being used to exfoliate people’s skin. They’ll remember it’s made from clay instead of a more common material like pumice.
It makes sense for Pryshan to call its product something similar to what people will be inclined to search for.
In this example, however, the context of exfoliation is important.
If Pryshan chooses to call its product “clay stones,” it will have a harder time disambiguating itself from gardening products in search results. It’s already the odd one out in SERPs for such keywords:
When you go through your branding exercises to decide what to call your product or innovation, it helps to search your ideas on Google.
This way, you’ll easily see what phrases to avoid so that your product isn’t being grouped with unrelated things.
Imagine being part of a company that invested a lot of money in re-branding itself. New logo, new slogan, new marketing materials… the lot.
On the back of their new business cards, the designers thought inviting people to search for the new slogan on Google would be clever.
The only problem was that this company didn’t rank for the slogan.
They weren’t showing up at all! (Yes, it’s a true story, no I can’t share the brand’s name).
This tactic isn’t new. Many businesses leverage the fact that people will Google things to convert offline audiences into online audiences through their printed, radio, and TV ads.
Don’t do this if you don’t already own the search results page.
It’s not only a very expensive mistake to make, but it gives the conversions you’ve worked hard for directly to your competitors.
Instead, use SEO to become the only brand people see when they search for your brand, product, or something that you’ve created.
Let’s use Pryshan as an example.
They’re the first brand to create exfoliating clay stones. Their audience has created a few new keywords to find Pryshan’s products on Google, with “clay stone exfoliator” being the most popular variation.
Yet even though it’s a product they’ve brought to market, competitors and retailers are already encroaching on their SERP real estate for this keyword:
Sure, Pryshan holds four of the organic spots, but it’s not enough.
Many competitors are showing up in the paid product carousel before Pryshan’s website can be seen by searchers:
They’re already paying for Facebook ads, why not consider some paid Google placements too?
Not to mention, stockists and competitors are ranking for three of the other organic positions.
Having stockists show up for your product may not seem so bad, but if you’re not careful, they may undercut your prices or completely edge you out of the SERPs.
This is also a common tactic used by affiliate marketers to earn commissions from brands that are not SEO-savvy.
In short, SEO can help you protect your brand presence on Google.
If you’re working hard to generate demand for a cool new thing that’s never been done before, it can be hard to know if it’s working.
Sure, you can measure sales. But a lot of the time, demand generation doesn’t turn into immediate sales.
B2B marketing is a prominent example. Educating and converting out-of-market audiences into in-market prospects can take a long time.
That’s where SEO data can help close the gap and give you data to get more buy-in from decision-makers.
Measure increases in branded searches
A natural byproduct of demand generation activities is that people search more for your brand (or they should if you’re doing it right).
Tracking if your branded keywords improve over time can help you gauge how your demand generation efforts are going.
In Ahrefs, you can use Rank Tracker to monitor how many people discover your website from your branded searches and whether these are trending up:
If your brand is big enough and gets hundreds of searches a month, you can also check out this nifty graph that forecasts search potential in Keywords Explorer:
Discover and track new keywords about your products, services or innovations
If, as part of your demand generation strategy, you’re encouraging people to search for new keywords relating to your product, service, or innovation, set up alerts to monitor your presence for those terms.
This method will also help you uncover the keywords your audience naturally uses anyway.
Start by going to Ahrefs Alerts and setting up a new keyword alert.
Add your website.
Leave the volume setting untouched (you want to include low search volume keywords so you discover the new searches people make).
Set your preferred email frequency, and voila, you’re done.
Monitor visibility against competitors
If you’re worried other brands may steal your spotlight in Google’s search results, you can also use Ahrefs to monitor your share of the traffic compared to them.
I like to use the Share of Voice graph in Site Explorer to do this. It looks like this:
This graph is a great bird’s eye view of how you stack up against competitors and if you’re at risk of losing visibility to any of them.
Final thoughts
As SEO professionals, it’s easy to forget how hard some businesses work to generate demand for their products or services.
Demand always comes first, and it’s our job to capture it.
It’s not a chicken or egg scenario. The savviest marketers use this to their advantage by creating their own SEO opportunities long before competitors figure out what they’re doing.
If you’ve seen other great examples of how SEO and demand generation work together, share them with me on LinkedIn anytime.
SEO
Google Explains How Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) Is Measured
Google’s Web Performance Developer Advocate, Barry Pollard, has clarified how Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) is measured.
CLS quantifies how much unexpected layout shift occurs when a person browses your site.
This metric matters to SEO as it’s one of Google’s Core Web Vitals. Pages with low CLS scores provide a more stable experience, potentially leading to better search visibility.
How is it measured? Pollard addressed this question in a thread on X.
For Core Web Vitals what is CLS measured in? Why is 0.1 considered not good and 0.25 bad, and what do those numbers represent?
I’ve had 3 separate conversations on this with various people in last 24 hours so figured it’s time for another deep dive thread to explain…
🧵 1/12 pic.twitter.com/zZoTur6Ad4
— Barry Pollard (@tunetheweb) October 10, 2024
Understanding CLS Measurement
Pollard began by explaining the nature of CLS measurement:
“CLS is ‘unitless’ unlike LCP and INP which are measured in seconds/milliseconds.”
He further clarified:
“Each layout shift is calculated by multipyling two percentages or fractions together: What moved (impact fraction) How much it moved (distance fraction).”
This calculation method helps quantify the severity of layout shifts.
As Pollard explained:
“The whole viewport moves all the way down – that’s worse than just half the view port moving all the way down. The whole viewport moving down a little? That’s not as bad as the whole viewport moving down a lot.”
Worse Case Scenario
Pollard described the worst-case scenario for a single layout shift:
“The maximum layout shift is if 100% of the viewport (impact fraction = 1.0) is moved one full viewport down (distance fraction = 1.0).
This gives a layout shift score of 1.0 and is basically the worst type of shift.”
However, he reminds us of the cumulative nature of CLS:
“CLS is Cumulative Layout Shift, and that first word (cumulative) matters. We take all the individual shifts that happen within a short space of time (max 5 seconds) and sum them up to get the CLS score.”
Pollard explained the reasoning behind the 5-second measurement window:
“Originally we cumulated ALL the shifts, but that didn’t really measure the UX—especially for pages opened for a long time (think SPAs or email). Measuring all shifts meant, given enough, time even the best pages would fail!”
He also noted the theoretical maximum CLS score:
“Since each element can only shift when a frame is drawn and we have a 5 second cap and most devices run at 60fps, that gives a theoretical cap on CLS of 5 secs * 60 fps * 1.0 max shift = 300.”
Interpreting CLS Scores
Pollard addressed how to interpret CLS scores:
“… it helps to think of CLS as a percentage of movement. The good threshold of 0.1 means about the page moved 10%—which could mean the whole page moved 10%, or half the page moved 20%, or lots of little movements were equivalent to either of those.”
Regarding the specific threshold values, Pollard explained:
“So why is 0.1 ‘good’ and 0.25 ‘poor’? That’s explained here as was a combination of what we’d want (CLS = 0!) and what is achievable … 0.05 was actually achievable at the median, but for many sites it wouldn’t be, so went slightly higher.”
See also: How You Can Measure Core Web Vitals
Why This Matters
Pollard’s insights provide web developers and SEO professionals with a clearer understanding of measuring and optimizing for CLS.
As you work with CLS, keep these points in mind:
- CLS is unitless and calculated from impact and distance fractions.
- It’s cumulative, measuring shifts over a 5-second window.
- The “good” threshold of 0.1 roughly equates to 10% of viewport movement.
- CLS scores can exceed 1.0 due to multiple shifts adding up.
- The thresholds (0.1 for “good”, 0.25 for “poor”) balance ideal performance with achievable goals.
With this insight, you can make adjustments to achieve Google’s threshold.
Featured Image: Piscine26/Shutterstock
SEO
The 50 Best Bootstrapped Backlink Builders in 2024
We analyzed the organic growth of 1,600 SaaS companies to discover the SEO strategies that work best in 2024.
In this article, we’re looking at bootstrapped SaaS companies that gained the greatest amount of referring domains in the past year.
Bootstrapped businesses generally don’t have huge budgets to spend on marketing, so any strategy these small-but-mighty companies use to improve their organic growth is something that you can take inspiration from, too.
- We used the Ahrefs API to pull a list of live referring domains for each company in September 2023 and September 2024.
- Companies were ranked by referring domain growth as a percentage of their initial referring domains. We’ve set a minimum starting threshold of 1,000 referring domains.
- We’ve reported on referring domains instead of backlinks, because 1,000 referring domains are much, much harder to get than 1,000 backlinks.
| Rank | Company | Referring Domains 2023 | Referring Domains 2024 | Referring Domain Growth | Change | Estimated Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elfsight | 7,657 | 33,610 | 25,953 | 339% | $8.0M |
| 2 | Short.io | 5,709 | 18,573 | 12,864 | 225% | $0.5M |
| 3 | Gymdesk | 1,325 | 3,052 | 1,727 | 130% | $5.5M |
| 4 | Helpjuice | 4,015 | 8,672 | 4,657 | 116% | $6.0M |
| 5 | AlsoAsked | 1,602 | 3,343 | 1,741 | 109% | $0.5M |
| 6 | Stripo | 2,304 | 4,420 | 2,116 | 92% | $5.5M |
| 7 | Clearscope | 1,883 | 3,580 | 1,697 | 90% | $5.5M |
| 8 | Surfer | 5,815 | 10,899 | 5,084 | 87% | $37.5M |
| 9 | Wordtune | 2,877 | 5,347 | 2,470 | 86% | $1.0M |
| 10 | Crowdin | 4,818 | 8,919 | 4,101 | 85% | $17.5M |
| 11 | Socialinsider | 3,264 | 6,007 | 2,743 | 84% | $0.8M |
| 12 | SpyFu | 8,101 | 14,821 | 6,720 | 83% | $2.0M |
| 13 | Pentest-Tools.com | 1,543 | 2,779 | 1,236 | 80% | $5.5M |
| 14 | Canny | 4,411 | 7,675 | 3,264 | 74% | $5.5M |
| 15 | Surfshark | 13,898 | 24,056 | 10,158 | 73% | $20.0M |
| 16 | Sitebulb | 1,232 | 2,093 | 861 | 70% | $0.5M |
| 17 | Seobility | 3,496 | 5,900 | 2,404 | 69% | $5.0M |
| 18 | SpyCloud | 1,192 | 1,987 | 795 | 67% | $14.0M |
| 19 | MxToolbox | 10,718 | 17,736 | 7,018 | 65% | $9.0M |
| 20 | Shiftbase | 1,077 | 1,780 | 703 | 65% | $17.5M |
| 21 | Signaturely | 1,113 | 1,839 | 726 | 65% | $0.5M |
| 22 | Lemlist | 1,613 | 2,654 | 1,041 | 65% | $6.0M |
| 23 | Sitechecker | 5,938 | 9,732 | 3,794 | 64% | $6.1M |
| 24 | SavvyCal | 1,272 | 2,070 | 798 | 63% | $5.5M |
| 25 | Statusbrew | 2,750 | 4,470 | 1,720 | 63% | $14.0M |
| 26 | Wisepops | 1,291 | 2,086 | 795 | 62% | $3.0M |
| 27 | Glassnode | 5,041 | 8,123 | 3,082 | 61% | $5.5M |
| 28 | DeviceAtlas | 2,765 | 4,442 | 1,677 | 61% | $19.0M |
| 29 | Float.com | 1,021 | 1,638 | 617 | 60% | $5.5M |
| 30 | RTINGS.com | 8,601 | 13,779 | 5,178 | 60% | $6.3M |
| 31 | Smallpdf | 13,953 | 22,264 | 8,311 | 60% | $17.5M |
| 32 | Clockify | 6,109 | 9,733 | 3,624 | 59% | $5.5M |
| 33 | Mailtrap | 3,162 | 4,991 | 1,829 | 58% | $5.5M |
| 34 | BambooHR | 8,511 | 13,410 | 4,899 | 58% | $237.8M |
| 35 | Setapp | 13,178 | 20,696 | 7,518 | 57% | $15.0M |
| 36 | WebCEO | 2,495 | 3,891 | 1,396 | 56% | $25.0M |
| 37 | Visme | 10,354 | 16,135 | 5,781 | 56% | $1.0M |
| 38 | UpLead | 1,823 | 2,833 | 1,010 | 55% | $17.5M |
| 39 | Slickplan | 1,345 | 2,086 | 741 | 55% | $1.0M |
| 40 | Jotform | 45,485 | 69,553 | 24,068 | 53% | $21.0M |
| 41 | Wiza | 2,013 | 3,070 | 1,057 | 53% | $5.5M |
| 42 | Ahrefs | 52,536 | 80,036 | 27,500 | 52% | $100.0M |
| 43 | Plausible Analytics | 6,084 | 9,251 | 3,167 | 52% | $5.5M |
| 44 | Creately | 7,816 | 11,844 | 4,028 | 52% | $12.0M |
| 45 | Homerun | 2,040 | 3,068 | 1,028 | 50% | $38.4M |
| 46 | Yardi | 1,928 | 2,880 | 952 | 49% | $5500.0M |
| 47 | Infinite Campus | 1,029 | 1,534 | 505 | 49% | $56.0M |
| 48 | Filemail | 3,829 | 5,694 | 1,865 | 49% | $1.0M |
| 49 | LiveAgent | 4,740 | 7,034 | 2,294 | 48% | $5.0M |
| 50 | Semaphore | 2,727 | 4,025 | 1,298 | 48% | $4.0M |
Want to work out how virtually any company builds its best backlinks? Here’s how I do it in Ahrefs.
I usually start with the Overview report in Site Explorer to get a quick overview of the website’s referring domain growth. Here’s the chart for our #1 company, Elfsight:
Impressive! Next, I use the Anchors report to quickly understand the types of links being built: are they all brand mentions, or links to blog content, or free tools?
In Elfsight’s case, the vast majority of their referring domains (well over 60%) have anchor text containing the word widget:
Looking at some of these links, it’s clear that the company offers free website widgets that also include a link back to Elfsight:
For some websites, anchor text won’t be so revealing. Here’s the Referring Domains report for a SaaS company I excluded from this article. At first glance, they seem to be doing well, with over 100,00 new backlinks acquired in the past year:
But digging into the most common anchor text, it becomes apparent that these are almost all spammy links (advertising Korean business massages).
You can exclude spammy links like these using our Best links filter. By default, the “Best links” filter will only show links that are:
- Dofollow,
- In the page content,
- On a referring domain with a DR of at least 30,
- With estimated organic traffic to the page of at least 500/m.
If you have different criteria for defining a “best” link, you can customize the filter yourself:
With the filter applied, if we run the Anchors report again, we can filter out all of those spam links, and get a clearer picture of the good quality links this website has acquired. Far, far fewer:
Lastly, I like to visit the Best by links report to see the individual pages that have acquired the best links.
Here’s an example from another one of our top 50 websites, Clearscope. Aside from common “utility” pages like their homepage, pricing page, and sign-in page, their most linked-to pages are all thought leadership blog posts—opinions, predictions, and research studies:
Not every company can build links by offering tons of free tools or widgets, but thought leadership content is a link-building strategy that’s much easier for other companies to emulate.
Final thoughts
We’ll share more of these data analyses in the coming weeks. Want us to include your company in the next analysis? Fill out this short Google Form.
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