Not every backlink has to cost money or take weeks of outreach. Some of the highest-authority domains on the internet let you create a profile, post content, or list your site for free — and pass real link equity (or at least strong trust and crawl signals) in return.
Below is a curated list of 20 free, high Domain Rating (DR) websites where you can build a backlink today. Every one is DR 74 or higher according to Ahrefs. No payment, no approval queue — just sign up and add your link.
The Full List (Ranked by Domain Rating)
| # | Site | DR | Link type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | facebook.com | 100 | Business page / profile |
| 2 | pinterest.com | 97 | Pin / profile |
| 3 | medium.com | 96 | Article |
| 4 | reddit.com | 95 | Post / profile |
| 5 | vk.com | 95 | Profile / post |
| 6 | tumblr.com | 94 | Blog post |
| 7 | behance.net | 94 | Project / profile |
| 8 | flickr.com | 94 | Photo / profile |
| 9 | imgur.com | 92 | Image / profile |
| 10 | substack.com | 92 | Newsletter post |
| 11 | evernote.com | 91 | Public note |
| 12 | quora.com | 91 | Answer / profile |
| 13 | 500px.com | 91 | Photo / profile |
| 14 | deviantart.com | 91 | Art / profile |
| 15 | mastodon.social | 90 | Profile / post |
| 16 | photobucket.com | 90 | Image / profile |
| 17 | telegra.ph | 88 | Article |
| 18 | diigo.com | 86 | Bookmark |
| 19 | justpaste.it | 79 | Paste / article |
| 20 | edocr.com | 74 | Document |
How to Use These the Right Way
A few rules so these links actually help instead of looking spammy:
- Complete the profile. A bare profile with one link looks like spam. Add a bio, avatar, and a couple of genuine posts before dropping your link.
- Make the content useful. On Medium, Substack, Tumblr, and Telegraph, publish something people would actually read — then link to your site as a relevant resource, not as the whole point of the post.
- Vary your anchor text. Don't use the same exact-match keyword everywhere. Mix branded, URL, and natural-phrase anchors.
- Don't expect every link to be dofollow. Many of these are nofollow. That's fine — nofollow links from trusted domains still diversify your profile and get you crawled and indexed faster.
Why Free High-DR Links Still Matter
Google has repeatedly said it treats nofollow as a "hint," and a natural backlink profile contains a healthy mix of follow and nofollow links from a wide range of domains. A profile made up entirely of paid dofollow links from low-quality sites is a far bigger red flag than a diverse mix that includes free links from Facebook, Reddit, Medium, and Quora.
These platforms also get crawled constantly, so a link from them is one of the fastest ways to get a new page discovered and indexed.
Build Links Faster With Free Tools
Once you've placed these links, use free tools to track and expand your profile: check whether your new pages are indexed, run a backlink gap analysis against competitors, and audit your anchor text distribution. FreeSEOTools.io has 80+ free SEO tools — no login required — to help you do exactly that.
Bookmark this page and work through the list one site per day. In three weeks you'll have 20 high-DR backlinks pointing at your site, for free.