One of my favorite ways to find links is to use Google itself. By doing this, you’re guaranteeing that the pages you’re getting links from are already indexed and most likely will be reindexed in the future. So, this defeats the whole “Why aren’t my backlinks getting found” issue right from the start. Arguably, it also helps with relevancy, as with any queries that include a keyword, Google is basically saying: “Here’s a list of sites to get a link from that are relevant to this keyword”. So let’s get down to it:
Note: To use these just copy/paste and search them in Google.
Part 1 – The Basics – General Keyword Related Links
For finding a general variety of sites (directories, link pages, reciprocal, etc) you can use these queries: (replace keyword with yours)
- keyword “add site”
- keyword “add url”
- keyword “submit url”
- keyword “submit site”
- keyword “suggest url”
- keyword “suggest site”
- keyword directory
- “list of keyword sites”
- “recommended keyword links”
- “recommended keyword sites”
- “resources keyword”
Part 2 – Getting Creative – Finding CMS Backlinks
Some of my favorite methods are a bit more creative and could be seen by some as being (slightly) blackhat.
These searches take advantage of widely used content management systems (CMS’s) with features that allow you to drop a link, be it by profile or comment.
- keyword “powered by wordpress”
- keyword “powered by disqus”
- keyword “powered by vbulletin”
- inurl:register keyword “powered by drupal”
Basically, to find these the process is like this:
- After you add a link somewhere, figure out if the site is using a common CMS or script.
- Once you know the script or CMS, craft a query using the available search operators to find other sites like it.
For example: If we successfully put a link on a site that was using Terry’s CMS, and the comment page had the url: terryscms.com/comment.php and at the bottom of every page you saw “powered by terry’s cms”, you’d use this query:
inurl:comment.php keyword “powered by terrys cms” (the keyword part is optional, as always).
Part 3 – Taking It To The Next Level – Finding Links to Buy
There are some really great links out there that can be bought via a donation. Use a search like this:
- inurl:.org “sponsors” keyword (keyword is very optional here, not recommended in most cases)
- keyword “advertise”
Do you have any other tips for using Google to find backlinks? If so, comment and share!! 
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Terry, I came across a thread in the WF with you answering SEO questions, blew me away with all the info you freely gave to people. Googled your name found the blog and the good info continues. I will be following you from here on out, thanks for this post, it was very much need.
To your continued success brotha.
Thanks Domenick!
Terry, not on topic but this one is bugging me: with all the article and copy theft on the net it makes me wonder if it’s worth publishing content broadly. I mean someone could steal it, and get indexed by Google ahead of you for your content.
Your thoughts?
Anthony,
I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. Google has some seriously advanced duplicate content protection in place (vectors, etc) and it seems their real focus is on identifying the original content source. Also, if you mention your site or brandname within the article you’ll get citations, right?
Hi Terry. I bought 10 Commandments of SEO. Signed up for membership site and was directed here. Excellent content here as well. Looking forward to implementing some of the things I’m learning from you. Thank you for sharing so generously.
Thanks Zee! Feel free to jump in and ask questions/submit comments.
Thanks Terry (re article theft). One point: these thieves will copy, take out your site info and post, so no credit to you.
A
Yep, that’s why I mentioned citations, but they’ll likely take those out too I guess. As long as you publish first, you should be fine.