Start with competitor backlink analysis using Ahrefs or SEMrush. Enter your top three competitors, export their backlink profiles, and filter for domains with DR 30+ that link to multiple competitors but not you. This reveals sites already interested in your topic and often yields 50–200 realistic targets per analysis. Industry-specific directories and association listings work well for local businesses and B2B. For Ottawa clients, we prioritize Google Business Profile, Ottawa Business Journal directories, industry associations, and chamber listings. These typically have DA 40–70 and pass meaningful authority, unlike spam directories with DA 15. Guest posting remains effective if you target sites with real traffic. Look for blogs in your niche that publish weekly, have commenting activity, and rank for terms you care about. Expect to write 800–1,200 words per post. Conversion rate: pitch 20 sites, land 3–5 placements if your angle is solid. Digital PR and journalist outreach through HARO or direct pitches can land high-authority links from news sites (DA 70–90), but requires newsworthy angles. We see about 1 placement per 15–20 solid pitches. Works best for data studies, local stories, or contrarian expert commentary. Broken link building means finding dead pages on relevant sites, then offering your content as replacement. Use Ahrefs to find broken outbound links on industry sites. Success rate is lower (maybe 1 in 30) but targets are pre-qualified. Niche forums, Reddit communities, and Q&A sites like Quora provide contextual links if you contribute genuinely. Most are nofollow, but they drive referral traffic and signal relevance. Local Facebook groups and Slack communities work similarly for B2B. Avoid link farms, PBNs, and any service promising 100 backlinks for $50. Google's spam algorithms caught up years ago. At Ottawa SEO, we'd rather build 5 legitimate links per month than 50 toxic ones that trigger manual review. Quality beats quantity once you're past the initial trust threshold of roughly 10–15 referring domains.