What HARO Link Building Is
HARO ("Help a Reporter Out") connected journalists who needed expert quotes with sources willing to provide them — in exchange, sources typically got a citation and backlink in the published piece. It was rebranded Connectively in 2024, and similar platforms like Qwoted and Featured serve the same function today.
The appeal is obvious: PR backlinks from major, high-authority publications (outlets that would never accept a paid guest post) cost nothing but the time to write a genuinely useful response.
PR Backlinks vs. Guest Post Backlinks
A guest post is content you write and pitch under your own byline — you control the topic, the anchor text, and the placement. A PR backlink comes from being quoted or featured inside a journalist's own article. You have far less control over exact placement, but the resulting publication is often a tier above typical guest post targets — think major news outlets and trade publications, not niche blogs.
How to Actually Get HARO / PR Placements
- Respond fast. Journalists work on deadlines, often same-day. A brilliant response two days late gets nothing.
- Answer the specific question. Generic pitches that could apply to any query get ignored. Lead with a concrete, quotable, specific point.
- Include real credentials. Your name, title, company, and a one-line reason you're qualified to answer — journalists need to justify citing you.
- Keep it short. A tight 2–3 sentence quote is more usable than a 500-word essay.
Digital PR link building at scale usually pairs HARO-style responses with proactive pitching — reaching out to journalists directly with a data study, survey, or genuinely newsworthy angle, rather than only responding to inbound queries. Both fall under the same link building services we run for clients who want this alongside guest posting.
Is It Still Worth It?
Response rates have dropped as more marketers pile onto the platform, but a well-written, specific, fast response still regularly earns placements — the bar has simply risen from "any response" to "a genuinely useful one." For competitive niches where a handful of major-publication links can outweigh dozens of smaller ones, it remains one of the highest-ROI link building channels available.