Short answer: Niche and competition will ultimately determine how many backlinks does a new website need — but as a rule of thumb, aiming for 40–50 quality backlinks from different domains is a great starting point for many new websites. That said, backlink quality always trumps quantity. Analyzing your competitors (and filtering out low-value links) will give you a much clearer estimate.

If you’ve ever launched a new website and found yourself wondering why you’re nowhere near page one in Google search — even with great content — you’re not alone. We’ve been there too.

Backlinks remain one of the most influential ranking factors in SEO. But how many do you actually need to start seeing traction? Is there a magic number? And what kind of links really move the needle?

Grab a coffee, and let’s dive right in. In this guide we will cover what are backlinks are, how many links your new website needs, and how to start earning them. And if you’d like help getting those all-powerful links, check out our backlink services for new websites.

What Are Backlinks, and Why Does Your New Site Need Them

A backlink is a link from another website pointing to your site. When a blog post, online article, or directory includes your site’s URL — that’s a backlink.

Search engines like Google treat backlinks as votes of confidence. The more reputable sites linking to you, the more credible your site appears. This can dramatically boost your visibility in search results.

A good way to think about backlinks is to think of them as recommendations or referrals. If ten different industry blogs point to your resource, Google assumes your content is trustworthy, useful, and worth ranking higher.

Backlinks are confirmed to be an important factor in how search engines rank the search results.

But here’s the tricky part: how many of those “votes”, or backlinks does your new site need?

How to Estimate the Number of Backlinks Your New Website Needs

The number of backlinks you need isn’t fixed. It’s 100% dependent on your competition — and the difficulty of the keywords you want to rank for.

Let’s simplify this with an analogy:

Launching a new website is like opening a new restaurant. If you’re the only restaurant in a small town, you’ll attract visitors easily. But if you open in central London? You’ll need incredible branding, word-of-mouth, and glowing reviews just to get noticed.

SEO works the same way. Targeting a highly competitive keyword like “best project management software” will require hundreds of quality backlinks. But ranking for “best Kanban tools for designers” might only take a few good ones.

Here’s how to figure out how many links your site may need:

1. Search your target keyword on Google. Take a look at 5 top competitors. Analyse who they are and you’ll instantly have a good idea of how difficult it may be to rank for this keyword.
2. Use tools like Ahrefs, Moz, or SEMrush to analyze the backlink profiles of the top 5 ranking pages. This way you’ll get an overall idea of how many links
3. Look at the number of referring domains, not just raw backlinks.

Example:

Don’t get discouraged if your competitors have tons of backlinks. In the recent years, quality of backlinks has become far more important than their quantity. Therefore we need to correct for that to come up with a good estimate. You may need far fewer quality backlinks after all.

Let’s go over how to do that.

How to Estimate the How Many Quality Links Your Competitors Have

Some powerful backlinks are worth more than hundreds of less powerful links. Therefore it is crucial to understand how we can judge the number of backlinks competitors have that are actually moving the needle.

We will go over how to narrow down your competitor’s link profile to just the quality stuff and remove the less useful links from analysis.

Here’s how to judge backlink quality:

1. Remove Low-Traffic Sites

Sites with little or no organic traffic are often ignored by Google — so links from them don’t help much.

The rationale behind this logic is that if a site is getting organic traffic from search engines, that means search engines view the site as a credible source, thus its backlinks are likely to carry weight. Converse is true for sites with no organic traffic, no matter how good their domain authority metrics may look in third party tools.

Aim for:

• Sites with 1,000+ monthly organic visits for established platforms
• Sites with 500+ monthly organic visits for smaller, niche blogs

Pro Tip: Use Ahrefs or SEMrush to estimate a site’s organic traffic.

2. Referring Domains Matter More Than Total Links

Ten links from one domain are less powerful than one link each from ten different domains. Search engines value the number of referring domains. This is just like having one friend enthusiastically recommend your site, versus 10 separate people recommending your website. Both have value, but referring domain number carries more weight than raw backlink count.

When analyzing competitors, focus on how many unique websites are linking to them — not the total number of links.

3. Remove Nofollow Links (When Estimating Impact)

Nofollow links tell Google not to pass ranking power. They can still drive traffic and visibility, but they won’t directly boost rankings.

That said, a nofollow link from Forbes or Wikipedia might still be great for branding and may indirectly help your site’s SEO, so definitely don’t turn them down.

However, for the purpose of this analysis, filter out the no follow links.

4. Avoid UGC and Syndicated Links

User-generated content (like forum comments) and syndicated articles often carry low SEO value. Look for editorial links placed within real content — not just reposts or spammy blogrolls.

Again links from social media and other UGC platforms can be fantastic for your website and brand, but for the purpose of direct SEO analysis, we should remove them as their impact is likely low.

Signs of a High-Quality Backlink:

As you can see the quality of backlinks is far more important than quantity of them nowadays. So, that poses a new question. How to spot a high quality backlink?

Generally speaking, high quality backlinks are those that you can’t just obtain yourself by submitting a link. They require other people to approve of your content and link out to it. The other big factor is relevance. If your blog is in pet niche, backlinks from other pet related sites will carry more waight than backlinks from say a car website. That being said, if a page from which link comes from is relevant, it’s still a good start.

To summarise, a quality backlink:

• Comes from a reputable site in your niche
• Has organic traffic
• Uses a relevant anchor text
• Is placed contextually within the content

Competitor Link Analysis: A More In Depth Approach

You can take your link requirement estimate a step further by performing a full competitor link analysis. This way you can learn exactly where your competitors are getting the links you don’t have yet and how exactly they used them to rank their content.

Competitor link analysis gives you a blueprint of where to aim, what’s working in your niche, and what opportunities you might be missing.

This isn’t about copying your competitors link-for-link. It’s about understanding what’s helping them rank — and finding gaps where you can stand out or improve.

What is it? Competitor link analysis involves reviewing the backlink profiles of top-ranking competitors in your niche or for your target keywords. It helps you:

• Gauge how many backlinks you realistically need to rank
• Identify which types of content get the most links
• Spot specific link sources you could pitch or replicate

How to perform a link analysis:

1. Identify 3–5 top competitors who already rank for the keywords you want to target. Focus on domains similar to yours in size or audience.
2. Use tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Moz to analyze their backlink profiles.
3. Dig into the data:
   • Referring domains: Look at how many unique websites link to them.
   • Anchor text used: Are they getting branded, exact-match, or generic anchors?
   • Top-linked content: What pages on their site attract the most links — blog posts, tools, home page, or landing pages?
   • Link types: Are they mostly editorial mentions, guest posts, business directories, or forum links?

What to look for:

• Patterns: Do multiple competitors have links from the same round-up posts, directories, or communities? That’s a sign it’s a viable target.
• Gaps: Is there a key content format you offer that they don’t — like a free tool or data report? That’s an edge.
• Opportunities: Can you offer updated information, better visuals, or a more focused angle to sites that linked to your competitor?

Example: Let’s say your competitor’s “Beginner’s Guide to Affiliate Marketing” has backlinks from:

• 6 round-up posts like “Top Resources for Affiliate Marketers”
• 2 podcast show notes where the founder was interviewed
• 1 data analysis from a survey

This tells you:

• Roundups and curated content are working in your niche
• Podcasts may be open to guests from new or growing websites
• Original data = linkable asset

Pro tip: Create a simple spreadsheet to track link targets you uncover during competitor analysis — then use that to fuel your outreach.

This approach takes the guesswork out of link building and helps you reverse-engineer what’s already working — without reinventing the wheel.

What About Internal Links?

While backlinks from other websites are critical, internal linking also plays a huge role — especially for new websites.

When you link from one page on your site to another, you’re passing relevance and authority. Google uses these links to understand content structure and importance. Good internal linking of your posts is a fantastic way to build a highly targeted topical authority to help you dominate SERPs within a specific topic area.

For example: If you publish a post on “How to Write a Service Page,” and another on “SEO for Small Businesses,” make sure they reference each other where relevant.

How to Start Building Links for a New Website

Backlink building doesn’t have to feel like shouting into the void. With some know how and grit you can start building out your link profile with quality backlinks obtained in a white hat manner.

We have covered the topic of link building for new websites extensively in our guides. If you’re looking to build backlinks fast, check out our guide on the fastest link building strategies for new websites. If easy link building methods are more your style, we have a guide for this too! Have a quick read of our post on easy backlink building approaches for new websites. Finally, if you looked into the classic approaches already, take a look at our guide covering some more creative link building strategies for new websites.

We will provide an overview of few key link building strategies you may wish to employ in your backlink campaign.

1. Guest Post on Relevant Blogs

Guest posting remains one of the most reliable link building strategies — especially for new sites looking to gain their first authoritative backlinks.

Start by identifying small to mid-sized blogs in your niche. These websites are more likely to accept unsolicited guest posts, especially if your pitch is helpful and on-brand.

Tips for effective guest posting:

• Offer a unique angle or case study the blog hasn’t covered before.
• Personalize every pitch — mention a recent article you enjoyed.
• Always include a relevant, non-promotional link back to your content.

Example pitch: “Hi [Name], I really enjoyed your recent post on time-saving tools for solopreneurs. I run a small site about digital workflows and would love to contribute a post titled ‘How I Automated My Weekly Newsletter in 20 Minutes.’ Would that be a good fit for your readers?” Pitch simple, helpful content ideas to smaller sites in your niche. Many new blogs and newsletters accept guest submissions — and link back to your site in your author bio or within the article.

2. Get Included in Resource Pages

Resource pages are curated lists of useful links — and they’re goldmines for backlink outreach.

Search for pages like “Best Tools for Freelancers,” “Resources for Remote Teams,” or “Top SEO Guides for Beginners.” If your content genuinely fits the list, reach out to the site owner and ask to be included.

How to find them:

• Google search: “intitle:resources” + your topic
• Use Ahrefs to find backlinks to competing resource pages

Pro tip: Update your content to match the theme of the resource page before pitching it. Look for curated lists like “Best Tools for Freelancers” or “Top Productivity Blogs” and ask if they’d consider adding your site. Just make sure your content provides genuine value.

3. Create Link-Worthy Content

If you want others to link to your site, give them a reason to. That means publishing content that is original, helpful, or otherwise useful to their readers.

Some of the most linkable formats include:

• Free tools: Simple calculators, budget templates, or generators
• Data-driven reports: Survey results, original stats, or industry benchmarks
• Step-by-step guides: Evergreen content that solves a common problem
• Visual resources: Infographics, comparison tables, or process diagrams

Example: A well-designed “Freelancer Rate Calculator” can earn links from blogs, Reddit threads, and business tool roundups alike. Think data reports, tools, templates, or unique perspectives. Content that helps others is more likely to earn backlinks.

Examples:

• “Free Invoice Template for Freelancers”
• “Survey: How Creators Earn in 2024”
• “Checklist for First-Time Website Launches”

4. Use Reddit, Quora, and Forums

Communities like Reddit, Quora, and niche-specific forums are filled with people asking questions you can answer — and occasionally link to your content.

How to do it well:

• Focus on genuinely helping, not self-promotion.
• Answer the question fully, then offer a link for deeper insight.
• Use accounts with some reputation to avoid getting flagged as spam.

Example: A Quora user asks about building an online portfolio. You provide an answer and include a link to your guide on “Creating a No-Code Portfolio in One Hour.” Answer questions thoughtfully. If your content solves a user’s problem, it’s often okay to link to your blog or guide — just avoid self-promotion.

5. Try Broken Link Building

Broken link building is about offering value to webmasters by helping them fix broken outbound links — and suggesting your content as a replacement.

How to execute it:

• Use tools like Ahrefs or Check My Links to find broken links on niche sites.
• Reach out politely, pointing out the broken link and offering your related page.

Example email: “Hi [Name], I noticed your ‘Content Marketing Tools’ page links to a 404 on BuzzStarter. I recently wrote a fresh comparison post on modern alternatives — happy to send it over if helpful!” Use tools to find broken links on websites in your niche. Then suggest your content as a replacement.

“Hey, I noticed your ‘Marketing Tools’ post has a dead link. I just wrote a guide on that — would love to share it if helpful!”

Tools to Help Track Your Backlinks

• Ahrefs – Industry standard, packed with insights
• Ubersuggest – Budget-friendly and beginner-friendly
• SEMrush – Great all-in-one SEO suite
• Moz Link Explorer – Decent free tier for basic checks

These tools help you monitor your backlink growth, spot new links, and analyze competitor profiles.

How Many Backlinks Does a New Website Need Then?

Let’s get specific. Say your target keyword is:

“Best productivity tools for remote teams”

You find the top pages have:

• 30–100 backlinks
• 15–40 referring domains

After filtering out nofollow, low-quality, and irrelevant links, maybe only 12–20 are actually solid.

Your realistic target:

• 15–25 high-quality backlinks from different domains

Now say your goal is to rank for:

“Project management software”

Competitor pages have:

• 400+ backlinks
• 200+ referring domains

Your goal:

• Focus on long-tail variations first
• Build up 50–75 high-quality links over time
• Strengthen domain authority gradually

Final Thoughts: Start Small, Stay Consistent

Backlink building is a long game. You won’t get 500 links overnight — and you don’t need to. What you need is relevance, consistency, and smart strategy.

Start by creating link-worthy content. Focus on quality over volume. And make link outreach part of your weekly marketing routine.

If you stay consistent, even a brand-new site can earn its way to the top.

Need help with getting started? Our backlink services for new websites are designed to get you quality links — the kind that actually matter.

Let’s build your site’s authority, one link at a time.