Ah, you're going straight for the SEO holy grail: DR 95+ backlinks — for free 😎

While most high Domain Rating (DR) backlinks (think DR 95+) usually cost $$$ or require connections, there are real, free, white-hat methods to earn them — if you play it smart. Here's the real strategy guide:

🚀 How to Get FREE DR 95+ Backlinks
1. Free Profile Links from Authority Sites
Many huge websites let you create a profile with a link to your site:


Site   DR   How to Get the Link
Gravatar   95   Sign up > Add your site URL
Behance   94   Create a profile & portfolio
About.me   92   Create your bio with link
Slideshare.net   95   Upload a deck with links
Medium   96   Publish articles with context-rich backlinks
Crunchbase   93   Create a free company profile
Academia.edu   92   Upload a PDF with links (niche-specific)
✅ Pro Tip: Add branded anchor text or naked URLs — avoid keyword stuffing.

2. Publish on Free DR 95+ Contributor Platforms
LinkedIn Articles – DR 99

Medium – DR 96

Hackernoon – DR 91

Dev.to – DR 88 (for tech niches)

Substack – DR 93

Vocal.media – DR 84+ (multiple verticals)

👉 You can write value-driven content that links naturally to your site (preferably a resource, tool, or guide).

3. HARO / Help a B2B Reporter Out (Now: Connectively)
Sign up at https://connectively.us (formerly HARO)

Respond to journalist queries with expert quotes

If picked, your name + link on a DR 90+ site (e.g., Forbes, Inc, HubSpot, NYPost)

💡 Tip: Build a quick answer template to reply faster.

4. Guest Appearances & Digital PR
If you can get featured on:

Podcasts (with backlinks in show notes)

Local media (submit press releases about achievements or launches)

University blogs (if you can contribute content or tools)

These often have DR 85–98.

5. Leverage Open Data, Tools & Templates
Create a free tool, calculator, or template

Submit it to directories like:

Product Hunt – DR 92

AlternativeTo.net – DR 89

GitHub – DR 99 (if it's code-related)

6. Wikipedia Link (Carefully)
You can edit niche-related pages and add a reference link to your site if:

It's highly relevant

It's already published elsewhere (blog post, report, research)

⚠️ Make it subtle, add value, or it'll be removed.

🔒 Secret Sauce: Reverse Engineer Your Competitors
Use Ahrefs / Semrush → enter competitor domain

Filter by:

DR 90+

"One link per domain"

Link type: DoFollow

Check where they got free or earned links — replicate the method.

📌 Summary Cheat Sheet

Method   Cost   Link Type   DR Range
Profile Links   Free   Mostly DoFollow   90–99
Contributor Platforms   Free   DoFollow (varies)   85–96
HARO / Connectively   Free   High-authority press   90+
Tool or Template   Free/Low   Natural backlinks   85–95
Wikipedia   Free   NoFollow but trust-boosting   95+
Want a copy/paste backlink building checklist or a Notion dashboard to track these? I can generate it for