Help A Reporter Out (HARO) is an online platform founded in 2008 that connects journalists and reporters seeking expertise or commentary with sources who can provide quotes, data, or information to include in news articles and stories.
HARO sends out daily email queries from reporters segmented by topic and industry that sources can respond to by the deadline if they have relevant expertise, pitching themselves as an interviewee or providing useful data and stats.
Sources get the benefit of being quoted or featured in news articles, gaining backlinks and exposure, while journalists get access to expert sources for their stories.
HARO provides a way for sources to connect with journalists and get placements in reputable publications as a media relations tool. The platform is widely used in PR and marketing to gain media exposure.
Why use Haro as a backlink source?
Getting backlinks from HARO queries is highly beneficial for SEO because of the authoritative domains and contextually relevant nature of the links. HARO sources come from top publications like Forbes and Entrepreneur that have high domain authority, so links pass more ranking power.
The links are editorial, earned organically by providing expertise, rather than artificial or paid. This makes them well-aligned with Google’s quality guidelines.
HARO also allows you to gain links from diverse publishers, improving your overall link profile. By responding to queries with useful insights, you can build high value backlinks as part of an effective media relations and link building strategy.
How to get backlinks from Haro
Here are the key steps to get high quality backlinks to your website from HARO queries in more detail:
Sign up for a Haro account
Create either a free or paid account so you can receive reporter queries and pitch yourself as an expert source. Paid plans get more queries.
Customize your HARO profile
Make sure your bio is robust with all relevant background and expertise highlighted to establish credibility with reporters.
Set up finely tuned alerts
Configure your HARO alerts to receive queries only for your niche, industry and very specific topics of expertise. This filtering is crucial.
Monitor queries 3x daily
Check your HARO dashboard at least 3 times per day, morning, noon and night to respond promptly to every relevant query by deadline.
Craft strong pitches
Respond to each query with 2-3 tailored talking points, statistics or insights that provide unique value to reporters. Avoid overly self-promotional language.
Follow up promptly if contacted
If a reporter contacts you to request an interview, respond professionally within 1 hour if possible and provide quotes that directly answer their questions.
Ask politely for a backlink
In your response, include a simple request for them to link back to your site within the article using your preferred anchor text. Follow up post publishing.
Expand to more topics
Over time, expand your HARO queries into new topic areas and industries to diversify your link profile for maximum SEO benefit.
Our Haro link building service
Here is how we can leverage HARO for your link building:
Haro source profile
We will carefully craft your HARO source profile to highlight your expertise and establish credibility with reporters in your industry. This increases the chances of being contacted.
Respond to relevant Haro inquiries
Our team will proactively respond to 3-5 relevant HARO queries per day on your behalf, providing insightful talking points and quotes that add value for journalists.
Secure Haro Backlinks
When contacted by reporters, we will secure backlinks by politely requesting they attribute quotes to your brand and link back to your website within published articles.
Monitor and expand
We will track link wins, monitor traffic, and expand queries over time to build a diverse, high-quality backlink profile from HARO.
Let us help build your link portfolio
Don’t pay for spammy links! You may see a traffic and rank increase in the beginning. But later on you will be penalized for it! Gain high authority backlink from relevant websites that have high domain authority. Contact us now to get started
