HARO Is Gone: 8 HARO Alternatives for Backlinks in 2026
For fifteen years, HARO (Help a Reporter Out) was the default answer to "how do I get backlinks from big publications for free." Then Cision rebranded it into Connectively, and in December 2024 shut the whole thing down. The playbook survived; the platform did not. Here is where journalist-request link building actually happens in 2026, and what your odds really look like.
How this method works
Journalists and bloggers need expert quotes on deadline. Platforms broadcast their requests; you reply with a short, credible answer; if quoted, you usually earn a mention and an editorial backlink from the publication. The link is freely given and editorial, which puts this among the safest methods in our link building comparison.
The 8 alternatives that are actually active
| Platform | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Source of Sources (SOS) | Free | Closest thing to old HARO, general queries |
| Featured | Free tier, paid plans | SaaS and business topics, structured Q&A |
| Qwoted | Free tier (2 pitches/mo), paid | Finance, business, established media |
| Help a B2B Writer | Free | B2B content and marketing writers |
| SourceBottle | Free | Australia, UK, lifestyle niches |
| PressPlugs | Paid | UK press requests |
| ResponseSource | Paid | UK journalists, PR teams |
| #journorequest on X | Free | Real-time requests, first-come advantage |
Source of Sources deserves the top spot: it was started by Peter Shankman, HARO's original founder, runs on the same three-emails-a-day rhythm, and is free. Featured structures everything as questions you answer on-platform, which suits founders who want volume. Qwoted skews toward finance and established media, with the highest bar and the best links when you clear it.
The honest numbers
Nobody publishes official conversion rates, but practitioner data is consistent: expect roughly 1 to 5 quotes per 100 pitches for a credible expert with fast responses, and not every quote includes a link. Landing one strong placement can take 20 to 50 pitches at 15 to 30 minutes each. That is 5 to 25 hours per link, comparable to broken link building at its slowest.
Three things move your odds:
- Speed. Journalists work on deadline; answers in the first hour win disproportionately.
- Real credentials. "Founder who ran 300 exchange campaigns" beats "SEO enthusiast" every time. This is E-E-A-T applied to pitching.
- Quotable form. Two or three tight sentences with a number in them. Journalists paste, they do not edit essays.
Where this fits in a link building system
HARO-style links are high-authority, zero-cost, zero-risk, and completely unpredictable. You cannot plan a month around them. The sane setup treats them as the bonus layer on top of a predictable baseline:
- Baseline: a steady source of relevant editorial links you control, whether that is structured exchanges, content partnerships or a monthly outreach block from our free methods guide.
- Bonus: 15 minutes a day scanning SOS, Featured and Qwoted for queries where you genuinely are the expert.
For the baseline, this is exactly what Meeeters systematizes: you place one editorial link for a matched member of the network, earn a credit, and receive your link from a relevant, traffic-verified site, never the one you linked to, so no reciprocal pair exists. Predictable where journalist pitching is a lottery.
Run your free SEO analysis to see your current authority, then use pitching for the spikes and the network for the baseline.
Frequently asked questions
Quick answers to the questions people ask most about this topic.
Cision folded HARO into a new platform called Connectively in 2023, then shut Connectively down in December 2024. The original helpareporter.com service no longer exists.
Source of Sources (SOS), started by HARO's original founder Peter Shankman, is the closest free replacement, three daily emails of journalist queries. The
When you land one, yes: they are editorial links from real publications, often with strong authority. The problem is volume and predictability, most pitches earn nothing, so treat it as a bonus channel rather than your core link building system.
I built Meeeters to make link building safe and simple: real, relevant backlinks with no reciprocal footprint and no black-hat shortcuts. Questions about your site? Write to me directly.
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