Link building today is not just a part of your SEO activities. It has become so challenging, with growing competition and Google tightening its SEO-related guidelines, that link building has become a science. Or an art, depending on how you view it.
With link building today, you have to be always fully prepared to meet the challenge head-on. And for this, you must have an arsenal of tools at hand.
We have compiled a list of best link building tools for SEO marketers in 2025. These tools will make your work more effective, your link building strategy more aligned with current SEO trends and well, your life as a SEO specialist much easier.
Let’s dive right in!
1. Serpzilla
We aren’t shy to place Serpzilla at the top. It is a fully automated SaaS platform that helps marketers streamline the link acquisition process. Serpzilla offers a wide variety of link placement options and is perfect for automating your outreach and guest posting.
Key Link Building Features:
- A huge backlink marketplace.
- Finely-tuned search where you can use multiple filters to tailor your prospect pool for very specific link building tasks. You can sort by relevance, SEO metrics, geolocation and language, niche and domain.
- Guest blogging and outreach automation.
- Convenient dashboard to monitor your link building campaigns.
- Preset link prospect collections.
Pros:
- Automated processes
- Highly customizable settings.
- Free-to-use, pay for links only.
- Extensive knowledge base at your service.
- Detailed and deep filtering options
Cons:
- Has a learning curve and requires a certain level of SEO expertise to use it to complete effectiveness.
Free Trial/Pricing policy:
Full features are available immediately at the start. Serpzilla is free to use, you pay only for actual link placement.
2. Ahrefs
Although it is not a strictly link building tool per se, Ahrefs is often referred to as a SEO staple and for a good reason. This tool provides a whole arsenal for SEO analysis and research, including tools to evaluate a backlink profile in a most profound way. You can also gather a lot of data about your competitors using Ahrefs. I
Key Link-Building Features:
- Backlink analysis, competitor backlink tracking, broken link opportunities, and content gap analysis.
- Has a huge database, so the metrics it offers are very well grounded.
- excellent for keyword and competitor research.
Pros:
- can be used as an all-in-one tool.
- Its data is highly reliable.
- User-friendly, intuitive interface.
Cons:
- It can be expensive, especially for smaller projects.
Free Trial/Pricing Policy
- Starts at $99/month for the Lite plan, up to $999/month for Agency plans.
3. Semrush
Semrush is considered direct competiton of Ahrefs and these two are usually named as two most popular all-in-one SEO tools. This web-based application is widely used for SEO performance analysis and research, competitor checkups, outreach and content research.
KeyLink-Building Features:
- Comprehensive backlink profile audit. You can estimate how well your links drive traffic, their quality and other SEO metrics.
- Competitor link analysis.
- Backlink outreach.
Pros:
- Extensive SEO tools. This is another all-in-one SEO solution.
- It integrates with Google tools.
- It offers great competitor insights, especially when it comes to content (see what’s trending, what’s performing well, what’s being linked and shared).
Cons:
- The price is steep.
- It has so much functionality it will take a while to master all of its features.
Free Trial/Pricing Policy:
It has a 7-day free trial. Plans start at $129.95/month, with premium plans going up to $499.95/month.
4. Moz Link Explorer
Moz is one of the most widely used web-based tools for backlink analysis. This web-based app features a comprehensive link audit. It is based around the Domain Authority metric. This system is particularly good for analyzing spam scores.
Key Link-Building Features:
- Backlink research – very comprehensive analysis of backlink profiles as a whole and particular backlink sources.
- Spam score detection.
- Competitor backlink analysis.
Pros: Best for quick backlink audits. Features a highly trusted DA metric that is widely used in the SEO community.
Cons: Smaller link database compared to Ahrefs. It is also on the pricier side.
Trial Period/Pricing Policy: There is a 30-day free trial. Pricing plans start at $99/month and go up to $599/month.
5. Majestic
Yet another web-based SEO tool that has a very specific optics when it comes to backlink analysis. It uses historic backlink tracking which offers quite a unique perspective. It also uses proprietary metrics, such as Trust Flow and Citation Flow. Both metrics are considered trusted SEO analysis staples.
Key Link-Building Features:
- Deep link history.
- Bulk backlink analysis
- Competitor backlink tracking.
Pros: A unique set of metrics and a backlink analysis method that is complementary to all other analyses.
Cons: The interface is somewhat dated and not exactly beginner-friendly.
Free Trial/Pricing Policy: Majectic doesn’t provide a free trial, however, it offers limited free backlink reports which demonstrate its features well. Starts at $49.99/month and goes up to $399.99/month.
6. BuzzSumo
BuzzSumo is most widely used as a content discovery and outreach tool. Its main goal is to provide you with a very clear picture of what type of content and what themes are trending in your particular niche. However, even though this tool is not directly intended for link building, it may provide some very valuable insights.
Key Link Building Features:
- Analysis of viral content: viral content provides valuable organic links
- Tracking of brand mentions. You can discover unlinked brand mentions and reach out to ask include a link
- Influencer outreach
Pros: Provides a lot of tools for digital PR and content marketing, great for content-driven link building.
Cons: if we consider that it is not a link building tool per se, it is quite expensive, so it’s valuable only if your link building is focused on digital PR. Provides limited SEO data.
Free Trial/Pricing Policy: Has a 30-day free trial. Starts at $99/month and goes up to $499/month.
7. BuzzStream
BuzzStream is a CRM-like web-based application for outreach campaign management. It’s a comprehensive outreach tool and if your preferred way of link building is through outreach, it may be a good solution for you.
Key link-Building Features:
- Finding and Reaching out to Bloggers, Journalists, Content creators
- CRM-style campaign management
Pros: It integrates well with content marketing processes and provides a lot of features for outreach-based link building.
Cons: It is a stand-alone outreach tool and when it comes to link building, you can usually find instruments for automated outreach and campaign management within tools that specialize in link building.
Free Trial/Pricing Policy: Has a 14-day limited free trial. Starts at $24/month and goes up to $999/month.
8. Pitchbox
Nother web-based outreach tool, however, it’s different from the already mentioned ones because it has AI under the hood. This advanced outreach instrument takes outreach to a new level by adding a lot of personal touch and yet keeping the large scale. Hunter.io comes as a browser extension.
Key Link Building Features:
- Automated outreach for content-driven link building
- Substantial blogger and influence coverage
- Automated followups and outreach management
Pros: High level of automation. It also integrates very well with Ahrefs and Moz which makes it a great complementary tool.
Cons: One of the more expensive tools, considering that it only covers certain aspects of link building and is mostly used as an additional asset.
Free Trial/Pricing Policy: Pitchbox doesn’t have a free trial but you can get a live demo. Prices start at $195/month and go up to $1,500/month.
9. Hunter.io
Hunter.io is a web-based service that helps marketers find addresses of influencers, journalists and media people. It is considered an essential tool when it comes to digital PR. Hunter.io crawls an extensive array of publicly available data, so if an address is featured somewhere, it will be found.
Key Link Building Features:
- Bulk email verification
- Outreach automation
- Email finder
Pros: The return results of hunter.io search is highly accurate, and the procedure of email verification is transparent and quickl
Cons: As it is a tool created for a single very specific task, it can only act as a complementary link building software.
Free Trial/Pricing Policy: You get 25 free searches per month, which can cover your basic needs especially if you don’t rely on it as your single link building option. Paid plan starts at $49/month and goes up to $499/month.
10. HARO (Help A Reporter Out)
HARO is another media outreach platform that caters to a highly specific yet very important SEO task: outreach for digital PR and content marketing. It connects journalists with experts and sources in the field they’re writing for. For you it means a valuable backlinks, for journalists – additional expert back up for their material. Unlike traditional link-building tools, HARO is PR-focused, helping brands gain exposure through earned media.
Key Link-Building Features:
- Media query alerts.
- Journalist-source matchmaking.
- Direct response system for press opportunities.
Pros: using HARO you can get free backlinks from top-tier media websites (Forbes, NYT, etc.). It also gives you an additional perk of being named an expert in your niche. This type of link-building is entirely white (both parties exact non-monetary value from the deal).
Cons: The competition is usually high, near-impossible in some more mainstream niches, which makes it tough to secure a partnership. It’s also a lengthy process without guarantee of a link.
Free Trial/Pricing Policy: Pricing Policy: Free for basic users; premium plans start at $19/month and go up to $149/month.
11. Google Alerts
Google Alerts is a simple yet effective web-based tool for monitoring online mentions of specific keywords. In terms of link building, this makes it useful for tracking unlinked brand mentions that can be turned into backlinks.
Key Link-Building Features:
- Brand mention tracking.
- Industry trend monitoring.
- Competitors mention alerts.
Pros: A free tool with excellent capacity for integration. Allows you to additionally monitor brand-related trends and reputation.
Cons: The tool requires manual follow up and focuses only on one aspect of link-building activities.
Free Trial/Pricing Policy: 100% free.
12. Google Disavow Links Tool
This Google Search Console tool is web-based like all Google instruments. It is designed to remove harmful backlinks, which helps mitigate and recover from manual penalties or negative SEO attacks.
Key Link-Building Features:
- Toxic link removal.
- Penalty recovery.
- Backlink risk assessment.
Pros: The disavow tool is absolutely crucial when it comes to safe clean-up of spammy backlinks. It also provides you a modicum of a direct control over your backlinks in Google’s index.
Cons: For all the seeming simplicity of the task, the tool requires advanced SEO knowledge: mistakenly disavowing good links can harm rankings. It also offers no pro-active link-building features.
Free Trial/Pricing Policy: 100% free.
13. Google Search Console
Google Search Console is an extremely versatile and powerful free tool that helps you gain insights about a website’s backlink profile, traffic, performance and organic search stats. All this makes it a must-have tool in any SEO marketer’s arsenal.
Key Link-Building Features:
- Backlink tracking.
- Indexing reports.
- Keyword performance analysis.
Pros: You get access to direct Google data on backlinks and indexation and it doesn’t get any more valid than that. It also has a very advanced monitoring and analysis functionality for its free-of-charge access. It’s also great when you need to quickly pinpoint pages that attract backlinks.
Cons: To use it to its full potential, you need to have an overall SEO experience. It also offers somewhat limited backlink analysis compared to Semrush or Ahrefs.
Free Trial/Pricing Policy: 100% free.
14. ChatGPT
This AI-powered assistant is an indispensable tool when it comes to link-building. It can help you brainstorm content ideas and anchor text recs, generate outreach templates, perform various sorting and analysis activities. It can also run quick data scouring and summaries and generally automate a lot of menial work that inevitably comes with link building.
Key Link-Building Features:
- AI-generated outreach emails.
- Content ideation.
- Keyword research assistance.
Pros: Great for covering blank spots and eliminating human error, can help with ideation in the widest sense of a word, from content to strategizing. Can perform advanced analysis.
Cons: Lacks real-time SEO data, and you shouldn’t rely on it for content creation. The quality of the output largely depends on your quality and context of input, so you should have good prompt design skills to produce adequate analysis.
Free Trial/Pricing Policy: Free plan available; Pro version ($20/month) for GPT-4o access.
15. SE Ranking
A solid, but less widely used all-in-one web-based SEO platform. Not as popular as Ahrefs or Semrush, it offers a comprehensive set of SEO features, including a variety of instruments for link-building.
KeyLink-Building Features:
- Backlink tracker.
- A system of link-building suggestions.
- Domain authority checker.
- Competitor research.
Pros: It is an affordable alternative to Ahrefs & SEMrush. It boasts a rather user-friendly interface which makes it a good choice for beginners. It also has a dashboard to monitor acquired links.
Cons: Its backlink database is comparatively smaller than Ahrefs and it offers very few features for automation.
Free Trial/Pricing Policy: You can get a 14-day free trial. Paid plan starts at $31/month and goes up to $151/month.
16. NinjaOutreach
This web-based platform is basically a CRM for outreach management. It allows you to automate and easily maintain a large number of influencer contacts and collaborations, including guest posting.
Key Link-Building Features:
- Influencer discovery feature allows you to keep curated influencer lists for various outreach and guest posting tasks.
- Outreach automation.
- Email tracking, followup and outreach maintenance in a CRM-like style.
Pros: its influencer database is very significant and is being constantly updated. It also has specific features for guest posting and content marketing.
Cons: Expensive compared to similar tools. It also has a steep learning curve and can be overwhelming if you don’t have a lot of SEO experience.
Free Trial/Pricing Policy: You can get a 7-day free trial. Paid plan starts at $49/month and goes up to $599/month.
17. Respona
Respona is positioning themselves as not-your-average link building tool. It is an AI-powered link-building and outreach platform which helps you automate email outreach, prospecting, and relationship management. Unlike traditional tools, Respona combines SEO and PR strategies to secure backlinks through personalized outreach. One can argue that it is a link-building tool with a focus on white-hat digital PR, backed by strong automation features.
Key Link-Building Features: AI-driven prospecting, email outreach automation, backlink monitoring.
Pros: It actually has really good AI features for personalization. The focus on digital PR gives a competitive edge and goes inline with the recent overall link building trends.
Cons: It’s limited to outreach-based link building and has a very significant learning curve.
Free Trial/Pricing Policy: A 14-day trial period is available. Starts at $99/month and goes up to $399/month.
18. Linkody
Linkody is considered an affordable tool for smaller teams. It covers a lot of fundamental link building, mobitoring and analysis tasks and is perfect if you don’t want to/need to go into a lot of fine-tuning with your link building. It features real-time updates on acquired and lost links. It’s a great alternative to Ahrefs for those focused only on tracking backlinks rather than full SEO suites.
Key Link-Building Features: Backlink tracking, competitor link monitoring, domain authority checker.
Pros: its features focus on the most crucial link building activities: conside backlink profile analyses, tracking of lost and toxic links and DA check.
Cons: Once again, it cannot beat the backlink database of Ahrefs and has no outreach or automation features.
Free trial/Pricing Policy: a 30-day free trial. Pais options start at $14.90/month and go up to $153.90/month.
19. NeverBounce
NeverBounce is a single-task tool that helps you to verify emails. As you can get from the naming, it makes sure your sent emails never bounce back because the address doesn’t exist. Unlike standard outreach tools, this web-based platform focuses on cleaning and validating email lists before sending.
Key Link-Building Features: Bulk email verification, email list cleaning, real-time validation.
Pros: Improves outreach success rates by reducing email bounces. It also integrates with Gmail, Mailchimp, and CRMs. Bulk verification saves you a lot of effort and time when doing outreach.
Cons: it has no outreach automation, only email verification, which is surprising, considering how well the two would go together. Its pay-per-use model can also get very expensive for larger mailing lists.
Free Trial/Pricing Policy: No free trial, but offers 1,000 free email verifications for new users. Starts at $0.008 per email verification, with bulk pricing available.
20. Check My Links
Check My Links is a Chrome extension that helps SEOs and marketers find broken links on any webpage. Unlike traditional tools, it’s free and lightweight, making it an excellent on-the-go solution for broken link building.
Main Link-Building Features: Broken link detection, quick link validation, competitor link analysis.
Pros: You can instantly locate broken backlinks on any website. It’s also free, which makes it an invaluable single-task tool to complete your SEO arsenal.
Cons: sadly, the process is entirely manual, there’s no automation involved. It is also up to you to find contacts for link replacement.
Free Trial/Pricing Policy: 100% free.
