How to Use HARO (Help a Reporter Out) to Build Credible & PR-Worthy Backlinks
I’ve been writing successful HARO pitches for over 8 years. In that time, my team and I have secured hundreds of high-authority media placements for clients across a wide range of industries, from major business publications to top-tier lifestyle outlets.
We’ve refined a proven system that consistently gets results – a system that you can apply yourself, even if you've never pitched a journalist before.
In this guide, I'll share what actually works when it comes to standing out in a crowded inbox, along with tips I've picked up from years of hands-on HARO pitching. And don’t worry, you don't need to be an expert copywriter to write a good HARO pitch.
If you've been using HARO for a while, feel free to skip down to the “Advanced Tips for Success”. If not, stick around as we're starting with the basics...
How Does HARO Work?
If you're new to HARO (Help a Reporter Out), it's a free, email-based platform that connects journalists with expert sources via email.
Here's a bird's-eye view of how it works:
Once you sign up as a source on HARO, you receive emails containing a list of media opportunities from journalists looking for insights on specific topics.
If a query fits your expertise, you send in your pitch directly through email.
If the journalist likes your input, your quote gets published, earning you a branded media mention – and a backlink to your website as part of the attribution.
Those backlinks are a big deal because HARO links are considered high-quality, especially when they come from outlets like Forbes, Mashable, Inc., or The New York Times.
They help build your site’s authority, bump up your rankings, bring in referral traffic, and often set off a ripple effect where one media feature leads to the next.
Getting Started with HARO
1. Sign Up:
Visit helpareporter.com. Simply input your email address and click "sign up".
Verify your signup by clicking the confirmation link HARO sends to your email. This step is required before you can start receiving query emails.
And here's a tip: Make sure to set up in advance a dedicated folder or email filter for HARO emails, as they can otherwise create a messy inbox and make sifting through the opportunities a hassle.
2. Monitor Queries
HARO sends out emails three times daily at these times:
5:35 AM EST (Morning)
12:35 PM EST (Afternoon)
5:35 PM EST (Evening)
Each HARO email is like an index of media requests, broken down by category, which includes Business & Finance, Lifestyle & Entertainment, Health & Pharma, and more. Each item includes:
A headline or topic summary
The name of the publication
A clickable link to the full request, which includes the deadline, requirements, and where to send your pitch
You should review these promptly to identify suitable opportunities. There can often be queries with short deadlines, so be sure to check these questions as soon as they hit your inbox.
Crafting Effective HARO Pitches
The pitch is the most important part of HARO. It’s the one thing that stands between you and getting published. Below are tips to increase your chances of being featured, gathered after many years of writing HARO responses.
Be Prompt
Journalists often start reading replies within minutes of posting because they know what’s coming: Hundreds of responses flooding their inbox. The earlier they spot a good one, the sooner they can move on. So yes, the early bird really does get the worm here.
That said, respond quickly, ideally within 30 minutes to a few hours. Avoid batching replies for later, as this only leads to missed opportunities.
But beyond the inbox flood, keep in mind that journalists are often racing against tight deadlines and may finalize their article shortly after posting.
To help you respond as early as you can, set up a dedicated HARO folder in your email and enable push notifications specifically for incoming HARO query emails.
Stick to Your Expertise
Only respond to queries you're genuinely qualified to answer – because that’s how you actually help the journalist. And being genuinely helpful is the key to getting quoted and earning that backlink.
When you pitch just for the brand name, or worse, copy-paste soulless AI fluff, journalists can spot it a mile away. They've seen it all, and vague, low-effort responses only make your name easier to ignore next time.
Provide Unique Value
Hundreds of people will also be responding to this request – what unique insight can you provide?
The strategies below are ones I’ve used myself and seen others use successfully too:
Personal anecdotes: These work well for lifestyle, business, or human-interest queries. If the question invites opinion, real-world examples, or “what’s worked for you” insights, a quick story from your experience can set you apart.
Fresh, data-backed insights: For more analytical or industry-specific topics, reference multiple studies or datasets, then connect the dots. Journalists love a source who can synthesize data into something meaningful.
Original findings or internal data: If you've done your own study, survey, or have access to unique performance data (especially in SaaS, marketing, or eCommerce), use that. Being the original source of insights or data that don't have to be fact-checked twice means journalists are far more likely to quote you.
Include Credentials
Drop a well-researched statistic or study into a crowd of hundreds and watch it get completely ignored – but pair that same data with a name like "Dr. Emily Carter, Chief Climate Analyst at NOAA," and suddenly everyone stops and reads.
HARO works the same way. Your title and credentials serve as instant credibility checks. They help journalists vet you fast and decide whether you’re a trustworthy source worth quoting.
Your pitch should have the following essentials:
Name
Title
Company/Organization
Link to your website, your LinkedIn profile, and any other relevant professional profile or portfolio that adds context to your expertise.
Follow Instructions
Always read the entire query, not just the headline. Journalists often include specific requirements such as the type of expert they’re looking for, job titles, or even company size.
If you don’t meet the stated criteria, your pitch will almost certainly be skipped. Better move on and focus your energy on queries where you’re the right match.
Example of a HARO Pitch
Let’s create a mock answer for this request I saw that fit my expertise, experience, and the work I do.
Summary: I'm looking for SEO experts only. Is content still king in SEO?
My Subject Line: HARO Response from SEO Expert
My answer:
Hi Jack,
I have almost 10 years of experience in SEO and other areas of marketing. From content writing, PR, and building organic backlinks (our area of expertise), I’ve done it all at one point or another.
With this experience in mind, I thought I’d provide an answer to this HARO request of yours. See below:
“Yes, I firmly believe that content is still king in SEO. But it has evolved.
Search engines are smarter, and they’re no longer just looking for keyword-stuffed blog posts. They want substance, depth, and real value. Quality SEO content today is about answering the searcher’s intent clearly and quickly while keeping them engaged. That means well-structured articles with original insights, expert perspectives, and a tone that resonates with the audience. It’s not just about what you say, but how and why you say it.
In the AI era, anyone can churn out 1,000 words in seconds. The human layer sets you apart, authenticity, experience, and relevance. Google’s helpful content updates are cracking down on low-value AI-generated fluff. So now, more than ever, you need to show expertise, trustworthiness, and relevance.
As the founder of RepuLinks, I see the power of strategic content every day. The best-performing content isn’t the flashiest. It’s the most useful. If your content answers a question better than anyone else, you win. AI can help, but it can’t replace perspective. The future of SEO belongs to those who combine the efficiency of AI with the human touch of clarity, relevance, and trust.”
Thanks for reading! Let me know if I can do anything else at all.
Credit:
Darcy Cudmore
Founder of RepuLinks
On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darcy-cudmore/
Advanced Tips for Success
HARO is an incredibly powerful platform for earning high-quality backlinks and media mentions – but it’s also highly competitive. Each query can receive upwards of 50–300 responses depending on the topic and outlet, and the reality is, not every response will land.
But if you approach HARO with the long game in mind, these next tips will improve your odds of being quoted and give you a clearer sense of what kind of return you're getting from your HARO efforts.
Use SEO Tools to Qualify Opportunities
Before you even start writing a pitch, it helps to know whether the site you’re pitching to is actually worth your time.
Sometimes it’s obvious, especially if the outlet is a known publication or tied to a recognizable journalist. But if the name is vague or unfamiliar, plugging the domain or outlet name into an SEO tool helps you quickly assess whether the opportunity is legitimate and valuable.
The first thing you want to check is Domain Rating (DR) or Domain Authority (DA). Higher numbers mean a stronger website and a more valuable backlink if your pitch gets published.
That said, all things equal, you'd want to prioritize the higher DR 80 publication over the DR 15 blog.
Moreover, these same tools also let you evaluate a site’s backlink profile. A site may have an okay DR, but if it's filled with spammy links and low-quality outbound domains, it's a credibility risk that harms your site's SEO.
Explore Adjacent Categories
Earlier, I mentioned sticking to your expertise, but that doesn’t mean you have to strictly box yourself in. Many times, a topic can overlap with your field to some degree. If you can provide a relevant angle from your own industry, and it clearly ties back to the query, that can actually be a fresh take the journalist appreciates.
Assign Queries to Team Members
If you're working with a team, divide up HARO queries based on each person's area of expertise. The result? More targeted and precise responses that have a higher chance of being selected.
Say, the team has a founder, a product lead, and an SEO copywriter. Each of them brings a different angle, and each is likely a better fit for certain types of queries than the others. Let them stick to what they know best.
Include an Intro and Outro
I talked about why showing your credentials matters earlier. But where to put them is another thing – and is just as important in terms of providing your pitch with structure and professionalism, and showing the journalist why your input is valuable.
That said, the intro should include your name, title, and a brief sentence on your relevant expertise or experience.
On the other hand, the outro should offer to provide more details if needed and include a link to your website or LinkedIn, along with contact information for easy follow-up.
If you want to see how that looks in practice, refer to the HARO pitch example I shared earlier.
Be Mindful of the Length
A good HARO pitch is typically 150–250 words. This length strikes the right balance because it’s long enough to provide value and demonstrate expertise, but short enough to respect the journalist’s time.
Plus, clear and concise answers are easier to quote, which increases your chances of being selected. Staying within this range also shows you understand media needs and can communicate effectively without having to write a novel to get your point across.
Track Responses
Start by maintaining a simple spreadsheet to keep track of your HARO pitches, specifically which queries you responded to, when you submitted them, and whether they resulted in a backlink.
This helps you see what types of responses are working and which ones aren't, allowing you to refine your HARO strategy over time.
But tracking doesn’t stop at just the spreadsheet. Checking your website analytics, especially referral traffic, is just as important. Tools like Google Analytics can show you which backlinks are actually sending visitors to your site.
Use Google Alerts
Tracking your HARO efforts properly all starts with knowing when your backlinks actually go live. That’s not always easy, as most journalists won’t notify you if your pitch was used.
So you need to build your own system for spotting when a quote gets published and when a backlink goes live on the page.
A simple method we use to spot new backlinks is by setting up Google Alerts. Just enter your name or your company name, and Google will notify you when it appears on a new webpage.
You can also use Google’s time-filtering tool, setting search results to “past month” or “past week” using keywords like your name or company. This helps surface fresh articles that might not show up through alerts right away but are still linked to your HARO responses.
Reshare and Build Relationships
If your quote gets featured, share it on social media, your website, or wherever your audience and peers might see it.
This isn’t just about visibility. When you share and tag the journalist or publication, it shows appreciation and makes you more memorable.
And who knows, it might make it easier to land a media mention next time, whether from the same journalist or from someone else in their network who saw your name.
All that's to say HARO wins don’t have to be one-off wins. If you stay visible, they can open doors to long-term relationships and recurring media opportunities.
Bonus Tip On Using the *New* HARO
Through HARO's ups and downs – being rebranded as Connectively, shut down in December 2024, then relaunched by Featured.com in April 2025 – many new platforms have entered the space, all now competing for journalist attention.
That said, it can happen that the same query on HARO can be found elsewhere.
However, responding to HARO in particular is still valuable because it goes straight to the source the journalist is actively monitoring.
HARO has long been a trusted tool for reporters, and many still prioritize the responses they receive through that channel. Replying via this platform means you’re meeting the journalist where they’re already looking, increasing your chances of being seen, considered, and ultimately quoted.
Build Your Authority With HARO Backlinks
HARO is a valuable tool for building backlinks and gaining media exposure. We use it (and other, similar platforms) every single day to build high-quality, organic backlinks and branded media mentions.
You don’t need to be a big brand to succeed on HARO. Whether you’re a startup, small business, or growing team, consistent effort and smart strategy can go a long way.
If you need help getting started or scaling your HARO outreach, Repulinks is happy to step in. We've run successful HARO campaigns for years, and we know how to make it work alongside your existing authority-building efforts.
