Informed Webmaster

For those who are link building and SEO in general there are different "hats" used to describe a SEO technique.

White Hat

...white hat SEO refers to any practice that improves your search rankings on a search engine results page (SERP) while maintaining the integrity of your website and staying within the search engines' terms of service. These tactics stay within the bounds as defined by Google...

White Hat SEO: How to Rank Without Breaking the Rules by WordStream

If you are interested in the other hats of SEO here is an article on Search Engine Journal you can read: SEO Tactics: Black Hats, White Hats, Gray Hats & ‘Asshats’ (make sure you don't do anything "Asshat" or hire someone that uses "Asshat" techniques.

So onto the white hat techniques described in this article on HubSpot: 11 Creative (But 100% White Hat!) Ways to Earn Backlinks in 2020

Have you tried the methods mentioned in the article yourself? If so, explain how it worked out for you below.

As an owner of a number of websites and blogs here is my input regarding a few of the ideas put forth in the referenced article above.

• Contacting the site owner for a contextual link, linked mention or replace a broken link
  When I create a page I add contextual links plus links to quoted blocks of content, resources or significant people as I write the page (be it a page or blog article) so contacting me after the page is published to ask for a link is ignored. Requesting to replace a broken link is also ignored. Why? Because in my experience the only people who do this are link builders and they want to get a link to a low performing page or site.
  
  I also edit/update pages when new relevant information is available with the source.
  
  Now if someone I knew of as reputable contacted me personally then that would be different. HINT - build a good reputation in your chosen field and these tactics might work out better for you.
• Best of list
  Because affiliate marketers use this tactic to earn income as a reader I am wary of the credibility of these lists.
  
  However if one of my sites was listed on a reputable site without me asking I certainly would appreciate it.