If you're looking for external backlinks instead of internal linking, the best advice that comes to mind is this: it really is about authority.
When people think about authority, they automatically think of SEO metrics like domain authority, page authority — that kind of thing.
That really misses the forest for the trees.
The authority that I'm talking about is the quality of the content on the page that is linking to you.
Is the site dedicated to the same niche that you are targeting?
Is the page linking to you adding value or getting value from the page being linked to?
You should think along these terms because this is the mindset of the people that Google is trying to serve.
Google is not trying to serve you.
You are not the target customer for Google.
The search user is.
Think in terms of how that person's life would be improved by a site linking to you.
If you think along these terms and let go of the SEO metrics while of course being on the lookout for spam, you probably would go a longer way.
A lot of the times, when people say that they are building white hat backlinks, they're still stuck in black hat impatience and methodologies.
That's not gonna work!
This is 2024.
Search traffic is forecast to go down significantly as more and more people switch to a ChatGPT-type experience.
The end times are coming as far as the old SEO and old search listings are concerned.
Does this mean that you have to stop making quality backlinks?
There will always be space for quality backlinks.
That's the key.
It's all about that word: quality.
Focus on that and you should be rewarded.