okay everyone pushes PBNs and sketchy guest posts but tbh there are legit free methods that work if you do em right. first just scrape niche forums or comments where your audience actually is. find threads or posts and leave a link in a comment but make it helpful not spammy. then find resource pages in your niche email the owners like hey I have something that fits your page. if no reply maybe follow up in a week or two persistence can pay off. also check for broken links on big sites and offer your content as a fix use tools like Check My Links or Broken Link Checker. oh and don't forget to check competitor backlinks see where they got theirs and copy that strategy. keep it white hat keep it quick and skip the trash methods. some of these are old school but still gold if you do them fast and smart