Struggling to get enough people talking about your brand?
You’re going to love social backlinking.
Building brand authority with contextual backlinks from high DR sites is a must in SEO. But you can take it so much further when you factor in community. (Hi, billions of social media users!)
Social backlinking focuses on embedding your brand within the conversations and communities that matter most. When you connect authentically, your content gets seen, shared, and discussed.
Let’s take a closer look at what social backlinking is, how it compares to traditional link building, and practical strategies you can use now. 👇
Highlights
- Social backlinking is when others share your website links on social media. It boosts brand visibility, engagement, and awareness across platforms, even if it doesn’t fully replace traditional SEO backlinks.
- AI-driven search engines increasingly recognize social signals. This means shares in LinkedIn, X, Reddit, and niche communities improve credibility.
- Key social backlinking strategies include engaging niche communities, creating shareable content, posting insights that spark conversation, and making sharing effortless.
- Top platforms for social backlinking in 2025 include YouTube, Pinterest, Medium, LinkedIn, X/Twitter, Reddit, Quora, and select niche Discords.
What is social backlinking?
Social backlinking is when other people share your website’s links or brand content on social media.
While you can post your own links for visibility, social backlinks happen when others distribute them. For example, if a LinkedIn user shares your blog post with their network, that counts as a social backlink.
The same applies if someone retweets your article link on X, shares your product page on Facebook, or pins your infographic to Pinterest.
Each of these creates another pathway back to your site.
Does social backlinking carry as much weight as traditional backlinking?
In the past, social backlinks didn’t carry the same SEO weight as traditional backlinks from authoritative websites.
They encouraged clicks and engagement from social channels, but many were set as nofollow links. They had a limited impact on building domain authority or influencing search engine ranking factors.
That’s changing, though.
Platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram have improved their searchability, and Google can index public content on these sites. (YouTube, as part of Google, has always been highly SEO-friendly.)
And now, AI-driven search is part of the game.
Large language models are looking at websites, high-quality backlinks, and social signals to understand relevance and authority. When your website content and social media posts get shared by others on LinkedIn, X, Reddit, or niche communities, AI can better recognize your brand and its credibility.
The more others share and discuss your content, the stronger its presence in AI-driven search and traditional search results will be.
And with over 5.2 billion social media users (about 64 percent of the global population), there’s a huge audience ready to engage with and share your content (Source: Statista). Don’t miss out on the opportunity to use social media to boost your SEO.
TL;DR: Social backlinks don’t match the authority of editorial backlinks from high-quality sites. But they contribute positively to domain authority over time. They’re also a great tool for building more brand awareness and generating leads.
We’ll continue tracking how social backlinking evolves as SEO and AI-driven search change.
Make sure to follow us on LinkedIn and track our SEO Daily News on our website so you don’t miss any updates. You can also subscribe to SEO Power Plays, a newsletter run by Jeremy Moser, uSERP’s CEO!
4 important strategies for social backlinking to increase brand visibility
In this guide, we’ll focus on these four social link-building strategies:
- Engage in communities where your audience spends time.
- Focus on content people want to share.
- Post insights that spark conversation.
- Make sharing easy.
Let’s review these strategies below. 👇
1. Engage in niche communities
Niche communities are proving to be a very valuable channel for social backlinking.
“LLMs often trust a random Reddit comment about your product more than your perfectly optimized meta description.”
Times are changing.
So, what earns LLM citations in niche communities?
This is an ongoing experiment for serious SEOs, but here’s what we’ve seen work:
- Guide customer storytelling: Encourage customers to share detailed experiences, use cases, and outcomes in community posts. (Context-rich mentions in social conversations carry more weight than generic praise.)
- Target active communities: Focus on platforms like Reddit, Quora, and niche forums where users are talking about your industry. These discussions get AI attention and encourage social backlinks.
- Track and engage: Look for natural brand mentions across social platforms and communities. Then, engage thoughtfully to expand reach and encourage sharing.
If you want your social and community mentions to be understood more clearly by AI and search engines, use structured data. (Like JSON-LD markup, SameAs schema, and consistent author information.) This helps machines more accurately connect mentions to your brand.
We’re seeing 200%+ increases in AI citations when clients follow this strategy, btw!
Make sure to prioritize platforms that:
- Support long-form or evergreen content distribution
- Have active niche communities
- Allow indexed public links
The most valuable social media platforms for social backlinks in 2025 include:
- YouTube (description and comment links)
- Pinterest (indexed pins with descriptions)
- Medium (syndication with canonical tag)
- Reddit (especially niche subreddits)
- Niche Discords (where indexed)
- LinkedIn Articles & Comments
- Twitter/X
- Quora
You can also use Instagram as part of your social backlinking strategy. But its impact on SEO is more indirect and supportive rather than primary.
2. Create tailored, shareable content
Your content has to earn attention before it earns backlinks.
Instead of copying and pasting watered-down AI content, create original pieces people genuinely want to share.
You want to think of content as a tool people keep reaching for.
Ask yourself this before posting:
Does this offer a gamified, helpful, or empowering experience?- Does this solve a real problem my target audience has?
- Could this spark curiosity across my target audience?
Take calculators, for example.
A mortgage calculator, ROI estimator, or content marketing budget planner is a solid reference point. Users can return to it, link to it, and share it. (This one’s a great option for outreach in niche LinkedIn groups and sharing in subreddits.)
Here are some more examples:
Ebooks and guides
Deep-dive guides with real-world case studies, annotated screenshots, charts, and step-by-step instructions can get pinned, bookmarked, and cited.
A single guide on “How to Optimize LinkedIn Articles for AI Search” could earn shares across LinkedIn, Medium, and niche Slack communities.
Here’s an in-depth 45-page guide by Carta, for example:
Quizzes
Quizzes and assessments can also perform exceptionally well.
Ask something specific like:
- “Which B2B Marketing Strategy Matches Your Team?” Or
- “What Type of Data-Driven Marketer Are You?” Or
- “Discover your ideal content archetypes”
These are inherently shareable because people want to compare results with colleagues, post scores on LinkedIn, and discuss outcomes in relevant forums. They combine engagement with social proof. (An AI and search signal goldmine.)
Plus, people are committed to getting their quiz results. (Bonus: You can gate this to collect leads!)
Carousels and slideshows
Carousels and slideshows break down complex ideas into digestible visuals. On LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest, they stand out in feeds and are easy to save or share.
Videos and tutorials
Videos and tutorials create a personal connection.
Short “how-to” videos, explainer clips, or behind-the-scenes tours on YouTube or LinkedIn give your audience a human perspective. When people find actionable tips in a video, they tag teammates, share it in communities, and embed it in blogs.
The core principle is purpose.
Every piece of content should be platform-aware, deeply useful, and designed for sharing.
3. Post insights that spark conversation
When you’re a trusted reference point in your community, there’s no limit to how many mentions you can score. So, practice being a solid conversation starter now.
To spark conversation, you need content that:
- Provokes thought.
- Challenges assumptions
- Or delivers practical insights your target audience can act on immediately. (Ideally all three!)
Take a look at this recent LinkedIn post by Jeremy that popped off:
It has:
- Over 2400 reactions
- 350+ comments
- 267 reposts
And that’s because Jeremy:
- Provokes thought: Jeremy questions the belief that AI SEO has “replaced” traditional SEO and prompts readers to separate hype from reality.
- Rhetorical questions like “Does ChatGPT source from brands you’ve never heard of?” push readers to reflect critically on AI and search.
- Challenges assumptions: Jeremy shows that fundamentals still dominate SEO and debunks the “AI-first” narrative.
- The post highlights the gap between flashy advice and real-world results from proven strategies.
- Delivers practical insights: Jeremy shares that it’s important to understand how AI engines filter, summarize, and deliver results. And how to structure content to fit that mold.
- He reinforces that if you’re producing authoritative, well-optimized content with strong backlinks, you’re already “optimizing for AI.”
Here are some meaningful ways you can start conversations and encourage more social backlinks:
Thought leadership
Share what you’ve learned from experiments, campaigns, or strategies.
And go deep.
Show the process, the metrics, and the reasoning behind your decisions. For example, document an A/B test on LinkedIn headline formats. Show how engagement jumped 35% after applying a psychological trigger in the copy, like scarcity or urgency.
Processes like these could get cited in forums, referenced in newsletters, and shared across subreddits.
Answer FAQs
Take recurring questions from your community and answer them thoroughly. Turn them into posts, carousels, or videos with actionable steps. For instance, if people always ask, “How do I track SEO performance?” create a detailed, step-by-step guide with screenshots. Or a video walkthrough.
When your post solves a real problem, readers share it and reference it. This is exactly the kind of social backlink content AI and search engines notice, which is why well-done FAQs also help your SEO.
Hot topics & industry news
Share timely commentary on trends or breaking news to add perspective to a larger conversation.
For example, when a new labor law or remote work regulation comes out, analyze it and explain how your HR policies or client experiences apply.
You can also gush about your own company news and exciting announcements. These work great on LinkedIn since people can click on “celebrate,” “repost,” or “send” to help spread the word.
Bold opinions and values
Share where your brand stands on methods, ethics, or strategies. A clear stance encourages discussion and signals authority. For example, vouch for a controversial, data-backed marketing approach to spark debate.
Great for LinkedIn groups, Reddit threads, and niche communities.
Leadership and authenticity
Be authentic, detailed, and fearless.
Provide enough depth that your audience can quote you, link to you, or discuss your content in forums, social media channels, or AI-driven search.
4. Make sharing easy
Give your audience plenty of practical ways to share your content.
For example:
Add visible social buttons on your website, blog, and landing pages
Include share buttons for LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Pinterest, and niche platforms across your brand channels. Place them at the top, middle, and bottom of the content so sharing is always one click away.
Optimize for mobile sharing
Most social shares happen on mobile. Make sure buttons are responsive, links work smoothly, and visuals are clear on small screens.
Create ready-to-share snippets when posting on social media or sending emails
Highlight key stats, quotes, or insights and let users copy them easily. For example: “Marketers who post carousels get 3x more engagement — share this tip!” These can help increase mentions in posts, comments, and community threads.
Design content for reposting
Infographics, slides, and short videos are naturally shareable.
Make sure visuals include your branding and can be downloaded or embedded. People love to repost content that gives value and looks polished.
Encourage tagging and mentions
Prompt users to tag colleagues or communities when sharing. Example: “Share this in your LinkedIn group and tag me if it helps!” Or, “Know someone who needs this? Share it!”
Wrap up
Over time, social backlinking compounds.
Social shares lead to recognition, discussions create links, and your brand gains credibility in both human and AI-driven searches.
If you want to add social backlinking to your marketing strategy this year, start small. Try one of the main strategies on our list, track engagement, and refine your approach. Then try another strategy. Rinse and repeat for an endless amount of social backlink potential.
Psst …Feeling overwhelmed? We can help with that. Let us create the content for you, while you focus on what you do best.
Book a strategy call with uSERP now.
