Notes for owners · SEO, content and AI search
Backlinks for an Indian SME: which links are worth asking for and which to refuse
Which websites to ask for a link to your business (chamber, supplier, association, local press, customers) and why bought link packs put your site at risk, with a sort table you can fill in.
The GullySales team · Updated 17 Oct 2026 · 6 min read
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Ask for links from organisations that already know you exist and that your buyers would trust: your chamber, your trade association, suppliers whose products you use, the local newspaper that has covered you and customers who are proud to have you. Refuse any link you would be embarrassed to explain to a buyer, and any pack sold by the count. A few real links are usually worth more to you than hundreds that no one will ever click.
What a backlink is, in a sentence an owner can use
A backlink is a link from someone else's website to yours. Search engines read it as one business vouching for another. A link from a site with a real audience carries weight. A link from a site built to sell links carries none, or worse. The test is human: would a buyer on that site plausibly click through?
That test also tells you where to spend effort. Websites you already have a relationship with are the ones that will say yes.
The sort table
Before you ask anyone, list every candidate and put it in a row. This is the sheet to fill in.
| Source | Real audience? | You already have a relationship? | Ask | How |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Your chamber or industry association | Yes, members and buyers | Yes, you pay a fee | Yes | Member directory entry with your site address |
| A supplier whose machines or materials you use | Yes, their buyers | Yes | Yes | "Where to buy" or "our customers" page |
| A customer you have served well | Their staff and partners | Yes | Yes, politely | A line on their vendors or projects page |
| Local newspaper or business magazine | Yes | Only if you have news | When there is news | A short note with a fact, a name and a photograph |
| A college or training institute you hire from | Yes | Sometimes | Yes | Placement partners or industry visits page |
| A directory that lists every business free | Thin | No | Once, for a correct listing | Claim the entry, fix the details, stop |
| A "100 links for a fixed fee" pack | None | No | Refuse | Never |
| A stranger who offers a "guest post" with a payment | Unknown | No | Refuse | Never |
Anything that reaches the last two rows is a way of buying rank. Search engine guidelines advise against paying for links to influence ranking, so a pack puts your site at risk for little benefit.
How to ask without sounding like a bot
The ask is where many owners stall, not the list. Three habits help.
Ask for a page, not a link. "Could you list us on the members' page with our website address?" is a normal request. "Please give us a backlink" is not.
Tell them which page. Point to the page of your site that fits their audience, such as the product page for a supplier's buyers. A link to your home page is fine when you have nothing better.
Give them a reason that is theirs. A supplier wants to show that real factories use their material. A college wants to show where its students end up. Write that sentence for them in the email.
If nobody answers, ask once more after a fortnight and stop. Chasing a link is how a good relationship goes sour.
A fastener supplier in Hubballi
An invented example. A fastener supplier in Hubballi pays the association fee every year and has never asked for anything back. The firm has a steel wire supplier it has used for eleven years, a polytechnic that sends interns, and a customer who once mentioned it in a trade newsletter. Four sources, none of them bought.
Then a stranger emails an offer of two hundred links for a flat fee, calling it "SEO". The owner nearly pays, because the agency report the firm has been getting shows zero links, and the owner has read the report as a score to raise. The better move is quieter. The owner asks the association to add the website address to its member page, asks the wire supplier for a line on its "customers" page, and sends the polytechnic a short note on what its interns learned at the unit. The outcome is partial: the association adds the link within the month, the wire supplier never replies, the polytechnic's page is managed by a vendor who needs a form, and the newsletter mention turns out to have left out the website address. One live link is a small start, and the report still shows a low number.
After someone says yes
Open the page yourself once it goes live. Check that your name is spelt as on your invoice, that the address is correct and that tapping it lands on the page you asked for, not a dead one. Write the date and the page in your sheet. A link to an old address that now redirects nowhere is a favour wasted, and it happens when a site has been rebuilt since the entry was made. Thank the person who did it, in a line, and tell them if you later change your address so the entry can be updated.
Links to refuse, and why
- Packs sold by count. The count is the product, not your visibility.
- Link exchanges at scale. "You link to me, I link to you" with strangers is a pattern, not a relationship.
- Comment and forum links posted by tools. They are ignored at best.
- Sites about gambling, medicines, loans or adult content linking to a business that sells none of those. A buyer who sees the neighbourhood will wonder about you.
- A private network of sites someone built. If the same person owns the site that links to you, it is not a vote.
If a link you did not ask for already points at you from a place like that, you do not need to panic. Note it. If many appear together and your visibility drops soon after, ask a specialist to review them, since the remedy is a technical one.
What links cannot do
A link does not fix a page that does not answer the buyer's question, a slow site or a missing profile. Do the basics in the post on why a website is not ranking first. Links also take time to be noticed; how long SEO takes sets honest expectations.
Fill in the sort table this week
List twenty possible sources, mark the ones with a real audience and a relationship, and send three polite requests, the association's first. Keep the sheet; it is the record of who said yes. Links are one small part of how buyers find you through your marketing, and news-led mentions sit under digital PR, while off-page SEO and link building covers the wider work. When you want a second view of which sources are worth your time, tell us what you need.
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