Backlinks are one of the most frustrating aspects of SEO. You know you need them, but getting them is slow, expensive, and often out of your control. If you’re sitting at DR 0 to 5, it’s even harder—most sites won’t take you seriously, and your outreach emails go ignored.
But the reality is, you don’t have to wait around for backlinks. With the right backlink strategies in 2025, you can take full control of your growth and go from DR 0 to 25 in just one year. The strategy is simple: build 500 backlinks in 12 months. That’s just 3 blog posts per week, which is entirely doable if you commit to the process.
This isn’t just theory. It’s exactly how I built my last website, Camps With Friends, to DR 29, and here’s the data to prove it:
• Sep 2023: DR 0 → 23 referring domains
• Nov 2023: DR 11 → 28 referring domains (added a DR 27 site)
• Jan 2024: DR 17 → 26 referring domains (some weaker links slowed growth)
• Mar 2024: DR 26 → 33 referring domains (added a DR 56 site)
• Jul 2024: DR 29 → 39 referring domains (added DR 52 & DR 7 sites)
Step 1: Consistency Wins – Build 500 Backlinks in 12 Months
The first step to getting from DR 0 to 25 is to consistently build backlinks week after week. The math is simple:
• 3 blog posts per week
• 10 backlinks per week
• 500 backlinks in a year
You don’t need outreach, expensive link-building services, or waiting for someone to link to you. You just need a system that lets you consistently create high-quality content that links back to your site.
Step 2: Build a Strong DR Before Doing Outreach
Nobody wants to give backlinks to a DR 0-5 site. But once you hit DR 23+, the game changes. When I built Camps With Friends, I reached DR 23 before I even started outreach by leveraging my own content network.
By the time I reached out for backlinks, I already had an established domain authority, which made my outreach efforts much more successful. Other site owners were now willing to link to me, because I already looked like a trusted source.
Step 3: Add High-DR Backlinks for a Final Boost
Once your DR is established, the next step is to strategically add high-quality backlinks to push your score even higher. This is where high-DR sites (DR 50+) make a big impact.
In my own case, two links in particular helped push me from DR 26 to DR 29:
• Sendpotion.com (DR 56)
• Advancedsitestats.com (DR 52)
The data also suggests that low-DR backlinks (DR 7) may have slowed momentum slightly, reinforcing the importance of targeting quality over quantity at this stage.
Backlink Strategies 2025: The Proven Path from DR 0 to 25
This approach is simple, but it requires commitment. The biggest mistake people make is waiting around for backlinks instead of taking control of the process. The fastest way to grow your DR is to put in the work and build those first 500 backlinks yourself.
If you’re willing to write three blog posts per week, you can follow this exact strategy and go from DR 0 to 25 in a year. Once you cross that threshold, getting backlinks from others becomes exponentially easier. The hard part is getting started—but now you know exactly what to do.
👉 Start building your backlinks today. View Pricing!