In a highly competitive and fast-moving space like Web3, off-page SEO, especially backlinks, plays a pivotal role in determining your crypto project’s online visibility and credibility.
Backlinks are one of Google’s top-ranking signals, but not all links are created equal. For crypto sites, it’s not just about getting backlinks—it’s about getting the right types of backlinks from relevant, trusted, and authoritative sources.
In this guide, we break down the seven most impactful types of backlinks every crypto project should actively pursue, along with practical examples, case insights, and execution tips.
Editorial Backlinks from Top-Tier Crypto News Outlets
One of the most powerful ways to build trust and domain authority is through editorial mentions on established crypto media platforms. These backlinks are earned, not bought, making them among the most credible and SEO-valuable.
Why These Backlinks Matter
Editorial mentions on leading crypto publications such as CoinTelegraph, Decrypt, CoinDesk, or The Block are some of the most powerful backlinks your site can earn. These outlets have domain authority scores of 80+, making links from them extremely valuable for SEO.
More importantly, these backlinks are contextual, earned, and vetted, which means they’re seen as trustworthy by search engines and users alike.
Real-World Example
When Arbitrum launched its ARB token airdrop, coverage by CoinTelegraph and The Block not only gave it immediate traffic but also earned high-authority backlinks to its blog, governance portal, and documentation.
How to Earn Editorial Crypto Backlinks
- Pitch newsworthy stories: funding rounds, new chain integrations, ecosystem milestones, or high-profile partnerships.
- Develop journalist relationships: build a media list and offer exclusives or first access to your updates.
- Optimize your newsroom or blog: make it easy for journalists to link to original sources like reports or FAQs.
Influencer Blog and Substack Links That Drive SEO and Authority
Crypto influencers are not just voices on social media—they’re content creators with loyal audiences and high-impact blogs. Links from their articles or newsletters can significantly boost visibility and keyword relevance for your project.
Why These Backlinks Matter
Crypto influencers—especially those who publish long-form content on platforms like Substack, Medium, or their personal blogs—often have tightly focused, loyal followings. These platforms tend to have high authority, and when influencers mention or review your product, those backlinks can drive referral traffic and SEO value simultaneously.
Actionable Use Case
A Layer 1 blockchain project collaborated with @Route2FI, a known DeFi educator, who published an in-depth yield farming comparison. The article linked to the project’s analytics dashboard, resulting in both a traffic spike and organic keyword improvements within 2 weeks.
How to Secure Influencer Backlinks
- Identify influencers with blogs (not just YouTube or Twitter) using tools like BuzzSumo or Ahrefs.
- Pitch story ideas or integrations where your protocol fits naturally into the narrative.
- Offer exclusives: APIs, beta access, or insights that enhance the content.
- Consider co-creating case studies or tutorials where your tool is a core part of the solution.
Aggregator and Directory Listings for Crypto Projects
Crypto directories and aggregators act as central hubs where users and search engines go to validate and discover projects. Being listed on these platforms offers both credibility and high-authority backlinks that improve SEO and drive referral traffic.
Why These Backlinks Matter
Directories like CoinGecko, CoinMarketCap, DappRadar, State of the DApps, and DefiLlama offer not only authority backlinks but indexed trust signals. They’re widely used by both search engines and real users to validate crypto projects.
These platforms frequently get copied or referenced by other blogs and services, amplifying the reach of a single listing into multiple backlinks.
Case Insight
When a new NFT marketplace got listed on DappRadar, the project received 12 secondary backlinks from blog articles, comparison posts, and social media announcements referencing the DappRadar page.
How to Get These Listings
- Apply via official submission forms with updated project descriptions, social links, and verified contracts.
- Ensure your project page has a backlink to your main domain, preferably dofollow.
- Update data regularly to remain featured and improve rankings on those platforms.
Community and Forum Backlinks from Crypto-Focused Platforms
Despite their age, crypto forums and niche communities remain highly engaged spaces where backlinks can still carry weight. These platforms are great for diversifying your backlink profile and tapping into early adopters.
Why These Backlinks Matter
Although less authoritative than media outlets, community platforms like BitcoinTalk, Reddit, Telegram, and DAO forums (e.g., Snapshot, Commonwealth) provide vital backlinks that contribute to a natural, diversified backlink profile.
These links often reside in discussions where intent and relevance are high, making them valuable for traffic and sentiment—not just search engines.
Practical Tips for Forum Backlinking
- Share insights in relevant Reddit threads (e.g., r/ethfinance, r/CryptoCurrency).
- Join Discords or forums and become an active voice, not just a promoter.
- Drop links organically in governance proposals, FAQs, or issue threads.
- Avoid spammy comments or link stuffing—these platforms often nofollow or penalize such behavior. Focus on adding value.
Guest Posts on Web3-Specific Industry Blogs and Media
Publishing guest articles is a strategic way to earn backlinks while establishing your team as thought leaders. This approach allows you to control anchor text, context, and messaging while reaching new audiences.
Why These Backlinks Matter
Writing for established industry blogs or crypto newsletters is one of the most reliable and scalable methods to earn backlinks. When done right, guest posting builds brand trust, thought leadership, and keyword relevance—all while earning SEO-friendly backlinks.
Example in Practice
The team behind a cross-chain bridge authored a guest post titled “What Multichain Interoperability Means for DeFi in 2024” on a respected DeFi publication. They embedded links to their bridge explainer and docs. As a result, they saw improved ranking for key terms like ‘ETH to BNB bridge’.
Where to Pitch Guest Posts
- Web3 blogs: Hackernoon (crypto), Bankless newsletter, LayerZero media partners.
- Developer-focused sites: Mirror.xyz, Gitcoin, or L2Beat contributor blogs.
- SEO hubs: CryptoSEO.it.com’s own content platform (yes, we accept contributions from our partners).
Tips for High-Impact Guest Post Backlinks
- Focus on educational content, not pure promotion.
- Include 1–2 dofollow, contextually relevant links to deep pages—not just your homepage.
- Use anchor text that reinforces your target keywords like “crypto bridge comparison” or “Web3 link building.”
Partnership and Integration Backlinks That Build Ecosystem Authority
Web3 thrives on interoperability, and every technical integration is a backlink opportunity waiting to be unlocked. Whether it’s wallets, oracles, or sidechains, these relationships often come with valuable link equity.
Why These Backlinks Matter
When your dApp or protocol integrates with another tool—like MetaMask, Ledger, Chainlink, The Graph, or Polygon—there’s often a valuable opportunity for mutual backlinking through developer documentation, announcement posts, or partner pages.
These backlinks are highly contextual, topically relevant, and usually trusted by both users and search engines.
Example Use Case
A DeFi lending platform that integrated with Chainlink’s price oracles received backlinks from Chainlink’s integration documentation, developer blog, and their community digest email. This helped their documentation pages climb into the top 3 Google positions for “decentralized lending rates.”
How to Leverage Integrations for SEO
- Ask partners to link to your integration or developer pages.
- Co-author integration tutorials and publish on both domains.
- Add your project to partner lists and compatibility matrices.
Sponsorship and Event PR Backlinks That Boost Domain Authority
Crypto events, hackathons, and conferences are more than just branding opportunities—they’re also link-building goldmines. Sponsorships often earn you backlinks from event sites, recap blogs, speaker pages, and partner mentions.
Why These Backlinks Matter
When you sponsor or speak at Web3 events like ETHGlobal, Token2049, Permissionless, or hackathons like Chainlink Spring, your name often appears on the event website, press coverage, recap blogs, and even YouTube descriptions.
These backlinks are powerful because:
- They often come from .org, .io, or media domains.
- They are earned through reputation and legitimacy.
- They often include brand keywords + exact match URLs, great for anchor diversity.
Example in Practice
A zk-rollup startup sponsored ZK Summit and earned a backlink from the main event site, three blog recaps, and a Blockworks podcast episode that linked to their whitepaper.
How to Maximize Event Backlink ROI
- Provide media-ready bios and assets to event hosts.
- Publish your own recap or “lessons learned” post and request cross-links.
- Offer to co-author post-event content with speakers or organizers.
Build a Diversified, Sustainable Backlink Profile
In the volatile, trust-sensitive world of Web3, backlink strategy is more than SEO, it’s a reputation engine. By focusing on a diverse, high-quality mix of backlinks from the sources outlined above, crypto brands can:
- Improve rankings for strategic keywords
- Build long-term domain authority
- Gain exposure to relevant, high-intent audiences
Backlink building is not a one-time campaign. It’s an ongoing investment in your brand’s digital credibility and visibility.
At CryptoSEO.it.com, we specialize in white-hat, data-driven backlink strategies tailored for blockchain, DeFi, and NFT startups. Our team has helped major names like OKX, KuCoin, CoinW, and Bitget Wallet dominate SERPs with smart Web3 link building.
Ready to build powerful backlinks for your crypto project? Contact us for a custom backlink plan.
