A journalist request link is a backlink you earn by answering a reporter who has publicly asked for expert sources. The reporter posts a request, you reply with a useful quote or data point, and if the published article uses your answer and credits you with a link to your website, that link is a journalist request link.

For example, a reporter writing about rising pet insurance costs posts a request for comment from veterinarians. A vet clinic owner replies within the hour with two specific, quotable sentences. The story runs a week later, quoting the owner by name and linking the clinic's name to its website.

The practice is widely called "HARO link building" after Help a Reporter Out (HARO), the email service that made it popular from 2008 onward [2]. Search Insider uses "journalist request link" because the tactic now runs across several services, and because the HARO brand itself has changed hands and shut down once already.

HARO-style link building works by monitoring journalist requests and replying fast with expert comment the reporter can publish as written. The steps are the same on every service:

  1. Subscribe to one or more request services. HARO and Source of Sources both send up to three emails a day with open requests [5][7].
  2. Filter for requests you are genuinely qualified to answer.
  3. Reply quickly with a short, specific answer, your name, your role and the website you want credited.
  4. Wait and check. Most services do not tell you when you are used. You find out by searching for your name or brand after the deadline.

The quality bar is set by the services themselves. Source of Sources removes members who reply off topic, with "no exceptions, no appeals" [7], and its founder Peter Shankman says plainly that off-topic pitching gets a source removed immediately [8]. HARO under its current owner lists AI-generated content detection among its trust and safety measures [5].

Is HARO still running?

Yes. HARO is running again under Featured.com, after Cision shut it down on December 9, 2024 and sold it in April 2025 [1][3]. Many guides still describe HARO as permanently dead, which was true for about four months.

The confusion is understandable. HARO was rebranded as Connectively in 2024, and Cision then announced that "the Connectively (HARO) platform has been permanently discontinued" [1]. On April 15, 2025, Cision announced it was selling HARO to Featured.com [3]. Featured announced the next day that it would bring HARO back as a free, email-based service paid for by newsletter advertising [4], and its own site now describes HARO as "Free for All Users" [5].

When did HARO start and how has it changed?

HARO started in 2008 as a Facebook group run by Peter Shankman, and it has had four owners or operators since [5]. Its shutdown in 2024 split the market into several competing request services, and the HARO name returned under new ownership in 2025.

2008: a Facebook group becomes an email list

Peter Shankman started HARO in 2008 as a Facebook group connecting reporters with sources, then moved it to email [5]. The email format, several digests a day, is what made it the default tool for PR people and, later, link builders.

2010 to 2014: Vocus, then Cision

HARO was acquired by Vocus in June 2010 [2]. Vocus merged with Cision in 2014, which brought HARO under Cision's ownership [2][3].

2024: Connectively, Source of Sources and the shutdown

In 2024, Cision rebranded HARO as Connectively [3]. Shankman, who said the move away from the simple email format was the mistake, launched a new free service in April 2024 [6][8]. It was first called Help Every Reporter Out (HERO) and renamed Source of Sources (SOS) [8]. On November 8, 2024, Cision emailed users that Connectively would stop on December 9, 2024 [2].

2025: HARO returns under Featured

Cision announced the sale of HARO to Featured.com on April 15, 2025 [3]. Featured said it would restore the original email model [4], and users were told the emails would restart on April 22, 2025 [2].

Which services replaced HARO?

Several services now publish journalist requests, and no single one replaced HARO outright. The main ones:

ServiceFormatNotes
HARO (Featured.com)Email digests, up to three a dayFree; relaunched in 2025 [5]
Source of Sources (SOS)Email digests, up to three a dayFree; run by HARO's founder; verified journalists flagged through Muck Rack [6][7]
QwotedWeb platformFree and paid tiers
Help a B2B WriterEmailAimed at B2B and marketing writers
#JournoRequestHashtag on social platformsFree; requests posted publicly by journalists

The services differ more in who uses them than in how they work. A source who wants steady coverage usually watches two or three, because each one draws a different mix of reporters.

A journalist request link comes from answering a question a reporter has already asked, while a digital PR link usually comes from pitching a story the reporter had not planned. Both are editorial links: a journalist chooses to publish them.

Journalist request linkDigital PR link
Who starts itThe journalist posts a requestThe brand pitches a story or data
What you supplyA quote or expert answerA campaign, study or story angle
Typical resultOne quote in someone else's articleCoverage across several outlets
Effort per linkLow per reply, but many replies go unusedHigh per campaign

Journalist request links are closer to reactive PR than to a campaign. They are also different from an expert roundup, where a blogger, not a journalist, collects answers from many people for one post.

No. A journalist request gives you a chance at a quote, and the link is a separate decision the journalist and publication make. Three things commonly happen when your answer is used:

  • Quote with a followed link. The outcome link builders want.
  • Quote with a nofollow or sponsored link. Some publications mark outbound links this way as standard. Google treats these as hints rather than full endorsements [10].
  • Quote with no link at all. Your name and company appear in the article, which is an unlinked brand mention. A polite request to add a link sometimes works, but the journalist owes you nothing.

Any service that promises a guaranteed link in a named publication through "HARO" is not selling a journalist request link. It is selling a placement, and a link exchanged for money, goods or services for ranking purposes is link spam under Google's policies unless it is marked rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow" [9].

Journalist request links are safe for SEO when they are genuine editorial links, because a journalist chose to quote and credit you. Google's link spam policy targets links created "primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings," including links bought or swapped [9]. A reporter citing an expert in a news story is the opposite case.

The risk sits in shortcuts: fake credentials, invented experts, mass AI-written replies, or paying a third party to guarantee placement. The first three get sources removed from request services [5][7][8]. The last turns an editorial link into a paid one.

How do you check if a journalist request worked?

To check if a journalist request worked, search for your name and brand after the reporter's deadline. Request services rarely notify you, so the checking is your job:

  1. Search Google News for your exact name in quotes, plus the outlet if the request named one.
  2. Set up alerts for your name and brand.
  3. When you find the article, right-click your link and choose Inspect to see if it carries nofollow, sponsored or ugc [10].
  4. Keep a simple log: request, date replied, outlet, used or not, link type. After a few months the log shows which services and topics actually produce links for you.

Use journalist requests when you or someone on your team has real expertise and can reply within hours on a regular basis. The tactic suits founders, practitioners and specialists, because reporters want named people with direct experience, not a brand voice.

Skip it if you would need to stretch your credentials to fit the requests. Replies that are off topic or misrepresent who you are get you removed from the services that matter [7][8], and they do not earn links anyway.