✶ Free tool by Founder Spells
Free SEO Directory & Backlink Sites
570 citation sources + 389 founder-friendly subreddits to build backlinks and distribute your startup. Search, filter, copy a link. Always free.
Browse the Codex
r/startups
broad founder discussion, weekly feedback threads
r/Entrepreneur
large, mixed quality, good for distribution
r/EntrepreneurRideAlong
building in public
r/SmallBusiness
operators, not just tech
r/smallbusinessuk
UK operators
r/smallbusinesscanada
r/Business
r/businessideas
r/AskMarketing
r/Startup_Ideas
r/cofounder
find one (mostly)
r/Startups_Help
r/RoastMyStartup (post-only with rules)
r/StartupAccelerators
r/venturecapital
r/EuropeanFederalists (for EU startups news)
r/SideProject
show what you're building
r/indiehackers
r/IndieDev (often gamedev
check fit)
r/solopreneur
r/bootstrappedSaaS
r/digitalnomad
r/financialindependence (FI-adjacent founders)
r/passive_income (mixed quality)
r/microsaas
r/buildinpublic
r/SaaS
r/SaaSy
r/SaaSSales
r/B2BSaaS
r/Saas_Marketing
r/SaasMarketing
r/CustomerSuccess
r/churn
r/SEO
main hub, strict on promo
r/bigseo
more advanced
r/TechSEO
deep-dive technical
r/juststart
affiliate / niche site flavor
r/SEO_for_emerging_brands
r/SEO_Digital_Marketing
r/SearchEngines
r/GoogleMyBusiness
local SEO ops
r/LocalSEO
r/AffiliateMarketing
r/blogging
r/Wordpress
site ops + SEO overlap
r/Backlinks
r/Semrush
r/Ahrefs
r/GenerativeSEO (GEO/LLM SEO)
r/AIO_SEO
r/contentmarketing
r/marketing
r/digital_marketing
r/DigitalMarketing
r/marketingmentor
r/marketing_jobs
r/AdvertisingIRL (humor + insights)
r/BrandManagement
r/Branding
r/MarketingAutomation
r/MarketingResearch
r/copywriting
r/freelanceWriters
r/Blogging
r/WritingPrompts (creative; for content inspiration)
r/contentcreation
r/ContentMarketing
r/contentstrategy
r/PPC
r/FacebookAds
r/GoogleAds (small) / r/adwords
r/TikTokAds
r/LinkedinAds
r/RedditAds
r/programmatic
r/AdOps
r/socialmedia
r/SocialMediaMarketing
r/Instagram (algorithm chat)
r/TikTokCreators
r/youtubers
r/NewTubers
r/PartneredYoutube
r/Twitter / r/twitterhelp / r/XPro
r/LinkedInLunatics (intel + humor)
r/Threads_app
r/Bluesky
r/Mastodon
r/Pinterest
r/Emailmarketing
r/coldemail
r/EmailDesign
r/Newsletters
r/MailChimp
r/klaviyo
r/GrowthHacking
r/analytics
r/GoogleAnalytics
r/datascience (adjacent)
r/CRO (conversion rate optimization)
r/ABtesting
r/Mixpanel
r/Amplitude
r/ProductManagement
r/ProductManagers
r/UserResearch
r/JTBD (Jobs to Be Done)
r/agile
r/scrum
r/userexperience
r/UXDesign
r/UI_Design
r/web_design
r/graphic_design
r/logodesign
common feedback sub
r/Figma
r/Framer
r/DesignJobs
r/IxD (interaction design)
r/designcritiques
r/webdev
r/javascript
r/reactjs
r/nextjs
r/vuejs
r/sveltejs
r/typescript
r/node
r/tailwindcss
r/css
r/html5
r/Frontend
r/learnprogramming
r/cscareerquestions
r/devops
r/selfhosted
r/nocode
r/lowcode
r/bubble
r/webflow
r/glideapps
r/airtable
r/notion
r/zapier
r/n8n
official + active
r/Lovable
AI builder
r/Cursor
r/replit
r/ClaudeAI / r/Anthropic
r/ChatGPTCoding
r/OpenAI
r/ChatGPT
r/ClaudeAI
r/LocalLLaMA
best technical AI sub
r/singularity (hype-heavy)
r/MachineLearning
academic
r/artificial
r/StableDiffusion
r/midjourney
r/PromptEngineering
r/AItools
r/AI_Agents
r/LangChain
r/LLMDevs
r/RAG
r/perplexity_ai
r/GoogleGeminiAI
r/grok
r/aivideo
r/sales
r/salesdevelopment
r/SalesOperations
r/techsales
r/coldemail
r/LinkedInLeads
r/B2B_Marketing
r/AccountManagers
r/ecommerce
r/shopify
r/FulfillmentByAmazon
r/AmazonSeller
r/dropship / r/dropshipping
r/BigCommerce
r/woocommerce
r/EtsySellers
r/Flipping (resellers)
r/PrintOnDemand
r/EcommerceTools
r/DTC
r/Subscription_Boxes
r/freelance
r/forhire
r/slavelabour (cheap gigs; mixed)
r/freelance_forhire
r/agency
r/digitalagency
r/marketingagency
r/Upwork
r/fiverr
r/SideProject
r/InternetIsBeautiful
high-traffic showcase
r/coolgithubprojects
r/opensource
r/programming (rarely allows showcases)
r/learnmachinelearning (show educational)
r/madeinpython
r/reactjs (showoff Saturdays)
r/nextjs (showcase threads)
r/SomebodyMakeThis (idea validation)
r/AppIdeas
r/SaaS (weekly launch threads)
r/microsaas
r/IndieDev (game-leaning)
r/roastmysite
r/roastmystartup
r/roastmylogo
r/roastmyresume (talent overlap)
r/CritiqueMyApp
r/ProductTesters
r/AlphaandBetausers
r/Design_Critiques
r/needadvice
r/Entrepreneur (Monthly feedback threads)
r/realtors
r/RealEstate
r/realestateinvesting
r/PropertyManagement
r/Lawyertalk
r/LegalAdvice (consumer-facing; not promo)
r/LawFirm
r/paralegal
r/medicine (clinicians)
r/dentistry
r/therapists
r/nursing
r/HealthIT
r/fintech
r/CFP
r/personalfinance (HUGE; no promo)
r/financialindependence
r/edtech
r/Teachers
r/Professors
r/CollegeAdmissions
r/humanresources
r/recruiting
r/AskHR
r/logistics
r/supplychain
r/3PL
r/CryptoCurrency
r/ethdev
r/solana
r/CryptoMarkets
r/web3
r/gamedev
r/IndieDev
r/Unity3D
r/unrealengine
r/climate
r/RenewableEnergy
r/sustainability
r/ClimateTech
r/digitalnomad
r/travel
r/solotravel
r/AirBnBHosts
r/restaurateur
r/KitchenConfidential
r/Coffee_Shop_Owners
r/Bartenders
r/personaltraining
r/Fitness
r/yogateachers
r/dogtraining
r/CatAdvice
r/Pets
r/forhire
r/hireanartist
r/remotejs
r/remotework
r/jobbit
r/RemoteJobs
r/RemoteJob
r/RemotePython
r/freelance_forhire
r/recruitinghell (intel + humor)
r/AskUK, r/unitedkingdom, r/CasualUK
r/AskAnAmerican, r/AskAnAustralian, r/AskACanadian
r/europe, r/AskEurope
r/canada, r/onguardforthee
r/australia, r/AusFinance
r/ireland, r/AskIreland
r/germany, r/de, r/Finanzen
r/france, r/AskFrance
r/spain, r/es
r/italy, r/AskItaly
r/portugal, r/PortugueseInvestors
r/Netherlands, r/Belgium
r/sweden, r/norge, r/Denmark, r/Finland
r/Polska, r/Czech, r/AskARussian (politics-sensitive)
r/india, r/IndiaInvestments, r/IndianStreetBets
r/japan, r/Korea, r/HongKong, r/singapore, r/malaysia, r/Philippines, r/indonesia, r/Thailand, r/vietnam
r/brasil, r/argentina, r/mexico, r/chile, r/Colombia, r/peru
r/SouthAfrica, r/Kenya, r/Nigeria, r/Egypt
r/saudiarabia, r/dubai, r/IsraelTech
r/nyc, r/AskNYC, r/sanfrancisco, r/LosAngeles, r/Chicago, r/Boston, r/Seattle, r/Austin, r/Miami, r/Atlanta, r/DC
r/Toronto, r/Vancouver, r/Montreal
r/london, r/Manchester, r/edinburgh, r/Dublin
r/Berlin, r/Munich, r/Hamburg, r/Frankfurt
r/Paris, r/Lyon, r/Marseille
r/Madrid, r/Barcelona, r/Valencia
r/Lisbon, r/Porto
r/Amsterdam, r/Rotterdam, r/Brussels
r/Stockholm, r/Oslo, r/Copenhagen, r/Helsinki
r/Warsaw, r/Krakow, r/Prague, r/Vienna, r/Zurich
r/Sydney, r/Melbourne, r/Brisbane, r/Perth
r/Tokyo, r/Seoul, r/Singapore, r/HongKong
r/Bangalore, r/Mumbai, r/Delhi
r/SaoPaulo, r/Rio, r/BuenosAires, r/MexicoCity
r/Entrepreneur (overlap)
r/investing
r/stocks
r/wallstreetbets (culture, not advice)
r/SecurityAnalysis
r/AngelInvestor
r/venturecapital
r/Accounting
r/tax
r/smallbusinesstax
r/productivity
r/getdisciplined
r/notion
r/ObsidianMD
r/Roamresearch
r/PKMS
r/Todoist
r/AppleNotes
r/zsh / r/vim / r/neovim (devs)
r/writing
r/freelanceWriters
r/Substack
r/newsletters
r/medium
r/Supabase
r/Firebase
r/aws / r/awsdevops
r/AZURE
r/googlecloud
r/CloudFlare
r/vercel
r/netlify
r/postgres / r/PostgreSQL
r/mongodb
r/docker
r/kubernetes
r/elixir
r/golang
r/rust
r/python / r/django / r/flask / r/learnpython
r/ruby / r/rails
r/php / r/laravel
r/dotnet / r/csharp
r/java / r/SpringBoot
r/kotlin / r/androiddev
r/swift / r/iOSProgramming
r/flutterdev
r/reactnative
r/expo
9:1 rule
for every self-promotional post or comment, contribute 9 non-promotional ones.
Read sidebar + wiki before posting.** Each sub has different rules on links, flairs, and post types.
Account age + karma matter.** Most subs auto-remove posts from sub-30-day accounts or sub-100 karma.
No link drops in comments.** Describe, then link if asked. "DM me" is also flagged in many subs.
Disclose interest.** "I built this" is fine in showcase subs and often required.
Use Show & Tell / Self-Promo Saturday threads** when they exist.
Don't crosspost the same post to 10 subs in one day
sitewide spam filter.
Engage with replies
a thread without OP replies dies in 2 hours.
Use unique titles per sub
copy-paste titles get caught by anti-spam.
Track wins.** Note which subs convert (signups, demos) vs. which only bring vanity traffic.
3 quality comments → 1 post, per sub, per week max.
Time posts for the sub's peak (often Tue–Thu, 9am–12pm in the sub's dominant timezone).
Saturday/Sunday for showcase subs.
`site:reddit.com/r/SUBNAME "your topic"`
see if it's been asked.
Reddit's own search is bad; use Google.
F5Bot
free email alerts on Reddit + HN
Brand24 / Mention / Notify
paid
GummySearch
Reddit-only research
Subreddit Stats (subredditstats.com)
Frequently asked questions
- Do backlinks from directories help SEO?
- Yes — quality, relevant directory backlinks still help SEO by sending referral traffic, surfacing your site to crawlers, and adding citation signals. Focus on directories that are topically aligned with your niche, have real editorial standards, and rank for branded queries themselves. Low-quality, spammy link farms can hurt more than they help.
- How do I get backlinks from a directory?
- Pick directories that match your category, submit your site with a clear title, description, and category, then verify ownership when required. Many directories are free; some require an email signup or a small fee. The Backlinks Codex lists 570 citation sources you can submit to, filtered by category and quality.
- How do directory backlinks improve local search rankings?
- Local directories (Google Business Profile, Yelp, Bing Places, industry-specific listings) create consistent NAP citations — name, address, phone — that search engines use to verify a business's location and legitimacy. Consistent citations across reputable directories improve trust signals and help local pack rankings.
- Are subreddits good for backlinks?
- Subreddit links are usually nofollow, so they don't pass direct ranking weight — but they drive real traffic, surface your product to engaged audiences, and often get re-shared on do-follow sites. The Codex lists 389 startup, SaaS, and SEO subreddits with quality and trend tags to find the right place to post.