When searching for alternatives to HARO, remember to utilize social media platforms. For example, if you type#journorequest into the Twitter search bar, you can find queries from journalists who seek valuable insights from experts in certain fields. This is a great way to catch these requests from journalists in real-time so that you can get ahead of the crowd by responding right away, rather than hours later.
I explored alternatives like Featured and Qwoted to diversify our link-building strategies and reach a broader audience. The reason I explored these alternatives was to find platforms that might have a different user base, more favorable terms, or additional features that could improve our link-building success rates. While HARO has been valuable, diversifying our platforms helps in reaching a broader audience and securing more high-quality backlinks.
I’ve tried a few alternatives to HARO at this point (including Featured and Qwoted), and frankly, they’re all much better than HARO. After using HARO for years (literally since 2016), I have come to the conclusion that paid, subscription services are now the way to go. The problem with HARO today is that because the platform is free, it is flooded with scammers. There are thousands of fly-by-night fake personas, pasted AI responses, and spam responses. I honestly feel bad for the journalists that use HARO, as they get hundreds of spammy answers to sift through. By using paid alternatives to HARO, it weeds out the riffraff. This is a win-win for everyone. Legitimate, expert sources have a better chance of having their pitches heard, and journalists receive only quality responses from agencies and experts. Basically, any paid alternative is better than HARO.
I did not stop using HARO, but I did employ the use of Featured. HARO is so well-known now that the pool of pitches is too saturated. Featured is supplemental to our PR outreach efforts because it has publications not on the HARO roster. It also has an excellent interface that allows us to track our answers. If you have a premium account, you can see whether your answer has been selected and if the article has been published.
Qwoted provides a platform tailored for both journalists and PR professionals, creating a more streamlined and effective process for connecting and collaborating on news stories and expert sources. We can better build productive and personal relationships with journalists and writers who are curious and thorough enough about their work to reach out for follow-up questions and updates. We haven’t stopped using HARO for outreach, but it takes a different approach and priority-level at different times, as queries and trends wax and wane each season. Ultimately, it is more rewarding to prioritize sustainable media relationships that endure over time and lead to exciting opportunities. Qwoted has various subscription options and resources available in its network that appeal to multiple industries and audiences, making it an invaluable resource and platform for outreach.
Next to Featured, I'd love to recommend ProfNet as a fantastic alternative to HARO, and it's one of my go-to choices when I feel overwhelmed with HARO's broad scope of options. ProfNet offers an identical service at a smaller scale, and I actually find it quite more practical, especially during the busy business months/days.
Featured has proven to be a useful alternative to HARO. There are quality publications to supply quotes for, and the best part of it is that the website states their DR and whether they backlink or not. The only way to know if you are pitching a website with a high DR on HARO is to look up each one. Then there’s the problem of whether they will backlink or not. Featured also states this information on the website, but sometimes it is unknown. Still a big advantage. There is a lot less wasted time on Featured.com than with HARO, and I have had a much higher percentage of quotes and backlinks from my pitches through Featured. It is a much better place to build authority for our website. Name: Jared Day Website: https://nuleev.com/ Title: Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder of NULEEV
I still use HARO but I expanded my outreach efforts to include other media pitching platforms like Featured and Qwoted. Adding other options elevates coverage conversion and opens doors to more media relationships. It's also useful to see new outlets looking for experts and have more chances to share my clients' expertise and thoughts.
Qwoted is a very nice platform for media contribution opportunities. In many ways, it seems that Qwoted positions itself specifically in opposition to HARO. The product is much more modern and intuitive. Customer support and customer success has been much more attentive. Ever since I switched, I no longer use HARO.
The most useful alternatives to HARO that I have found are Featured.com and Qwoted.com. Both regularly have publisher requests that are relevant both for my own business and for clients. I have also had a good success rate in having my opinions and comments published (or those of my clients). I haven't stopped using HARO but check the requests much less frequently than I used to because it tends to be very US-centric and often requires the business being cited to be based in the USA. As a UK-based business with UK-based clients the HARO requests are rarely relevant.
As the HARO landscape continues to change, we've found it necessary to try an alternative to the platform. We familiarized ourselves with the basics including Qwoted and Featured, but when we stumbled across another platform called Response Source, we knew that it was the new main platform for us. Response Source is a platform, much like HARO, that connects sources with journalists, but I believe it’s more regulated and formal. It is a subscription-based service and your monthly price is determined by your needs as a company. It appears to be a better vetting process, only allowing serious inquiries to go through and be published on the platform because scammers may not be willing to pay the subscription price. There are many niche categories that you can respond to in order to make an appearance in large publications, and it’s also very fast-paced which benefits us as we aim to get the most visibility in the most efficient way possible.
While HARO and Featured are usually very helpful, there may be moments when there aren’t too many relevant queries that pertain to your brand and/or expertise. In this case, Sourcebottle is a worthwhile resource to find reporters’ queries that are not featured in either HARO or Featured. It’s easy to sign up, and there is a free plan.
In addition to HARO, I have found Help a B2B Writer to be a useful alternative. It is similar to HARO in that you receive questions directly in your email, and the subject line indicates whether you are a good fit for the question. You also reply in your email, which makes it easy to edit and structure your response. One feature that I find particularly useful about Help a B2B Writer is that you can see the Domain Authority (DA) of the media outlet asking the question. This allows me to decide whether the question is worth my time to answer, depending on the DA of the outlet. Another advantage of Help a B2B Writer is that it allows me to edit my preferences so that I only receive questions about topics that I am knowledgeable about. This saves me a lot of time, as I don't have to filter through a large number of questions to find ones that are relevant to me.
X / Twitter through hashtags #journorequest #prrequest I find Twitter (now X) quite useful in searching for opportunities to contribute expert insights and gain media coverage. Just use #journorequest and #prrequest, and you'll see the posts from writers and journalists seeking input for their stories. I'd actually recommend searching there if you're specifically looking for opportunities in the UK. Based on my observations, most of the journalists who post on Twitter contribute to UK publications, while HARO has attracted journos from the US and Canada. It's a good combination if you want to gain visibility in both regions.
Some great alternatives to HARO are Featured, JustReachOut, Qwoted, and backlinker.io. By using a variation of tools, you gain access to different publications and those that are outside the US. Don't get me wrong, we still use HARO (Connectively.us) but our backlink strategy wouldn't be successful if we just used that one tool.
Featured and Help a B2B Writer are two great alternatives to HARO. While HARO still has some great queries on it, there are other features that it lacks. So many queries are from anonymous sources that it can be hard to tell if you're responding to a real reporter's question or someone trying to trade links with you quid pro quo. Featured has a great interface for queries as it always shows you what platform it will appear on, as well as the site's domain rating and whether or not you will get a backlink. Help a B2B Writer is great for B2B business professionals, as many of the queries there are targeted toward that field.
Deputy Manager Branding & Corporate Communication at Pinnacle Infotech
Answered 2 years ago
HARO is no doubt a good platform, but there are some other good alternatives as well. They are useful in sourcing expert insights and stories. 1. Featured: Featured (old Terkel) is an effective link-building platform. You can provide high-quality content to different websites belonging to various niches. Share your unique insight to help websites grow. 2. SourceBottle: It operates in multiple countries and allows journalists and bloggers to connect with potential sources. It is especially helpful in niche and industry-specific inquiries. 3. ProfNet: ProfNet is associated with PR newswire and focuses on connecting journalists with experts, and organizations. It is well-suited for media professionals looking for credible sources. 4. Muck Rack: It offers a comprehensive PR and media database. It is used for media monitoring, but also connect journalist with experts.
Effective Media Outreach: Exploring Dynamic Pathways for Visibility In addition to HARO, we explored Twitter as a useful alternative for media connections. This social platform allowed us to directly engage with journalists and media professionals actively seeking story leads. While HARO served us well initially, we shifted our focus to Twitter due to its real-time nature and direct interaction capabilities, which enabled us to establish more personalized and immediate connections. Leveraging the power of social media, we could actively participate in relevant discussions, showcase our expertise, and forge meaningful relationships with journalists, thereby expanding our media reach and engagement.
I've also used tools named "JournoRequests" and "PR Hunter" as different options to HARO. JournoRequests finds reporter needs from Twitter, which is quick and current. PR Hunter sorts things by topic, so it's easier to find the right fit. I moved away from HARO because there were too many messages to go through. These new tools felt more organized and saved me time.
As a former frequent HARO user who at one time had a high placement rate with the platform, at some point I started to notice that I was getting less of a return on my time investment. This is because a lot of the same publishers were showing up on the platform again and again, and I had already acquired mentions on those publications. Since looking for new media platforms to submit my pitches to, I've had the most success with Featured.com and have also been experimenting with Qwoted and SourceBottle. All of these sites are a good source of fresh media opportunities that I haven't seen on HARO.