Respond to a HARO Inquiry to Increase Your Traffic

What is HARO and How to Use It in 2026

What would you give, how much would you pay, for ready access to stories, quotes and opinions from high profile experts, company CEOs and thought leaders in your industry? Access you could use at any time? Information guaranteed to be unique and valuable, vetted by experts and publication-ready?

Turn it around. What would you give to be one of those thought leaders, those recognized experts, with nearly guaranteed publicity through reporters and writers in your industry? For high quality backlinks from professional, related sites with high quality content?

What if you found out both sides were packed full of users, and all you needed to do was sign up for a single website? Welcome to HARO.

What is HARO?

HARO stands for Help A Reporter Out. Originally founded by Peter Shankman and later acquired by Cision, HARO has grown into a platform with over 1 million subscribers receiving up to three emails per day packed with journalist queries. It’s a site designed to hook up two types of people.

On one hand, you have the sources. Sources are people in positions of authority and recognition. People who own companies, who run high profile blogs and who have thoughts and opinions that matter. People who, because of their situation, have access to information they want distributed elsewhere.

On the other hand, you have the reporters. These are the writers, journalists and content creators who may not have a reputation of their own, but who have a blog or a column in a publication. These writers are looking for information and sources to put them ahead and give them unique information to broadcast.

HARO strives to connect these two groups. Reporters sign up and write queries for what they need. As a reporter, you could say you need personal experiences with a specific marketing strategy and submit the query. Throughout the day, every weekday, sources receive emails with these queries. If one catches their eye, they can respond to the reporter and give them the inside scoop.

Worth noting: each HARO query can receive anywhere from 50 to 300 responses depending on the topic and the outlet asking. That’s a lot of competition, which makes strategy and speed more important than ever.

HARO as a Source

If you believe you’re in a position of authority as a thought leader and business owner in your niche, you may be able to leverage HARO as a source. Reporters can draw on your information to create unique articles which will then link back to your site as the source of that information. You earn publicity and traffic from a quality website, and you further your reputation as a thought leader.

HARO sources can sign up at several tier levels, ranging from a free basic plan up to premium paid tiers that unlock keyword alerts, profile building, early query delivery, and priority support. The early delivery feature in particular is worth paying for, given how competitive pitching has become.

Realistic expectations matter here. The average HARO success rate sits somewhere between 7 and 15 percent. One documented case study involved a user sending 74 pitches and earning 8 links, with Ahrefs DR scores ranging from 35 to 80. Most businesses using HARO as part of a link-building strategy can expect somewhere between 2 and 8 quality backlinks per month. That may not sound like a lot, but according to uSERP, 67.5% of SEOs report that backlinks have a significant impact on search performance. A handful of genuinely authoritative links can move the needle considerably.

There are a few drawbacks to using HARO as a source. For one thing, if your business is in a narrow niche with low appeal, you may not find reporters looking for your expertise. Secondly, a HARO reporter is not actually required to link to you as the source. Most do, out of courtesy and for validation, but it’s not guaranteed. Third, the sheer volume of pitches reporters receive means even a well-crafted response can get buried.

One lasting benefit of HARO, beyond the obvious backlinks and reputation boost, comes from the connections you build with reporters. If a reporter writes an article using your information and it performs well, that reporter is more likely to come back to you as a reliable source. You can build a genuine relationship outside of the platform entirely.

Using HARO Effectively

Speed is arguably the single most important factor in HARO success. A case study by Odys Global found that the highest conversion rates came from replies sent within 15 to 60 minutes of the email blast going out. If you wait until later in the day to browse through queries, you’re likely competing against dozens or hundreds of responses that already landed in the reporter’s inbox hours earlier.

Here is a process that balances speed with quality:

• Examine the site behind the reporter. Check whether the publication is genuinely related to your industry or just a broad, unfocused blog. You want links that make sense contextually and that your audience would actually recognize and respect. Domain authority matters, but relevance matters more.
• Automatically ignore any anonymous queries. If a reporter won’t share where they publish, there’s no way to evaluate the value of the link or the credibility of the outlet. Move on without hesitation.
• Respond within the first hour. The data is clear on this. Reporters using HARO are often working against tight deadlines and will frequently pull from the first few strong pitches they receive. Waiting until the end of the day is essentially opting out.
• Be quick, accurate and informative in your response. The less the reporter has to ask follow-up questions, parse your information or hunt for supporting details, the more likely they are to use your pitch. Use bullet points, short paragraphs and ready-to-publish quotes. Always assume the reporter has no time for a follow-up. If they can’t use exactly what you send them, they’ll move on.
• Lead with a brief bio and a link to your site. Reporters need to trust the source before they quote them. Make it easy for them to verify who you are and why you’re credible in the first ten seconds of reading your pitch.
• Don’t pitch your product or service. Reporters are there for expert insight, not marketing copy. If your response reads like an ad, it will be deleted immediately and your sender reputation on the platform will suffer for it.
• Follow up once the piece goes live. Thank the reporter for including you and consider sharing the article with your own audience. It reinforces the relationship, rewards the reporter for choosing you and positions you well for future opportunities.

You can also flip the model entirely and use HARO as a reporter, sourcing quotes and expert opinions from thought leaders in your industry for your own content. Think of it as a shortcut to high-quality professional networking and a way to add genuine authority to your blog posts without spending hours cold-emailing people who may never respond.

Whether you approach HARO from the source side or the reporter side, the platform rewards consistency. Show up regularly, pitch with precision and treat every interaction as the start of a long-term professional relationship rather than a one-off link grab.