I’ve been doing link-building on and off for a few years, but lately it feels like the whole landscape has become way more complicated than it used to be. Some people swear by guest posts, others say that’s basically dead unless you’re working with niche sites that actually care about their readers. And then there’s the whole outreach part, which always feels a bit awkward to me — half the time you’re basically cold-emailing strangers hoping they won’t think you’re trying to scam them. So I’m wondering: in 2025, what’s considered an ethical and genuinely effective approach, especially if you’re in a hyper-competitive niche where everyone’s chasing the same handful of decent websites?