Journalist requests are questions that reporters post to services such as HARO (Help a Reporter Out), Qwoted, Featured and Source of Sources, so that experts can answer them. If your answer is used, you get a quote in an article, your name and company next to it, and sometimes a link to your site. For a small company it is one of the few press channels that costs nothing but time.
What happened to HARO?
HARO, started by Peter Shankman, was the original. Cision, its owner, rebranded it Connectively and shut that platform down in December 2024. Featured.com bought the HARO brand in April 2025 and brought it back at helpareporter.com as a free, email-based service with several digests a day, as described by industry coverage. The site was rate-limiting automated visits when this page was checked, so read the current terms on helpareporter.com yourself before you rely on any detail.
Shankman also runs Source of Sources (SOS). Its own site says the list is free and sends up to three emails a day, and it asks that replies stay on topic, since off-topic pitches can get you removed.
Which journalist request services exist today?
| Service | How it works | Cost (checked 26 October 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| HARO (helpareporter.com) | Email digests of reporter queries grouped by category; you reply by email | Free for sources, per industry coverage |
| Source of Sources | Free daily emails of requests | Free, up to three emails a day |
| Qwoted | Platform with a verified reporter database and a daily opportunities email | The free plan gives 2 pitches a month and a 2-hour response delay; Pro is $149 a month for 35 pitches |
| Featured.com | Platform for requests, podcast invites and speaking chances | Check plans on the site |
| #journorequest | Reporters post on X and Bluesky using the hashtag | Free |
Pricing changes. Open each pricing page before you commit money.
Why does it matter for SEO?
A quote on a news or industry site gives you a link from a page that Google already trusts, plus a mention of your name next to your topic. Those mentions show you know the field, which supports E-E-A-T, and they feed AI answers that cite press coverage. Not every outlet links. Some name you and your company with no link, so follow up using the unlinked mentions method.
How do you get quoted, step by step?
- Pick one or two services. Start with HARO and Source of Sources (both free), add Qwoted’s free plan, and leave the paid tiers until a quote has earned its fee.
- Set a filter. Create an email rule that labels requests with your topics, so you read only the queries you can answer well. Skip the rest.
- Pick the right queries. Answer only where you have first-hand experience. Check the outlet before you reply: a real publication with real readers beats an anonymous site.
- Reply fast. Reporters work to deadlines that can be hours away. Answer within an hour or two of the request.
- Follow the format they ask for. Put your answer in the email body, not in an attachment, and keep to the length they ask.
- Lead with the quote. Write two to four sentences a reporter can paste. Add a number or a specific example from your own work. A line such as “In our shop, returns fell after we added size photos” is quotable; “it depends” is not.
- Add credentials in one line. Your name, title, company, what you did and the URL to link.
- Offer a short call or more material. A chart or a data point from your own research makes your answer stand out. See original research.
- Track every pitch. Log the date, the outlet, the topic and the result in a sheet.
How do you measure the result?
- Published quotes and the share of pitches that win one.
- Links gained with the follow type. Check each page for the link and whether it has
rel="nofollow"orrel="sponsored", using the page source. - Referring domains and branded searches after the piece goes live (see backlink monitoring).
- Time spent per quote. Divide your hours by the quotes won. If the answer is over a few hours, tighten your filters.
What mistakes should you avoid?
- Pitching outside your field. Reporters remember who wastes their time, and SOS removes off-topic repliers.
- Sending generic or AI-written answers. Coverage of the HARO relaunch mentions complaints about AI-written pitches. A real example from your own work stands out.
- Writing a sales pitch. A reporter wants a source, not an ad.
- Paying for links via a “journalist”. Paid links need
rel="sponsored"orrel="nofollow"according to Google. - Quoting numbers you can’t back up. State where each figure comes from, and never invent one.
- Dropping it after two weeks. The win rate is low, so run it for a quarter.
Where can you learn more?
The free digital marketing module of the Fe/male Switch startup school covers early press work for startups. Next steps on SEO100: widen your reach with digital PR and consider the spoken version in podcast guesting.