Infographic Link Building: We Tested 12 Embed Codes. 5 Break When Pasted
We checked 30 brand infographic pages, every embed code on them, and 11 republished copies. The link usually survives. The embed code often doesn't.
Infographic link building still works when the graphic carries data other sites want to cite and the embed code you offer actually works. Most sites that reuse a good infographic link back to the source. But Google has warned since 2012 that links built into embed codes can be discounted, and its spam policies name keyword-rich links in widely distributed embeds as link spam. We checked 30 infographic pages published by brands, parsed every embed code on them, and traced 11 republished copies of six widely shared charts. Then we read 12 ranking guides on infographic backlinks. Below are the results, a five-step process and an embed code you can copy.
The short version#
- Only 12 of 30 brand infographic pages offered an embed code. Every one of the 12 linked back to the publisher, and none used a keyword anchor or a nofollow.
- 5 of the 12 codes would break if pasted as published. Four use curly quotes in their HTML attributes, and one still contains unfilled template placeholders.
- Copies mostly credit the source. Of 11 republished copies we traced, 9 linked back and 2 gave a text credit only. All 4 copies that showed the image linked the original chart page, 3 with a followed link.
- The guides skip the risk. All 12 sell a related tool or service. Only one mentions Google discounting infographic links, and none quotes Google's current spam policies.
What we found in 12 infographic embed codes#
We searched for brand and organisation pages offering infographics to embed, kept one page per domain, and fetched 30 that loaded on October 28, 2026. For each embed code we recorded the link target, the anchor, the rel attribute and whether the code would work if pasted into another site as written. Galleries such as Visual.ly and Pinterest were excluded.
The good news is that nobody is gaming it. Ten of the 12 codes make the image itself the link, and five add a second text link with the brand name, as Statista and Visual Capitalist do. No code used a keyword-rich anchor, and only one carried any rel value at all: HubSpot's, written as rel=“noopener” with curly quotes.
The bad news is quality control. These are the five codes that fail as published:
- Curly quotes (4). HubSpot, Cassidy's (wemovetheworld.com), Epicure & Culture and The Shelf all wrap attribute values in typographic quotes. HubSpot's reads href=‘https://blog.hubspot.com/…’, so a browser reads the quote mark as part of the URL and the link goes nowhere.
- Unfilled template (1). Careerminds' code still says "Created by [BRAND]" and links to [BRAND_URL].
Three more work but leak value. Cassidy's uses a relative link, so on another site it would point at that site, not at Cassidy's. Enjuris offers 21 embed codes that all link to service pages such as /car-accident/ rather than to the infographic. The American Hospital Association's 2017 code links the image to a PDF.
The other 18 pages had no embed code at all. Atlas Van Lines says "Simply copy the code below and paste it on your website," and no code follows. This is a sample of 30 pages found by search, so read it as a pattern of common faults, not a rate.
Do sites that republish infographics link back?#
Usually, in our small spot check. We traced six widely shared infographics from Statista, Visual Capitalist and Renderforest and found 11 copies on other domains:
- 4 showed the image. All four linked the original chart page. Three links were followed. A Russian magazine re-hosting a Visual Capitalist chart used rel="noopener nofollow".
- The other 7 cited the data. Five quoted the numbers without the image, and on two we could not confirm whether the image appeared. Four linked the source with a followed link, one with nofollow, and two gave only a text credit such as "This article was first published on Statista."
- One followed link went to a homepage. A copy of Renderforest's branding statistics linked renderforest.com rather than the infographic page. The other eight links pointed at the original chart page.
Statista's embed code shows why the pasted code matters. IntelliNews and ZeroHedge both pasted it unchanged, and both pages carry two followed links back: the image to the chart and "You will find more infographics at Statista" to its chart index. The publisher wrote the link once, in the code, and every copy that pasted it carries it.
What Google says about infographic links#
Google has been wary of infographic links for over a decade. In a 2012 interview with Eric Enge, Matt Cutts, then Google's head of search spam, said: "I would not be surprised if at some point in the future we did not start to discount these infographic-type links to a degree. The link is often embedded in the infographic in a way that people don't realize, vs. a true endorsement of your site." He added that "the person publishing the infographic has to know, and agree with, including an endorsement to your site as attribution."
Google's current spam policies define link spam as "creating links to or from a site primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings." Three of the listed examples apply directly:
- "Keyword-rich, hidden, or low-quality links embedded in widgets that are distributed across various sites"
- "Widely distributed links in the footers or templates of various sites"
- "Requiring a link as part of a Terms of Service, contract, or similar arrangement without allowing a third-party content owner the choice of qualifying the outbound link"
So the safe version is the one most brands in our sample already use: a visible, branded credit link that the publisher can see and edit, pointing to the infographic page. Asking for a keyword anchor turns a credit into the pattern Google describes.
What 12 infographic link building guides say#
We read 12 guides ranking for "infographic link building", "infographic backlinks" and "do infographics still work for SEO" on October 28, 2026: Backlinko, Venngage, Piktochart, Visme, SEO Buddy, Dofollow.com, LSEO, Pure SEO, Linkody, SEO.co, Hike SEO and Bird Marketing.
All 12 publishers sell a design tool, an agency service or an SEO tool. Nine tell you to pitch the infographic, and eight to offer an embed code, but none checks that the code works. Two go further than Google would like: Venngage says to "let them know what type of link and anchor text you want," and SEO.co recommends embeds "paired with a properly implemented embed code and relevant anchor text." Backlinko is the exception: it warns that embed links "are the same types of semi-automatic links that Google doesn't like." The only own-campaign figures, from Backlinko and Venngage, measure traffic, not links earned.
How to do infographic link building in five steps#
- Start with data nobody else has. A survey, a dataset you compiled, or a count like the ones in this post. Pretty charts of other people's statistics are easy to copy without credit. Our linkable assets post covers what makes a page worth citing.
- Publish it on its own page with text. Google's image guidance says it "extracts information about the subject matter of the image from the content of the page," so put the key findings in HTML around the image, with descriptive alt text.
- Offer a plain, working embed code. Straight quotes, absolute URLs, the image linked to the infographic page and one branded credit link. Then paste it into a test page and click both links before you publish.
- Pitch the sites that cover the topic. Send the one finding each editor's readers care about, not the whole graphic. The link building outreach basics apply.
- Find uncredited copies and ask once. Run a reverse image search every month or so, and ask sites that used the image without a link to add the credit. Our link reclamation guide has the email.
The pitching is the slow part. GenLink's backlink agent finds sites that cover your topic, writes each pitch around the finding that fits them and sends it from your own mailbox.
An infographic embed code you can copy#
Replace the three URLs, the alt text and the brand name. Keep the straight quotes.
<p><a href="https://example.com/your-infographic-page/"><img src="https://example.com/images/your-infographic.png" alt="Short description of what the infographic shows" width="800" loading="lazy"></a></p>
<p>Infographic by <a href="https://example.com/your-infographic-page/">Your Brand</a></p>
Both links point to the infographic page, not your homepage or a service page, so readers who click land on the thing they just saw. The credit uses your brand name, not a keyword. If a publisher wants to add rel="nofollow", let them. Google's own example list warns against requiring a link without allowing that choice.
Infographics vs other linkable assets#
An infographic is a format, not a reason to link. In our copy check, the sites that credited Statista and Visual Capitalist were citing the numbers, and at least five of the 11 used the data without the image. That is the same reason sites link to an original study or a free tool: the content is useful and the source is clear.
So spend most of the effort on the data. Turn the finding into a chart that is easy to embed, and pitch it the way you would a digital PR story. The full process is in our link building guide.
Frequently asked questions#
Does infographic link building still work? Yes, when the infographic carries original data. In our spot check, 9 of 11 sites that reused six popular infographics linked back to the source. The weak point is usually the publisher's own embed code.
Are infographic backlinks dofollow? Mostly, where the reusing site links at all. All 12 embed codes we parsed had no nofollow, and 3 of the 4 republished copies showing the image used a followed link.
Can infographic links get you penalized? Keyword-rich or hidden links in widely distributed embeds are named as link spam in Google's spam policies. A visible, branded credit link to the infographic page is the safe pattern.
What should an infographic embed code include? The image linked to the infographic page, descriptive alt text, and one branded credit link, written with straight quotes and absolute URLs. Test it on a blank page before publishing.
Should I submit infographics to infographic directories? Not for links. Google's spam policies list "Low-quality directory or bookmark site links" as link spam. Use pitching and reclamation instead.
How do I find sites that used my infographic without a link? Run a reverse image search on the image file, check each page for a link, and email the ones without credit once, politely.
Your first brief takes one sentence. Describe the sites you want to cite your data in plain English, and the agent starts finding and pitching them. The free plan runs on a GenLink-branded domain, so you can try it before you pay anything.
