The HARO Editorial Team reserves the right to take appropriate action should a source violate these rules. If you have questions regarding HARO’s rules, please contact us.
Violating any of the below rules will result in a first time warning, and upon a second violation, being permanently banned from the service. HARO works on mutual trust and support.
1) Sources will receive three emails a day, Monday through Friday at 5:35 a.m., 12:35 p.m. and 5:35 p.m. EST, with requests from reporters and media outlets worldwide. Scan the emails, and if you’re knowledgeable about any of the topics, answer the reporter directly through the anonymous @helpareporter.net email address provided at the beginning of the source request.
2) Sources must have clear, reasonable expertise in a topic relevant to the query they are responding to. If the source’s authority on a topic is not apparent from their title or the business they represent, the source must clearly explain why they are a subject matter expert prior to offering their pitch. Sources found routinely pitching beyond their area of expertise may be immediately removed from HARO at the editor’s discretion. If you are replying on behalf of your client, you must ensure that the client meets these criteria.
3) Sources must send their own, unique responses when replying to journalist source requests. Sending a journalist plagiarized content will result in termination of the Source’s account.
4) Do not spam reporters with off-topic pitches in response to their queries.
5) Sources may not require backlinks/link swaps in exchange for use of their pitch, or use HARO solely to acquire backlinks without contributing meaningfully to the posted query. Quid pro quo backlink requirements or backlink farming may be grounds for immediate removal from HARO at the editor’s discretion.
6) Do not pitch products in your source request reply unless the source request specifically asks for a product.
7) You may forward queries to others via email or social media. As a matter of fact, we encourage it!
8) You’re not allowed to harvest any reporter information provided in the HARO emails for any reason.
9) Reply to source requests with complete, relevant answers to their questions, include a short bio and your contact information. Do not reply to source requests with incomplete information or solely, “Would like to talk to you about this.”
10) If you are replying to a source request on behalf of your client, directly reply with your client’s response. Do not reply solely with “My client can speak about this.”
11) Do not include attachments in your reply to a reporter source request. Attachments are automatically stripped from the email in order to protect reporters from viruses.
12) If you have relevant supplemental information or collateral that is helpful to the story, use a service like Dropbox to send links to the reporter in your pitch.
13) “Anonymous” queries are often larger outlets that choose to anonymize their listing to alleviate spam or deter story poaching. Reply to these queries as detailed above.
14) Media professionals are encouraged to perform additional due diligence prior to pitching.
15) Be excellent to each other.
We appreciate your cooperation!