What backlink sources have worked for you recently, especially for building steady authority rather than just numbers? ?

For steady authority, I’ve had better results from a smaller number of relevant links than from chasing huge backlink counts. A site I worked on once gained traction after we focused on niche blogs, useful resource pages and genuine industry mentions instead of mass submissions. If you’re in the adult niche, RYR adult is one resource you could look at for ideas. I’d still vet every domain carefully relevance, traffic and consistency matter much more than raw numbers.