Backlink opportunity finder: ten pages worth pitching

Search results for your keywords, the backlinks of the three sites that outrank you, and the source lists AI answers read. Hundreds of candidates, read in full.

Competitors, link farms, directories that link to everyone, and pages with a paid-link policy are dropped before anything else is judged, with the reason written.

Does the page actually talk to your buyer? A roundup in your category, a guide that mentions the problem you solve, a thread where someone asks. Fit is high, medium or low, and low is dropped.

Referring domains and the outbound count of the page. Not a floor on its own; a reason beside the others.

Is there a person to write to? Editor, writer or founder, with an address that can be verified. A page with no reachable person is a second look, not a keep.

Addition to a list, a resource-page entry, a guest piece, a reply in a thread. Named per page, because the pitch is different for each.

A competitor's backlink export has hundreds of rows and no judgment. Most are directories, syndications and their own properties.

A domain without a reachable editor is a dead row. The finder only keeps a page once it has found who runs it.

Asking a roundup to add you and asking a guide to cite you are different letters. Naming the ask per page is what makes the draft work.

Roundups and guides in your category with a reachable editor. The pitches the preview drafts.

Good fit, something to verify. Cleared by the agent as it reads more of the site.

A competitor, a directory, a farm. Shown with the reason so the list is trusted.

A forum or community page where the right move is a reply, not an email. Routed to the reach lane.

A page that already lists tools like yours and asks for submissions. The easiest ask.

A page that mentions the problem you solve and cites nobody. A citation ask, written from their page.

Local guides, chambers, supplier pages and the trade's own community sites.

Roundups, alternative pages, newsletters and the forums where builders ask.

Gift guides, product roundups and niche reviewers who already cover your kind of product.

The agent learns from it. Three rejections of the same kind become a rule.

The drafts are written; they wait in To approve until you say go.

Paste pages you already had in mind. They are judged the same way, with the person found.

The first gate: competitors, link farms, directories that link to everyone, and sites with a paid-link policy are dropped before any other judgment.

How closely the page talks to your buyer. High: a roundup in your category. Medium: a guide that mentions your problem. Low: a mention in passing.

Referring domains and the outbound link count of the page. A reason beside the others, never a floor on its own.

Whether a named person with a verifiable address runs the page. No person, no keep.

Addition, citation, resource entry, guest piece, or a reply in a thread. Named per page because the letter is different for each.

Keep, second look or dropped, with the reason in one line. The agent learns from what you reject.

Ten careful asks beat a hundred templated ones. The finder keeps five for a reason.

Lead with their page and what it is missing. The link is the last line, and sometimes the second email.

Parked is not dead. Most second looks become keeps once the policy or the person is confirmed.

For a project management tool, the finder read the top hundred results for eight keywords, pulled the referring pages of three competitors, and found 214 candidate pages. Policy dropped 160: the competitors themselves, nineteen directories, eleven sites that sell placements, and the rest linking to everyone. Fifty-four went to judgment.

Thirty-one were mentions in passing, low fit. Eight had no reachable person. Ten were medium fit with a person: parked as second looks. Five kept: two roundups missing the tool, a guide with a broken link where a similar tool used to be, a resource page in the category, and a forum thread asking for exactly what the tool does.

Each keep got a different first line. The roundups: here is what your list says about the category, here is what it misses. The broken link: your link to X returns a 404; here is a working replacement. The resource page: a one-line entry in your format. The thread: an answer to the question first, the tool named last.

Three links from five asks in the first month: one roundup, the broken link, the resource page. The second roundup replied asking for a price, which was labelled Commercial terms and declined because the owner had set free links only. The forum answer stayed up with no link, and brought sign-ups anyway.

The first hundred results for each of your keywords, in your country. Roundups, guides and comparisons that rank are the pages readers and assistants trust.

Every page that links to a competitor and not to you. The policy check removes the ones you would not want.

Pages linking to resources that no longer exist in your subject. A replacement is the easiest ask in the trade.

The pages AI assistants draw from for your category. Being named there counts twice: a link, and a citation.

Pages that already name your brand without a link. Thirty seconds for the writer, a link for you.

Threads asking the question your product answers. An answer first, the link last, and only where links are allowed.