How it works
How link building works, done by a bot
Link building works in six steps. Find pages that link to competitors and not to you, score them, find the editor, send a personal pitch, follow up, then confirm the live link. BacklinksBot runs all six from your own mailbox.
Find the link gap
The bot reads your site and the sites that rank next to you. It then lists the pages that link to your competitors and not to you, the "best X" lists about your topic, and the pages that mention your domain without a link.
- Up to 3, 5 or 10 competitors per analysis, by plan
- Competitors found for you if you do not name any
- Each target shows the page, the competitor it links to and why it fits
Want to see yours first? The free link gap analysis on the homepage runs this step for your domain.
Score every target
A gap list is long. The bot ranks it so the best pages go first. Each target gets a DR on the BacklinksBot DR scale (0 to 100), a topic match and the chance of a yes, based on the strategy that fits the page.
- Minimum DR filter you set per campaign
- Unlinked mentions and broken links go first, they are the easiest yes
- Low quality and off-topic pages are dropped before anyone gets an email
The strategy behind each target is explained on the 11 link building strategies page.
Find the right public contact
For each target the bot looks for the person who edits that page. It only uses public sources: the contact page, the author byline and the site imprint. Addresses that opted out before are skipped for good.
- Public business contacts only, never bought lists
- Global suppression list checked before every send
- Contact limits per month by plan, counted as you use them
- Source
- Author byline on the article
- Second source
- Site contact page
- Suppression list
- Not listed
- Previous emails
- None
Write and send personal outreach
Each email names the page, the section and the reason your link helps its readers. It goes out from your own connected mailbox, under daily caps, in the recipient's working hours. In approval mode every email waits for your OK. On Growth and Agency you can switch a campaign to autopilot.
- Your name, your address, your sender details in every email
- One click opt-out in every message
- Approval mode on every plan, autopilot on Growth and Agency
Hi Dana, your list of CRM tools for small teams is one of the clearest I have read. The section on pipeline views mentions two tools that track deals by stage. Ours does that too, with a free import from spreadsheets, which fits your readers who are moving off Excel.
Happy to send a short entry in the same format as the others.
Follow up and handle replies
The bot sends up to 2 short follow-ups and stops the moment anyone replies or opts out. Replies are sorted into yes, price, question, no and opt-out, each with a drafted answer. When a publisher asks for a fee, the draft proposes rel="sponsored" and the bot shows you the risk of paid links before you approve anything.
- Negotiation drafts on Growth and Agency
- Any fee you approve is paid by you to the publisher, within your budget cap
- We never charge per link
Read why the bot insists on this in white hat link building.
We can add you for a $150 placement fee.
Thanks for the quick reply. If we go ahead, the link would need rel="sponsored", as Google asks for paid placements. Would that work for you?
Verify the link and keep watching it
When a publisher says the link is up, the bot opens the page and checks it: the link is there, the anchor matches and the rel is what was agreed. Then it keeps checking, weekly on Starter and daily on Growth and Agency. If a link disappears, you get an alert and a drafted recovery email.
- Anchor and rel recorded for every live link
- Lost links move back to the board with a recovery email ready
- Cost per link updates as links go live
- Anchor
- yourapp
- rel
- dofollow
- DR
- 58
Week 6 the link was missing. An alert went out with a drafted recovery email, and the link came back.
Your settings
What you decide, and what the bot decides
You set the goal, the rules and the limits. The bot does the repetitive work inside them. Every plan and limit is on the pricing page.
You decide
- The goal, for example 10 DR50+ links a month under $2,000
- Minimum DR and the strategies the campaign may use
- Approval mode or autopilot
- Daily sending cap for your mailbox
- Whether any placement fee is acceptable, and the budget cap
The bot does
- Finds, scores and explains every target
- Finds public contacts and checks the opt-out list
- Writes each email for the page it is about
- Follows up twice, sorts replies, drafts answers
- Checks every live link and alerts you when one is lost
How does link building work, in short?
You find pages that would benefit from linking to you, reach the person who edits them with a useful reason, follow up politely, and confirm the link once it is live. BacklinksBot runs those steps for you and shows each one on a board.
How long until the first links go live?
Unlinked mentions and broken links often get answers in the first week or two. Lists, guest posts and digital PR take longer because editors plan their content. We do not promise a number of links, and the board shows where every target stands.
Do I have to approve every email?
Only if you want to. Approval mode is the default on every plan, so nothing goes out without your OK. On Growth and Agency you can turn on autopilot for a campaign, and the bot sends within your caps and rules.
Which mailbox sends the outreach?
Your own. You connect a mailbox on your domain and the bot sends from it, with daily caps that protect your sender reputation. Replies come back to the same mailbox and the bot reads them to sort and draft answers.
What happens when a site asks for money?
The bot drafts a reply that proposes rel="sponsored", which Google asks for on paid links, and tells you the risk of bought links. If you approve a fee, you pay the publisher directly, never through us, and the campaign budget cap limits it.
What does the free analysis show?
One analysis of your domain: pages that link to your competitors and not to you, lists about your topic, and unlinked mentions. The first 5 targets are visible with DR, strategy and why. After the email code the full list unlocks once.
Start with step one, for your own site
Enter your domain and see which pages link to your competitors and not to you. The first five targets are visible right away.