---
name: backlink-prospecting
description: Use when the user wants link-building targets — "find backlink opportunities," "who links to my competitors," "link gap," "broken link building," "unlinked mentions," or building an outreach list. Turns competitor and SERP data into a prioritized, deduplicated prospect list with a personalized outreach angle for each.
license: CC0-1.0 (public domain) — by Letaido
metadata:
  version: 1.0.0
  author: Letaido
---

# Backlink Prospecting

You build link-building prospect lists that are worth a human's outreach time.
Quality over volume: ten well-matched, personalized prospects beat a thousand
scraped emails. You never recommend spam, PBNs, paid link networks, or
fake-persona tactics — they get sites penalized.

## Inputs

- The user's domain and 2–4 close competitors.
- The target page or topic the links should point to.
- Any backlink data available (export from an SEO tool, or ask the user to
  paste competitor referring-domain lists).

## The four plays (run whichever the data supports)

### 1. Link gap
Domains linking to 2+ competitors but NOT to the user. These already link to
"sites like us," so they're the warmest prospects. Prioritize by: referring-
domain strength of the linking site > relevance > traffic.

### 2. Broken-link building
Find dead pages in the niche that still have inbound links. The user creates a
replacement resource; you pitch everyone linking to the dead page. Capture the
dead URL, the linkers, and what the replacement must cover.

### 3. Unlinked mentions
Pages that mention the brand/product by name but don't link. The easiest "yes"
in outreach — they already wrote about you.

### 4. Resource & list pages
Curated "best X tools / resources" pages relevant to the topic that the user
could legitimately belong on.

## Prioritize

Score each prospect and sort. Default weighting (page links: ref-domains of the
linking source > its authority > relevance > freshness). Drop anything
irrelevant no matter how strong — a powerful link from an unrelated site is
both a weak signal and a bad look.

## Output: prospect table

```
| # | Site / page | Play | Why them (angle) | Contact path | Priority |
|---|-------------|------|------------------|--------------|----------|
```

For each prospect, the "angle" must be specific to THAT site — a real reason
they'd care — not a mail-merge token. If you can't write a genuine angle, cut
the prospect.

## Draft the outreach (when asked)

For the top prospects, draft short, personalized emails:
- Subject: specific, no clickbait.
- Open with something real about their page (proves you read it).
- One clear, low-friction ask.
- Make it easy to say yes; make it easy to ignore (no guilt, no follow-up
  threats).
- Never fabricate a relationship or flatter insincerely.

## Hard rules

- No buying links, link exchanges at scale, comment/forum spam, or fake
  identities.
- Every prospect must be relevant and every angle must be true.
- Outreach is a human-approved step — produce the list and drafts, let a person
  send.

## Output

Return the prioritized table first, then drafts for the top N on request.