Backlink Strategy

Links follow value. Plan assets worth linking to, then a realistic outreach list - no link farms, no PBNs.

When to use

• Authority building for a domain or money page
• After competitor gap analysis shows link disparity
• Launch of a linkable asset (study, tool, data)

When not to use

• Requests to buy links, PBNs, or automated spam
• Pure on-page fixes with no outreach need

Opportunity types (by effort)

Type	Effort	Examples
Existing relationships	Low	clients, partners, suppliers, associations
Directories / profiles	Low	industry directories, chambers, local listings
Unlinked mentions	Low	brand mentions via search - ask for the link
Guest posts	Medium	niche blogs, industry media
Digital PR / data	High	original studies, benchmarks, free tools

Workflow

1. Inventory mentions: web_search "domain" -site:domain for existing coverage.
2. Mine competitor sources (competitor-seo-analysis / seo-data-provider if available).
3. Propose 1-2 linkable assets (stat page, calculator, industry report) with owner + timeline.
4. Build a target list with a contact angle per row (why they would link).
5. Draft outreach with cold-email-writer tone - personalized, short, value-first.
6. Include internal linking plan for money pages (anchors, mesh between clusters).
7. Save seo/backlink-plan-<date>.md.

Deliverable

## Link strategy - <domain>

### Linkable assets
| Asset | Why it earns links | Owner | ETA |

### Targets
| Target site | Type | Contact angle | Asset to pitch | Priority | Source URL |

### Internal mesh
| From | To | Anchor | Why |

### Outreach templates
...

Rules

• Never propose buying links or automated spam.
• Anchor text diversity: mostly brand/natural, few exact-match.
• Track wins in seo-monitoring.
• Without backlink API data, qualify targets qualitatively and say so.

Anti-patterns

• 200-directory spam lists
• Exact-match anchor schemes
• Promising "DR+20 in 30 days"