3 builders who never spoke to each other

Go back to everyone who has covered you

The cheapest links are from people who already published something about you. Message everyone who interviewed or featured you in the last couple of years, ask them to refresh the piece and mention the new thing, and keep a private list of who shared your work so you can tell them personally next time. Where you have no history, pitch the people who shared the nearest equivalent article.

The method

1. 01

   Text everyone who has interviewed or featured you in the last couple of years, ask them to refresh the old piece, and tack a mention of your new project onto the request.

2. 02

   Keep a private list of the individuals who previously shared your work, or something close to it, and notify them personally when the next piece ships.

3. 03

   With no publishing history to point at, find the people who shared the nearest equivalent article and pitch them instead.

4. 04

   Find the listicles that already rank in your category, contact whoever runs the site, and ask to be named in the text rather than linked.

5. 05

   Email those site owners and ask nicely for a credit link even though the free licence obliges them to give nothing - a good share of people will oblige.

What it returned

• 27

  Author did this for Copywriting Examples and had seven new backlinks by the next morning, off 27 minutes of work.

• 16

  For his piece on 16 companies dominating Google, Glen Allsopp tweeted one suggested influencer who had never heard of him, and that person's single tweet drew 98 further retweets.

• Glen Allsopp credits the idea to Brian Dean on Eric Siu's podcast, and found the best recent tweet about Detailed came from an agency director with a large following.

• Example given of a best AI video generator listicle on someone else's blog with his product named first.

Sources

• Ideas I was right about | Corey HainesCorey Haines · corey.co · Idea: HARO replacement · 2024-06-11
• 13 Advanced Link Building Strategies You (Probably) Haven't Used - Detailed.comBrian Dean · detailed.com · Build a Private Database of Proven Promoters · 2019-08-05
• 7 Backlinks in 27 minutesHarry Dry · Marketing Examples · 7 Backlinks in 27 minutes · undated
• Using Unsplash for brand awareness and backlinksHarry Dry · Marketing Examples · Using Unsplash for brand awareness and backlinks · undated
• SEO is NOT dead.Tibo Louis-Lucas · tmaker.io · What can you do about this? · 2026-07-02