Collect Top Backlink Prospects While You Do Keyword Research
By LincSpider Team · 2026-07-27 · 13 min
The old playbook wastes a week: find keywords → build pages → panic about links → start competitor research from zero. By then you are tired, the publish date slipped, and “link building” becomes a Friday guilt task.
A tighter loop: collect backlink prospects while you do keyword research. Same SERP session that tells you whether a keyword is winnable also surfaces peers whose link profiles are worth copying — before you need them.
This guide covers a compliant workflow only: SERP peers → official or free checker samples → filter → human outreach. No scraping hidden APIs, no certificate hacks, no “free unlimited backlink database” fantasy. We built LincSpider for the execution step after your pool is vetted.
Related: Expand Backlinks from Competitor Link Pages, Back Link Checker Options, Affordable Link Building Tools.
Why Collect Backlinks During Keyword Research
Keyword research answers: Can we rank? Backlink research answers: Where did someone already rank get links? Those questions share the same input — who is on page one today.
Old sequence:
keywords → publish → find competitors → collect links → outreach
Upgraded sequence:
keywords + SERP peers → collect Top link samples → publish → filter → outreach
After a week of normal keyword browsing with this habit, most solo operators have enough domains in a sheet to fuel outreach for days — without a dedicated “link building weekend.”
On r/SEO, a manual operator describes the merged workflow:
First is to go through your competitor links and pick out the best ones from them and get them yourself. Then you can just use the keyword research tools and find related sites to yours that may accept a guest post or a niche edit…
Same idea, earlier in the timeline: do not wait until post-publish to notice competitors exist.
Which SERP Peers to Copy
When you Google a target keyword, you are looking at a live leaderboard. Not every domain is worth copying.
Default filter: newer domains in the top three
For a typical mid-competition keyword:
- Scan the top three organic results.
- Check whether the domain looks relatively new — roughly registered within the last ~five years (WHOIS, browser extensions, or registrar lookup tools).
- If yes, log the domain and pull a Top backlink sample into your pool.
Logic: a newer site that already ranks had to solve discovery with a link profile you can study. Established incumbents often carry legacy links you cannot replicate this quarter.
High-competition keywords: widen to page two
When page one is all decade-old brands, expand to page-two newer domains using the same registration-age heuristic. You are not declaring victory — you are finding achievable link patterns, not copying Amazon.
Do not filter on traffic yet
Free checker samples often label “Top backlinks.” Overlap with paid “Best links” views can be high — treat the sample as a quality-biased snapshot, not the full graph.
A single high-DR dofollow from a modest-traffic site is common. DR can look inflated on young sites before crawlers catch up. Collect first; argue about traffic when you are deciding what to pitch.
Pull Top Backlink Samples the Compliant Way
You can build a serious prospect pool without grey-hat automation.
Free backlink checkers (official pages)
Tools like Ahrefs’ free backlink checker show a limited sample per domain — enough to learn where a peer gets links (blogs, directories, roundups). Use what the official UI displays. Copy into your sheet or ledger. Do not route traffic through MITM proxies to harvest undocumented JSON endpoints — it breaks ToS, breaks often, and teaches bad habits.
Bing Webmaster Tools and GSC
For your own site, Google Search Console’s Links report shows linking domains Google knows about. For competitors, Bing Webmaster Tools exposes referring-domain research in many accounts (r/DigitalMarketing thread):
Go to Bing Webmaster Tools… Add a competitor domain. You'll see referring domains
See Back Link Checker Options for an honest map of free vs paid depth.
Paid exports when you already subscribe
If you pay for Semrush or Ahrefs, export referring pages during the same keyword session. r/SEO mentions content gap and domain explorer patterns:
Using ahrefs content gap feature Domain explorer
That is fine — licensed export, not intercepted API.
What “compliant automation” means
Automate copy-paste reduction, not paywall evasion:
- Bookmarklets that open the checker for the domain on your current SERP tab
- Sheets or JSON ledgers you control
- Zapier/Make pulling your exported CSVs
Store only data you were entitled to see on the tool’s page or in your export. If a workflow requires bypassing TLS warnings, it is out of scope for this article and out of scope for a stable ops stack.
Stack Habits That Save Clicks
Muscle memory beats heroic weekends.
| Habit | Why |
|---|---|
| Open Google results in new tabs | SERP → peer site → checker without losing the results page |
| Domain age extension or WHOIS bookmark | Fast “is this a newer winner?” check |
| Checker bookmarklet | One click from any domain to its Top sample view (include subdomain mode when offered) |
| Same sheet columns every time | keyword, peer domain, age signal, sample URL, DR if shown, status |
r/seogrowth keeps the bar realistic:
Google Search Console is probably your best bet if you want something free and straightforward. Most small businesses can get pretty far with just that
You do not need the full enterprise suite on day one (r/SEO):
you can actually go incredibly far using only free tools and / or trial version of tools
Paid suites consolidate workflows (r/SEO):
Looks like you have to pay to get everything in one place.
This article’s point: until you pay, merge keyword SERP scans with free Top samples — you are already in the same room as paid “content + links” views, just with manual steps.
Store and Sort Before You Outreach
Collection is hoarding with structure. Outreach is spending with judgment.
Minimum ledger columns
| Column | Example |
|---|---|
| seed_keyword | invoice reminders saas |
| peer_domain | newpeer.example |
| peer_rank | 3 |
| registration_signal | ~2022 |
| sample_referring_url | https://blog.host.com/roundup |
| dr_or_da | 62 (if shown) |
| channel | blog_comment / guest / directory |
| status | pooled / vetted / queued / sent |
Pre-outreach sort
When you are ready to act — often after your page exists, sometimes before for warm-up:
- Sort by DR/DA descending as a coarse quality filter.
- Drop obvious spam hosts, unrelated niches, and auto-approve comment farms (vet checklist in competitor expansion).
- Keep channel labels honest. A directory row is not a comment opportunity.
r/SEO states the outreach intent plainly:
I want to analyze his competitors' backlink profiles and then reach out to the websites they already get links from.
Your pool is the address book for that sentence — built incrementally during keyword work.
r/seogrowth names the core quartet:
rank tracking, keyword research, backlink overview, and site audits.
You are optimizing the backlink overview step to happen in parallel with keyword research, not six months later.
Quality Reminders: Links ≠ Traffic
A peer with many links and weak traffic still teaches you where links came from. It does not prove “more links = more visits.”
Google ranking is multi-factor. Piling prospects into spammy outreach because the sheet is big is how pools become penalties.
r/DigitalMarketing separates AI hype from data reality:
Keyword volume, competition, backlink profiles, that still comes from platforms like Ahrefs or Semrush. Most AI tools sit on top of that data, not instead of it.
AI can draft. It cannot replace your SERP eyeball session or your decision to vet a blog before commenting.
Indie Hackers’ SERP insight framing still applies: study top competitors, identify sites linking to them, fill content gaps — then earn links from authoritative sources. Collecting during keyword research is step one of that playbook.
When the pool is filtered, execution belongs in From Free Backlink Audit to Outreach Targets and comment marketing guides — human tone, human submit.
Where LincSpider Fits (After the Pool)
Prospect pools are inputs. LincSpider is a Chrome assistant for the action layer — not a keyword tool, not a bulk checker, not an API scraper.
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Value | From a vetted URL, discover related pages, draft contextual comments or emails, prefill forms — you confirm each step |
| Audience | Founders and small SEO teams who already keyword-browse daily and want outreach without bot behavior |
| Scenario | Your sheet has twelve blog_comment rows from this week’s SERP scans — open each, read, draft, prefill |
| Install | /en/download |
| Workflow | Install extension → open target page → review discovery suggestions → generate draft → prefill → you post or send. See /en/pricing for credits |
Pair with How to Build Backlinks with Blog Comments for what “good” looks like on the page.
FAQ
Can I collect backlink prospects while doing keyword research?
Yes — and you should. The same SERP that validates a keyword also shows peers whose Top link samples are worth logging.
Which SERP competitors should I copy backlinks from?
Prefer newer domains (roughly ~5 years) ranking in the top three — or page two for ultra-competitive terms. They show link patterns you can still reach.
Do I need Ahrefs or Semrush to start a prospect pool?
No. Free checker samples, Bing Webmaster Tools, and manual SERP work get you surprisingly far. Paid tools speed exports when you already subscribe.
Are free backlink checker samples enough?
Enough to seed a pool and learn channel types. Not enough to replace full exports for large campaigns — but seeding is the bottleneck this article removes.
How do I store prospects without violating tool terms?
Save only data from official pages and licensed exports you are allowed to use. Avoid undocumented API interception and certificate bypasses.
Where does LincSpider fit after I have a pool?
After vetting: Chrome discovery, AI drafts, prefill, human submit — not auto-post. Start at /en/download.
Wrapping up
Collect backlinks during keyword research by logging Top samples from SERP peers while the keyword context is fresh — compliant checkers, official exports, honest ledgers. Sort before you spray. Spend outreach only on vetted rows. When the sheet becomes a weekly queue, run it in the browser with LincSpider — you stay in control of every send.