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gr-backlinks

Marketing & growth

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Updated 10-16 05:49

About this skill

⚠️ Off-site link adjustments for 2C products

This skill's 5 channel types (Wikipedia / media PR / G2 reviews / Reddit-Quora / HARO) lean dev/B2B.2C consumer products / education have different authoritative link sources:

  • Education: schools / study-abroad agencies / exam forums / education media > ordinary paid backlinks.
  • General 2C: industry vertical media, regional KOLs, high-upvote community posts.
  • G2 / Capterra(B2B software review site) is basically ineffective for 2C → switch to App Store ratings + vertical rankings + app media reviews.
  • YMYL categories: links backed by authoritative institutions carry far more weight than quantity; never buy links/fabricate reviews (Google identifies them within days).

Complete 2C channel database + public sources see → gingiris-seo-geo/references/2c-adaptation.md

gr-backlinks — Systematic Backlink Building

Why this skill exists

Phase 2 missing piece: We do title/content/schema/cluster optimization but have zero systematic backlink work. Article research (2026-05): backlinks are the #1 GEO signal — LLMs decide citations partly by brand authority, which is downstream of backlink graph.

Iris now runs two independent domains: gingiris.tools (content/blog, Vercel) and analook.com (product). Both are young domains with near-zero backlink profiles — gingiris.tools restarted from scratch after the 2026-05-27 migration off the banned GitHub Pages account (old github.io link equity is permanently lost, unrecoverable), and analook.com's only inbound links so far are low-DA directory submissions. On-page work alone cannot beat Wikipedia / Hootsuite / Wired for head terms on either domain — only backlink quality + count can. The upside of independent domains: every earned link now accrues to an asset we control, not to a github.io subpath.

Before planning any backlink work, read data/backlinks-status.md first — it records what's already been spent/submitted (directory batches, refunds, pending claims) so we don't re-buy or re-submit.

The 5-Channel Priority Matrix

Adopted from 2026-05 WeChat article + JeffLi1993 / AgriciDaniel / zubair-trabzada skills audit:

Channel SEO Value GEO Value Priority Effort/week
Wikipedia dedicated entry ⭐⭐⭐ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ MAX 3-6h (one-time setup, ongoing edits)
Authoritative media (PR) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ MAX 2h (HARO + outreach)
Industry reviews (G2/Capterra/PH) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ⭐⭐⭐⭐ HIGH 1h (one-time submission)
Reddit/Quora discussions ⭐⭐ ⭐⭐⭐⭐ HIGH 2h (sustained presence)
Generic backlinks (directories/blogs) ⭐⭐⭐ ⭐⭐ MED skip until top 3 done

Rule: Start from highest GEO value. SEO-only signals (DA passing) are less leveraged than 2-3 years ago.

When to use this skill

  • "I want to build backlinks for my site"
  • "How do I get into Wikipedia?"
  • "How do I do HARO / Featured.com?"
  • "What's a Reddit / Quora strategy that doesn't get me banned?"
  • "How do I get into G2 / Capterra?"
  • Phase 2 monthly checkpoint shows domain authority capping ranking

Channel 1: Wikipedia (highest GEO leverage)

Reality check before you start

  • Wikipedia is notability-gated, not effort-gated
  • Threshold: 5+ independent reliable-source articles discussing your subject substantively (not in passing)
  • Listicle mentions, PR releases, sponsored content do NOT count
  • Paid Wikipedia services (Fiverr / WikiExperts / Wiki Mavericks): 80% of articles deleted within 6 months — they fail notability not because of editor skill

Correct sequence

  1. Build the case file first (4-12 weeks)

    • Earn 5+ independent press articles via Channels 2 + 3 below
    • Document them in a data/wikipedia-prep/ folder
    • Format: {publication, date, url, key_quote, indepth_or_passing}

  2. Wikidata first, Wikipedia second

    • Create a Wikidata entity (much lower notability bar) → builds a structured record AI crawlers find
    • LLMs heavily weight Wikidata for entity recognition

  3. Use Articles for Creation (AfC)

  4. Hire a real editor (optional)

    • Search Upwork for "Wikipedia editor 1000+ edits 5+ years"
    • Rate: $80-200/hr
    • Must disclose payment per WP:PAID — non-negotiable
    • Avoid agencies charging fixed $2k+ for "guaranteed" articles (banned by 2026 standards)

Checklist before submission

  • Subject has 5+ deep independent sources (not press releases)
  • Each notability claim has a citation
  • Neutral point of view (no marketing language)
  • Wikidata entity exists
  • All paid contributors disclosed
  • Article has 600-1,500 words (too short = "stub" rejection)

Channel 2: PR / Authoritative Media

Two paths to backlinks

Path A: Inbound — HARO / Featured.com / Connectively / Qwoted

Journalists request expert quotes daily. Reply with concise, citable answers → published article with backlink.

⚠️ Step 0 — Channel survival verification (do first, then schedule weekly tasks): The HARO brand underwent multiple rounds of restructuring in 2024-25 (Connectively was shut down for a time then reopened in 2025-04; the HARO brand was acquired by Featured.com in 2025-05), so the old "HARO" address/old process may fail at any time.Before scheduling any weekly task, verify each one: is the platform still alive? Can you register? After registering, do you actually receive query emails? Lesson: A 2026-05-26 audit found the weekly reminder task had been running empty for weeks—0 subscriptions existed, and the funnel was empty (memory project_haro_backlinks.md). For current status see data/backlinks-status.md。

  • Connectively: connectively.us — reopened 2025-04, lots of AI spam but usable (Iris expert profile already created)
  • Qwoted: qwoted.com — verification-based, highest quality (Iris source profile already created)
  • Featured.com: featured.com — acquired the HARO brand in 2025-05, largest volume (optional supplement)
  • Free supplements: Source of Sources (sourceofsources.com) / Help a B2B Writer

Only after verification passes and query emails actually reach the inbox should that platform be scheduled into the weekly cadence.

Reply template (works ~15-25% of the time):

Hi [Journalist],

I'm Iris Wei, ex-COO of AFFiNE (60k+ GitHub stars). For your question
about [topic], here's a 3-sentence answer with concrete data:

[ANSWER: lead with a number, give the mechanism, end with a takeaway.
50-100 words. Cite a specific personal experience, not generic advice.]

If you need a longer quote or follow-up, happy to share more.

— Iris
Site: https://gingiris.tools
Twitter: @WeiYipei

[Disclosure: I run gingiris.tools — no expectation of a link, just a useful quote.]

Pace: 3-5 responses/week. Time/response: 8-12 min. Expected: 1-2 links/month.

Path B: Outbound — Targeted journalist outreach

For deep-dive features, not 1-line quotes.

  1. Identify 10 journalists who cover your niche (use Twitter / Muck Rack)
  2. Build 3-week warm-up (read + comment on their posts, no DM yet)
  3. Pitch a specific story angle (not "want to feature my product")
  4. Offer exclusive data, customer interview, or unique angle

Best pitch types for Iris:

  • "I led AFFiNE from 0 → 60k GitHub stars. Here's the playbook." (TechCrunch / The Information)
  • "Why most OSS marketing playbooks are wrong" (Wired / The Verge)
  • "Real data: 30 Product Hunt #1 launches in 4 years" (Fast Company / Forbes)

Channel 3: Industry Reviews (G2 / Capterra / Product Hunt / SourceForge)

One-time submissions (high ROI for any SaaS / open source)

Platform URL What to submit Backlink type
G2 g2.com/products/new Product + features Profile + reviews
Capterra capterra.com/vendors/sign-up Product + pricing Profile + reviews
Product Hunt producthunt.com/posts/new Each major version Listing
SourceForge sourceforge.net/projects/add Open source only Project page
AlternativeTo alternativeto.net Free Profile + alt-listing
StackShare stackshare.io Tech stack Profile

Once submitted, ask early users for genuine reviews (5-10 reviews unlocks featured placement on most platforms).

Channel 4: Reddit / Quora / Hacker News

Anti-pattern (gets you banned)

  • Drop your URL in a top-level post
  • Generic "check out my tool" comments
  • Multiple accounts (sockpuppeting)

What actually works (builds trust + backlinks naturally)

Reddit:

  1. Build account karma to 500+ over 4-8 weeks (comment in non-promotional subs first)
  2. Find 5-7 subreddits where your audience hangs out
  3. Answer questions deeply with real experience — link to your blog only if it directly answers (1 in 10 responses)
  4. Once respected: AMA in r/SaaS, r/Entrepreneur, r/IndieHackers, r/OpenSource

Quora:

  1. Pick 3 topics where you can speak with authority
  2. Answer specific questions, not topic-wide overviews
  3. Each answer: 200-500 words + 1 personal anecdote
  4. Link to blog only when blog has the deeper version of your answer

Hacker News:

  1. Build karma to 50+ before posting
  2. Show HN: best slot Tuesday 9am ET (see existing /gr-oss-marketing for details)
  3. Engage with every comment in first 6 hours

Why this matters for GEO

LLMs heavily weight Reddit / Quora content during training:

  • ChatGPT cites Reddit ~12% of its responses (2026 Q1 audit)
  • Perplexity grounds 18% of answers in Reddit/Quora
  • Claude weights Quora answers for "how to" queries

Channel 5: Generic Backlinks (skip until Channels 1-4 maxed)

Directories, guest posts on low-DA sites, blogger network exchanges. Low GEO value in 2026.

Don't waste time here until Channels 1-4 are mature.

Workflow: First 30 days for Iris

Prerequisite reading：data/backlinks-status.md(money already spent, directories already submitted to, assets pending claim—avoid duplicate purchases/submissions).

Week 1

  • Channel survival verification (Channel 2A Step 0) + fill in missing platform registrations
  • Create 1 Featured.com answer per day = 7 responses
  • Submit AFFiNE + Gingiris to G2, Capterra, AlternativeTo, StackShare (Channel 3)

Week 2

  • HARO/Featured: 5 responses
  • Identify 10 journalists covering OSS / SaaS growth (Channel 2B prep)
  • Start Reddit karma build in r/SaaS, r/Entrepreneur (Channel 4)

Week 3

  • HARO/Featured: 5 responses
  • Pitch 3 journalists with specific story angle (Channel 2B)
  • Quora: answer 3 questions in your domain

Week 4 + Monthly retro

  • HARO/Featured: 5 responses
  • Count backlinks earned (use scripts/backlinks-audit.py — Tier 0 free)
  • Update Wikipedia case file (Channel 1 prep)

Months 2-3

  • First Wikidata entity submission
  • First AfC Wikipedia submission (if 5+ independent sources accumulated)
  • Reddit AMA in 1 high-fit sub

Scripts

scripts/backlinks-audit.py (Tier 0 — free, no API)

Uses Common Crawl + verification crawler to get baseline:

  • Inbound link count from common crawl
  • Verify each known link (HTTP 200 + still links to us)
  • Domain-level metrics: in-degree, PageRank approximation, harmonic centrality

Run monthly to track growth.

scripts/haro-helper.py (planned)

  • Parse incoming HARO emails
  • Auto-suggest which to respond to (based on Iris credentials)
  • Draft 3-sentence answer skeletons

Tracking

Maintain data/backlinks.jsonl (one line per backlink):

{"date":"2026-05-15","from":"techcrunch.com","to":"gingiris.tools","anchor":"AFFiNE","channel":"PR","tier":1,"context":"60k stars article"}

Use this for:

  • Monthly retro (Channel mix vs target)
  • Phase 2 checkpoint (correlate backlink growth with SERP rank changes)
  • Wikipedia case file building

Anti-patterns (avoid)

  • ❌ Paid agency Wikipedia services — sockpuppet farms, articles deleted
  • ❌ Reddit coordinated fake accounts — gets you banned permanently
  • ❌ Generic HARO replies — quote rate <2% without specific credentials
  • ❌ Buying links — Google's algorithm now flags within days
  • ❌ Asking friends to write inauthentic reviews on G2 — flagged + removed
  • ❌ Guest posting on link farms — negative SEO

Ecosystem links and experiment log

  • Prefer legitimate ecosystem placement: relevant Awesome Lists, integration partner pages, package registries, template galleries, conference resources, and README “works with” sections.
  • Earn the link with a working integration, useful example, benchmark, or original dataset; follow each repository/site's contribution policy.
  • Log date, hypothesis, source, destination, asset, outreach, status, referral visits, activated users, 30d outcome. A live link without relevant visits or activation is not automatically a win.
  • Never disguise sponsored placement as editorial coverage; retain disclosure and evidence for every paid or reciprocal placement.

Cascade recommendations

  • Channel 2 PR success → gr-blog-post reference that media article in our content (build social proof)
  • Channel 4 Reddit AMA → schedule via gr-oss-marketing
  • Wikipedia entity created → update gr-geo-cite to track Wikipedia citations in AI responses (highest-priority test)
  • Backlinks accumulated → re-run gr-seo-patrol to measure rank impact

API dependencies

Service Env var Tier Cost
Common Crawl (CDX index) none 0 (always) Free
Moz API MOZ_TOKEN 1 (optional) $99/mo
Bing Webmaster API OAuth 2 (optional) Free with verified site
DataForSEO Backlinks DATAFORSEO_B64 (existing) 3 (you have) Pay per query

Start at Tier 0 + Tier 3 (DataForSEO already configured for gr-seo-patrol).