Link Building Outreach: Who to Email, What to Send, and What Comes Back
Link building outreach is emailing the people who run pages on your topic and asking each to link to one page of yours. Pick pages that already cover the subject, make one ask, and expect most answers within a day.
Who to email: the address that answers. Role inboxes replied more often than named people, and a yes was about as likely from either.
When to follow up: not before day three. 85% of the replies we received had arrived by then.
Of the domains MentionAgent's agent first emailed between 19 August and 5 October 2026, 7.7% replied, counting human replies only. Half of those replies came within 5.1 hours.
What came back: 28% of replies asked to be paid, 29% said yes or asked for details, 14% declined.
Method: link outreach only, one row per domain, auto-replies and bounces left out. Every send had at least 14 days to collect replies.
This page covers the outreach step itself: the email and the replies. Software that runs these steps is compared in best link building tools. For the whole campaign around it, from picking the asset to measuring links, see how to run a link building campaign. It's the same job agencies sell as SEO outreach.
How link building outreach works
- Find pages that already cover your topic. A page that discusses your subject has a reason to link to you. Link prospecting tools and broken links are two ways to build the list.
- Find who runs each page. See how to find the publisher of a website, then how to find their email.
- Send one email per page, naming that page and making one ask.
- Answer every reply, including the ones that quote a price.
- Check the link went live once someone says yes.
Who to email: role inbox or named person
We split the domains above by the first address we pitched:
| First address pitched | Domains that replied | Domains that said yes or asked for details |
|---|---|---|
| Role inbox (info@, contact@, editor@...) | 8.3% | 2.2% |
| Named person | 6.6% | 2.3% |
Role inboxes answered more often, and part of the difference was price quotes: 2.3% of role-inbox domains asked to be paid, against 1.8% for named people. A yes was about as likely from either, 2.2% against 2.3%. So use whichever address you can verify, and don't spend an hour hunting for a name.
What to send
Name the page, say what you'd add to it, and ask once. One example:
Subject: Your post on {topic}
Hi {name},
Your post "{post_title}" covers {specific point}, but doesn't link to a source for {claim}.
We published {what it is} that covers exactly that: {url}
Would it be a fit for that section?
{your_name}Eight more, plus a follow-up, are in link building email templates. For the subject line, pick from outreach subject lines.
When to follow up
Replies to link outreach come fast. In the same cohort:
| Time after the first email | Share of replies received by then |
|---|---|
| 24 hours | 71% |
| 72 hours | 85% |
| 7 days | 92% |
Of the replies we received, 85% arrived within three days of the first email, so waiting that long avoids crossing a reply already on its way. Whether to follow up at all is your call: ours go only to people who replied. Keep any follow-up to two or three sentences, and use follow-up email templates if you want a starting point.
What replies say
| The reply | Share of replies |
|---|---|
| Asked to be paid for the link | 28% |
| Said yes, or asked for details | 29% |
| Declined | 14% |
| Something else, such as a redirect to another person or an off-topic reply | 29% |
Price quotes are about as common as a yes, so decide your answer before you send. Google's spam policies list "Exchanging money for links, or posts that contain links" as link spam. When a blogger asks for money for a backlink covers how to reply and keep the conversation, and responding to link exchange requests covers the swap offers.
The same steps, run for you
MentionAgent finds pages that cover your topic, looks up the contact, writes each pitch against the specific post and checks the link went live. Drafts wait for your approval, or turn on auto-send. Follow-ups go only to people who replied. From $99 a month.
Start Getting Mentioned On AutopilotFrequently asked questions
What is link building outreach?
Emailing the people who run pages on your topic and asking them to link to a specific page of yours. It is the step of link building where you contact other sites, as opposed to creating the page or tracking the links.
What reply rate should I expect from link outreach?
Ours was 7.7% of domains first emailed between 19 August and 5 October 2026, counting human replies only. About half of all replies arrived within five hours.
When should I send a follow-up?
Not before day three. Of the replies we received, 85% had arrived within 72 hours of the first email and 92% within seven days.
Should I pay when a site asks for money for a link?
Google's spam policies list exchanging money for links as link spam. In our data 28% of replies asked to be paid, so plan your answer before you start sending.