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Backlink Prospecting: How to Find Sites That Actually Link

BacklinkScan Teamon Dec 20, 2025
28 min read

Backlink prospecting is about more than scraping huge lists of URLs; it’s about finding sites that actually link, consistently, and in your niche. Effective prospecting combines search operators, competitor backlink analysis, resource pages, digital PR, and broken link opportunities to build a focused list of realistic, high-intent prospects.

In this guide, you’ll see how to reverse‑engineer competitors’ links, uncover journalists and bloggers who already cite similar content, mine resource pages and listicles, and use tools to qualify domains by relevance and authority. The goal is simple: build a lean, targeted prospect list of sites that are genuinely likely to actually link to you through strategic backlink prospecting.

A “good backlink prospect” is a site that is both worth getting a link from and likely to actually give you one. It is not just any site with high authority. It is a site that is relevant to your topic, has real organic traffic, a clean link profile, and a history of linking out to useful resources in your niche. In other words, it can move the needle for rankings and referral traffic, and you have a realistic shot at earning a link from it.

Any site in your niche might look attractive in a tool, but many of them almost never link out, or only link to their own properties. Good backlink prospects behave differently:

  • They regularly reference external sources in their content.
  • Their articles include contextual links to other brands, tools, or studies.
  • They publish formats that naturally include links, like resource pages, list posts, or roundups.

By contrast, a site that is very authoritative but never links out, is full of ads, or has thin content is a poor prospect. It might look powerful on paper, yet your outreach will almost always be ignored or require payment, which also increases risk from a search engine point of view.

Sites that say yes to backlink requests usually share a few traits:

  • Topical fit: Your content clearly helps their audience and fits into existing articles or planned topics. Relevance is one of the strongest quality signals for backlinks.
  • Active publishing: They post new content, update old posts, and respond to comments or social shares. Active sites are more likely to see and act on your pitch.
  • History of collaboration: You can see guest posts, expert quotes, or external tools mentioned across their blog. That pattern shows they are open to outside contributions.
  • Reasonable commercial intent: They are not obviously selling links on every page, and their outbound links look editorial, not paid. This keeps your link safer and your outreach more welcome.

When you scan a potential prospect, ask: “Can I see where my content would naturally fit here?” If the answer is no, it is probably not a good outreach target.

Backlink prospecting is best suited to links that are editorial and value‑driven, not purely transactional. Common types you can realistically win include:

  • Guest post links: You write an article for their site and include a contextual link to your page, plus sometimes a link in your author bio.
  • Resource and tools page links: Your guide, checklist, or tool is added to a “resources” or “recommended tools” page as something useful for their readers.
  • Roundup and list‑post links: Your content, product, or data is included in “best of” lists, expert roundups, or comparison posts.
  • Citation links to data or studies: If you publish original research, statistics, or unique insights, other sites may link to you as a source when you pitch them that asset.

These are the kinds of backlinks that both search engines and real users trust, and they are exactly what “good backlink prospects” are built to provide.

Before you start prospecting, you need to know exactly why you want backlinks and where you want them to point. Clear goals stop you from chasing random sites and help you focus on links that actually move rankings, traffic, or revenue.

Start by listing the specific URLs you want to build links to. For each one, write a simple reason:

  • Money pages (product, service, signup): You want links here to support revenue-driving keywords and build trust for visitors who are close to buying.
  • Content hubs and guides: These are your big, in-depth resources that can rank for competitive terms and internally link to many other pages.
  • Linkable assets (tools, data studies, calculators, templates): These exist mainly to attract links and can be used in many outreach angles.
  • Fresh content you just published: Early links can help new pages get indexed and start ranking faster.

If a page has no clear search intent, no real value for users, or is thin and salesy, it is usually a poor primary target. In that case, build links to a stronger, more useful page and use internal links to pass authority where you need it.

Your backlink goals should shape how you prospect:

  • If you are doing guest posting, you are looking for sites that accept contributors and publish editorial content in your niche.
  • If you are doing resource page or “links” outreach, you want curated lists, directories, and “best resources” pages that match your topic.
  • If you are doing digital PR or content promotion, you are targeting journalists, bloggers, and publications that cover your industry or your data.
  • If you are doing link insertions or updates, you are searching for existing articles that already mention your topic but not you.

Decide the main tactic for each target page first. Then prospect only for sites that fit that tactic, instead of building one giant, unfocused list.

Set simple quality metrics for target sites (DA/DR, traffic, relevance)

You do not need a complex scoring system, but you do need a basic quality bar so you do not waste time.

Most teams use a mix of:

  • Authority: A rough metric like DA or DR to avoid very weak or spammy domains. For example, you might set a floor such as “DR 20+” for most campaigns, and higher for competitive niches.
  • Traffic: Check that the site gets at least some organic traffic. Even a few hundred visits a month is better than a site with zero estimated traffic.
  • Relevance: The most important filter. The site should cover your topic or a closely related one, and the section you are targeting should make sense for your content.
  • Basic quality checks: Real authors, readable content, normal ads, and a natural link profile. If every post sells links or looks auto-generated, skip it.

Keep these metrics simple and written down. When you start prospecting, you can quickly say “yes,” “no,” or “maybe later” instead of agonizing over every domain.

How to turn your niche into practical prospecting angles

Start by zooming out from “keywords” and looking at your niche as a set of topics. If you sell project management software, your broad topics might be “project management,” “team collaboration,” “remote work,” and “productivity.”

Under each topic, list subtopics where your ideal audience already hangs out: for example, “Kanban boards,” “agile sprint planning,” “meeting notes templates,” or “async communication.” Use your own site navigation, blog categories, customer FAQs, and competitor blogs to spark ideas.

You are not trying to be exhaustive. You just want a clear map of “places” on the web where a link to you would make sense: guides, tools, templates, comparisons, and communities around those subtopics. This map becomes the backbone of your backlink prospecting.

Turn your topics into real search terms people use

Next, translate those topics into the kind of phrases people actually type into Google. Take each topic or subtopic and run it through:

  • Google autocomplete and “People also ask”
  • “Related searches” at the bottom of the results
  • YouTube or other search boxes your audience uses

This shows you natural language variations like “best Kanban tools for small teams” or “how to run a sprint retrospective.”

Keep an eye out for modifiers that repeat: “best,” “tools,” “templates,” “examples,” “for beginners,” “for agencies,” “vs,” “alternatives.” These modifiers are gold for link prospecting, because they often appear in list posts, resource pages, and comparison content that can actually link to you.

Build a seed list of keywords just for prospecting

Now build a focused seed list of keywords whose only job is to help you find backlink prospects, not to plan content. Start with:

  1. Your core niche terms (“project management,” “scrum tools”).
  2. Your main subtopics (“Kanban board,” “retrospective template”).
  3. The high‑intent modifiers you spotted (“best,” “tools,” “resources,” “checklist,” “statistics”).

Combine them into simple phrases like “project management tools,” “Kanban board templates,” “remote work productivity tips,” “agile statistics.” This seed list will plug straight into your prospecting work: Google search operators, bulk prospecting tools, and competitor research.

Keep the list lean and practical. Ten to thirty strong seed keywords that reflect your real niche and subtopics are usually enough to unlock hundreds of relevant backlink prospects.

Google search operators let you turn a vague idea like “I want links in the hiking niche” into specific backlink prospects. Start with simple patterns that surface resource pages, directories and curated link lists. For example, if your topic is email marketing, you might search for:

  • email marketing "resources"
  • "email marketing" intitle:resources
  • "email marketing" "helpful links"
  • "email marketing" "useful resources"

You can also combine your niche with phrases like “recommended tools”, “helpful sites”, “links”, or “further reading”. Adding inurl:resources or inurl:links helps you find pages that are literally built as resource hubs, which are often open to adding more relevant links.

Use quotes around key phrases when you want that exact wording, and keep a mix of broad and specific queries so you do not miss good backlink prospects that use slightly different language.

Search operators for guest posts, contributors and “write for us” pages

If your backlink strategy includes guest posting or contributing expert content, Google search operators make it much easier to find sites that accept contributions. Combine your main keyword with common “write for us” signals, such as:

  • your topic "write for us"
  • your topic "guest post"
  • your topic "contribute"
  • your topic "become a contributor"
  • your topic "submit an article"

You can tighten things further with intitle: and inurl:. For example:

  • intitle:"write for us" seo
  • inurl:"write-for-us" "project management"

These operators surface pages where site owners explicitly invite pitches, which means your backlink request is more likely to be welcome and get a response.

Link roundups and “best of” lists are great backlink prospects because they are designed to link out. To find them, pair your niche with words that signal curated content. For example:

  • your topic "link roundup" or "weekly roundup"
  • your topic "best tools" or "top tools"
  • your topic "best blogs" or "top sites"
  • your topic "resources and tools"

If you have a product or tool, focus on queries like "[your product type] tools", "best [your product type]", or "alternatives to [competitor]". These often reveal comparison posts and tools pages where your solution could be added as another option.

Scan the pages you find to see if they look updated and if they include similar resources to yours. Those are strong signals that the site owner might be open to including your link when you pitch a clear, relevant reason.

Using time filters to surface fresh, active websites

Not every site you find with Google is still active, so use time filters to focus on backlink prospects that are alive and publishing. After running a query, open the search tools and limit results to the past year or past month.

This simple step helps you:

  • Avoid pitching abandoned blogs and outdated resource pages.
  • Prioritize sites that are actively updating roundups, lists and guest content.
  • Spot new posts where your link could be added while the content is still fresh.

You can also combine time filters with operators like "link roundup" or "best tools" to find recurring series that are still being published. Those are ideal backlink prospects, because the site owner is already in the habit of adding new links on a regular schedule.

Identify your true SERP competitors for each target page

For backlink prospecting, your “real” competitors are not just brands in your niche. They are the pages that actually outrank or sit near you in the search results for a specific keyword.

Start at the page level. Take the primary keyword for a target page, search it in an incognito window, and note the URLs that appear in the top 10–20 results. Ignore huge, off-topic sites like generic forums or random news stories that only touch your topic once. Focus on pages with the same search intent as yours: similar audience, similar problem, similar format (guide, tool, product page, etc.).

SEO tools can speed this up by showing “organic competitors” for a given URL or keyword. The key is to build a small list of 3–10 true SERP competitors for each target page, not a giant, unfocused list of every site in your industry.

Once you know your SERP competitors, plug each competing URL into a backlink analysis tool. Always analyze at the page level first, not just the whole domain, because you want links that helped that specific page rank.

Export the backlinks or referring domains for each competitor page. Include at least:

  • Referring domain
  • Linking URL
  • Anchor text
  • Link type (follow / nofollow)
  • Estimated authority / traffic of the linking site

If your tool allows it, filter out obvious junk before exporting, such as: sitewide links, non-indexed pages, or links from very low-quality domains. This keeps your raw export closer to a usable prospect list.

You will not be able to copy every competitor backlink, and you do not need to. The goal is to isolate replicable links:

  • Links from resource pages, directories, and “best tools” lists that accept submissions or updates
  • Guest posts, contributor profiles, and author bios
  • Roundups, interviews, and podcast show notes
  • Niche communities, associations, and partner pages

Remove links that are clearly out of reach or irrelevant, such as:

  • Links from private networks, obvious spam, or hacked pages
  • Links from one-off press coverage you cannot reasonably recreate
  • Links from pages that no longer exist or are completely off-topic

What you are left with is a shortlist of sites that have already linked to similar content and are likely to consider linking to you if you give them a good reason.

The real power of competitor backlink analysis is in the patterns. As you review filtered links across several competitors, look for repeated themes:

  • The same blogs or industry sites linking to multiple competitors
  • Common content formats that attract links (statistics pages, templates, comparison posts, glossaries)
  • Recurring angles, such as “expert quotes,” “case studies,” or “tool roundups”
  • Specific directories, associations, or communities that list many players in your niche

When you see the same type of link or the same site appear again and again, you have found a scalable pattern. That might mean: pitching a series of guest posts to a cluster of similar blogs, creating your own data study because data pages get the most links, or building a better version of the comparison pages that keep earning links for others.

Use competitor backlinks as a map: they show you which link building tactics and which sites already work in your niche, so you can focus your outreach where the odds of a “yes” are highest.

Easy-win prospects: sites that already know you

Easy-win backlink prospects are websites that already like, trust, or at least recognize your brand. They have mentioned you, linked to you in the past, interviewed you, or featured your product. Because the relationship is “warm,” these prospects convert to backlinks at a much higher rate than cold outreach, and they often respond faster and more positively.

Instead of chasing strangers, you are simply turning existing attention into SEO value.

Finding unlinked brand mentions with Google and tools

Start with simple Google searches. Use queries like:

  • "Your Brand Name" -site:yourdomain.com
  • "Your Brand Name" + review
  • "Your Brand Name" + \"case study\"

Scan the results and open pages that mention you. If your brand name is there but not clickable, you have an unlinked brand mention that can become a backlink.

For more scale, use media monitoring or SEO tools that track mentions across blogs, news sites, and forums, and flag which ones are linked vs unlinked. Many tools let you:

  • Monitor your brand, product names, and key people.
  • Filter by domain authority, traffic, or sentiment.
  • Export unlinked mentions into a list for outreach.

When you reach out, keep it light: thank them for the mention, point out that a link would help readers find you, and make it as easy as possible to add. These “you already mentioned us” emails tend to convert far better than cold pitches.

Every PR hit, podcast appearance, webinar, or expert quote is a potential backlink, not just a vanity mention. Before you agree to participate, check whether the outlet usually links to guests or sources. After the piece goes live:

  1. Look for a link in the article, show notes, or speaker bio.
  2. If there is no link, send a short, friendly note to your contact: thank them, share the impact, and ask if they can add a link to your homepage, product page, or relevant resource.
  3. Offer a specific URL and suggested anchor text so they do not have to think about it.

Digital PR teams increasingly treat this as standard follow-up, and it works because the publisher has already invested in featuring you. You are not asking for new coverage, only for proper attribution that also improves their user experience.

Link reclamation is about fixing backlinks you already earned but lost due to URL changes, deleted pages, or errors on the linking site. It is one of the highest-ROI link building tactics, because you are restoring value instead of starting from zero.

There are three main steps:

  1. Find lost or broken backlinks. Use your backlink analysis tool or Search Console to pull a list of links that now return 404s or have disappeared. Filter for high-authority, relevant domains so you focus on links that actually matter.

  2. Fix what you control. If the problem is on your side (you changed a URL or removed a page), set up 301 redirects from the old URL to the best current page, or recreate the missing content if it was attracting strong links. This alone can recover a lot of lost equity.

  3. Reach out when the issue is on their side. When another site has a typo in your URL or links to a dead page, email them with a polite, specific request and the correct link. You are helping them fix a broken link, which improves their site quality, so many webmasters are happy to update it.

By combining unlinked mentions, PR follow-ups, and link reclamation, you build a steady stream of “easy-win” backlinks from people who already know and trust your brand.

Prospecting by content type instead of just keywords

Prospecting by content type means you look for sites that already publish the kind of piece you want to place or be mentioned in, not just pages that mention a keyword. This makes your backlink outreach feel natural and raises your chances of getting a yes, because you are offering something that clearly fits their existing content patterns.

Finding sites that publish the kind of content you’re pitching

Start by defining the format you are pitching: guest article, case study, tutorial, tool comparison, data study, or expert quote.

Then search for that format directly in Google alongside your topic. For example:

  • “your topic” “case study”
  • “your topic” “how we did”
  • “your topic” “ultimate guide”
  • “your topic” “guest post” or "by guest author"

Open results and scan a few posts from each site. You are looking for:

  • Multiple articles in the same format (for example, several case studies, not just one).
  • External experts or brands already featured.
  • Outbound links to useful resources, not just internal links.

If a site repeatedly publishes the content type you want to pitch, it is a strong backlink prospect.

How to find list posts and comparisons that could add your product

List posts and comparison pages are classic backlink prospects because they are built to include multiple tools, services, or resources.

Use searches like:

  • best [product type] for [audience]
  • [your niche] tools
  • “alternatives to” [competitor]
  • “vs” [competitor] [your product]

You can also combine several brand names in one query to surface big comparison pieces, for example: “Brand A” “Brand B” “Brand C” “email marketing tools”.

When you find a list that already includes competitors or similar products, check:

  • Is the article still being updated? (Look for a recent date or comments.)
  • Does the author link out to each product?
  • Is there a clear angle where your product fills a gap, such as a feature, price point, or audience segment they missed?

Those are the pages where a polite “you might want to consider adding us” pitch has a realistic chance.

Journalists, bloggers, and industry writers love citing fresh statistics and original data. To find backlink prospects that use stats-heavy content, search for:

  • “your topic” statistics
  • “your topic” data
  • “your topic” study or “your topic” report
  • “state of” “your industry”

Open the top results and look for:

  • Long-form reports, surveys, or benchmark posts.
  • Articles that cite multiple external sources and link out to them.
  • “Key findings” or “highlights” sections that pull out numbers.

These sites are ideal prospects if you have (or can create) your own data, survey, or mini-study. You can pitch them as:

  • A new data source to update an older article.
  • A complementary stat that fills a gap in their coverage.
  • A quote or chart they can embed with a link back to your full report.

Identifying non-competing partners for resource swaps

Prospecting by content type also helps you find non-competing partners for resource swaps that feel natural and safe.

Look for sites that:

  • Serve the same audience but sell a different core product or service.
  • Maintain resource pages, “recommended tools,” or “partners” sections.
  • Publish how-to content where your resource could be a helpful add-on.

Search for combinations like:

  • [your audience] resources
  • [your audience] “recommended tools”
  • [your audience] “helpful links”
  • [your niche] “partners” or "our partners"

When you find a good fit, think in terms of mutual value, not pure link exchange. For example:

  • You add their tool to your “stack” article, they add your guide to their onboarding resources.
  • You co-create a checklist, template, or webinar and both link to the shared asset.
  • You each feature the other in a “tools we love” or “expert picks” post.

Because these partners already publish resource-style content, suggesting a swap or co-created asset feels aligned with what they do, which makes the backlink much easier to win.

Fast checks for relevance and topical fit

Start by asking one question: would my ideal audience actually read this site? Scan the homepage, navigation, and a couple of recent articles. If the main topics match your niche, or at least a closely related problem your audience has, it is a relevant backlink prospect.

Check:

  • Does the site cover your industry, your product category, or your audience’s role (for example, “B2B marketers” or “home gardeners”)?
  • Are there existing articles where your page would be a natural internal reference?
  • Is your content level similar (beginner vs advanced, local vs global, consumer vs enterprise)?

If you cannot imagine a specific page on their site where your link would add value, move on.

You do not need a full audit to avoid bad backlink prospects. A quick look often tells you enough:

  • The site publishes huge volumes of thin, generic posts on every topic under the sun.
  • Every article is stuffed with exact‑match anchor text and outbound links to unrelated products.
  • There are obvious “sponsored post” or “casino / CBD / gambling” links mixed into normal content.
  • The design looks abandoned: broken layout, intrusive pop‑ups, or auto‑generated author bios.

If the site openly sells links on a pricing page, or replies to outreach with a fixed “publishing fee” and no editorial review, treat it as a paid link farm and skip it for long‑term SEO.

Evaluating traffic, authority and indexation at a glance

For quick vetting, you only need rough signals, not perfect numbers. Use any SEO tool or browser extension to check:

  • Estimated organic traffic: Is the site getting at least some search traffic, or is it close to zero?
  • Authority metric (DA/DR or similar): Compare prospects to each other, not as an absolute truth. A modest but real site in your niche often beats a high‑DA random domain.
  • Indexation: Run a site:example.com search. If only a handful of pages show, or nothing appears, the domain may be deindexed or brand new.

These quick checks help you avoid spending time on sites that search engines already ignore.

Once a prospect passes basic quality checks, decide how high it should sit in your outreach queue. Two simple axes help:

  • Likelihood to link: Have they linked out to similar resources before? Do they publish guest posts, roundups, or resource lists? Are they actively updating content this year? Sites that clearly add external links are much more likely to say yes.
  • Potential impact: Consider their relevance, traffic, and authority together. A highly relevant niche blog with moderate metrics can drive better results than a big but off‑topic site.

Give top priority to prospects that are both tightly relevant and clearly open to linking. Medium‑fit or low‑probability sites can still be contacted, but in later waves, so your best backlink prospects get your best outreach energy.

A good backlink prospect list is only useful if it is clean, structured, and easy to work from. Think of it as a sales pipeline: every row is a potential relationship, not just a URL. Your goal is to track the right details, group prospects in a way that matches your link building strategy, and have a realistic sense of how many prospects you need to hit each link goal.

What to track in your prospecting spreadsheet or CRM

You do not need a complex setup, but you do need consistency. At minimum, track:

  • Core site info: domain, homepage URL, niche/vertical, country or region.
  • Target page: the exact URL on their site you want a link from (or at least the section, like “blog” or “resources”).
  • Contact details: name, role, email, contact form URL, social profile if you use it for outreach.
  • Fit and quality: topical category, basic authority metric (DA/DR or similar), estimated organic traffic, and any quick notes like “accepts guest posts” or “links to tools.”
  • Opportunity type: guest post, resource page, list inclusion, broken link replacement, unlinked mention, partnership, etc.
  • Status and dates: stages like “Not contacted,” “Pitched,” “Replied,” “Negotiating,” “Live link,” plus last contact date and follow‑up date.
  • Outcome: link URL, anchor text, link type (dofollow/nofollow), and any conditions (e.g. sponsored, reciprocal).

Keep fields lean enough that you will actually fill them in, but detailed enough that someone else could understand the prospect at a glance.

Grouping prospects by campaign, angle or content asset

Once you have the basics, organize your backlink prospects so outreach can be done in focused batches.

You can group by:

  • Campaign: for example, “Digital PR launch,” “New product feature,” or “Local citations.”
  • Angle: such as “statistics pitch,” “expert quote,” “tool for their audience,” or “update outdated resource.”
  • Content asset: the specific page you are promoting, like a data study, comparison guide, or free tool.

Tag each prospect with at least one campaign and one angle. This lets you filter your list into tight, relevant batches, write one strong outreach template per batch, and personalize quickly without starting from scratch every time.

Backlink prospecting is a numbers game, but the numbers depend on your niche, offer, and how strong your outreach is.

A simple way to plan:

  • Estimate a reply rate (often 5–20 percent for cold outreach).
  • Estimate a link win rate from replies (maybe 30–60 percent if your offer is solid).

If you assume 10 percent reply and 40 percent of replies turn into links, you win about 4 links per 100 prospects contacted. So:

  • To land 10 links, you might need 250–300 qualified prospects.
  • For 30 links, plan for 700–900 prospects.

You can tighten these numbers over time by tracking your own data per campaign. As you see which angles and content assets convert best, you can prioritize similar prospects and reduce how many you need to reach each link goal.

From prospect to pitch: preparing for outreach that gets a yes

Finding the right contact on each site

Before you write a single outreach email, make sure you are talking to the person who can actually say yes. On content‑driven sites, that is usually an editor, content manager, SEO lead, or the author of the article you want a link from. For smaller blogs, it is often the founder or site owner.

Start with the page you want a link from. Check the byline, author box, and any “about the author” links. Then look at the site’s About, Team, or Contact pages to confirm who owns content decisions. If you still are not sure, search the domain plus job titles like “editor,” “content manager,” or “SEO” on LinkedIn or other social platforms.

Once you have a name, look for a direct email rather than a catch‑all inbox. Use the site’s contact page, newsletter signup confirmation emails, or social profiles to find it. If you cannot find a perfect contact, choose the closest role that touches content and address them personally instead of using a generic “Hi there.”

Personalization cues to pull from your prospecting research

Good personalization is specific, relevant, and quick to spot at the top of your email. While prospecting, collect a few simple cues you can reuse in your pitch:

  • A recent article they wrote that relates to your topic
  • A section on their site where they already link to similar resources
  • A stated goal or audience focus from their About page
  • Any recurring formats they use, like “monthly roundups” or “tool lists”

In your outreach, reference one or two of these details in a single, tight sentence. For example: “In your guide to remote onboarding, you mentioned how hard it is to track training progress. We just published a data study on completion rates across 500 teams that might fit your resources section.”

Avoid fake flattery or long summaries of their work. Show that you understand what they publish, then quickly connect it to the value your content or product adds for their readers.

Matching your ask to the specific opportunity you found

Your pitch should feel like the natural next step from the opportunity you discovered while prospecting. If you found:

  • A resource page, ask for your guide or tool to be added as one more helpful resource.
  • A blog post that already links to similar content, suggest your piece as an updated, deeper, or complementary reference.
  • A site that clearly accepts guest posts, pitch one or two specific article ideas that match their existing categories.
  • A broken link pointing to content you can replace, offer your page as a working, up‑to‑date alternative.

State the exact page you are referring to, the specific action you are asking for, and why it improves their content. Keep the ask small and clear: one page, one link location, one simple next step. When your request lines up perfectly with what they already do on their site, saying yes feels easy instead of like a favor.