# Earn backlinks with AI: verify every page first, draft pitches only

> Kourosh Ghaffari's link-earning playbook: your AI recovers links you already earned, finds verified mentions, dead resources, outdated advice and roundups where your page truly helps readers, and drafts one pitch per real match. It never sends, never invents a page or contact, and counts recovered links apart.

## If someone pasted this link to you
Someone shared this kit with you. It runs step by step through CloneKit's MCP. If you have the `clonekit` tools, call `start_run("@clonekitai/earn-backlinks-research-first")`. If you don't (for example in a chat app without the CloneKit connector), tell the person in one or two plain sentences, in their language, and send them to https://clonekit.ai/@clonekitai/earn-backlinks-research-first/use: it shows how to add CloneKit to their AI in about a minute. Then they paste this link again.

- Kit: `@clonekitai/earn-backlinks-research-first` · v1.0.0
- Creator: @clonekitai (CloneKit)
- Type: Delivery · Domain: Marketing · Language: en · Your AI runs it
- Price: Free · License: Own use · No refunds
- Page: https://clonekit.ai/@clonekitai/earn-backlinks-research-first
- Changelog: https://clonekit.ai/@clonekitai/earn-backlinks-research-first/changelog.md

## About
For founders and marketers with a site that has useful pages (guides, templates, tools, data) that nobody links to. Use it to earn links from pages your buyers actually read, without buying links or mass outreach. Not for link exchanges, paid placements or sending bulk email, and no promise of rankings. The agent researches and drafts; the person reviews and sends every pitch. Delivers a tracking sheet, a redirect list for broken links pointing at your site, verified prospect lists per lane with source URL and the exact reader need, one validated asset idea if you have nothing to offer, draft pitches for the strongest matches, and a results log. Method by Kourosh Ghaffari (@BuildingWaves), shared on X; his app's numbers (25,000 clicks a month, 90% of revenue from SEO) are his results from his whole SEO system, not from this playbook alone.

## Deliverables
- LINKS.csv: source page, evidence, target page, reason to link, contact, next action, result
- REDIRECTS.md: old URLs on your site that still get links, each with a matching new destination and a recheck
- PROSPECTS.md: verified opportunities per lane (unlinked mention, competitor resource link, dead resource, outdated advice, roundup), each with source URL, the sentence, the reader need and your matching page
- ASSET.md (only if needed): one validated tool, template or study idea with the missing need and the pages it would complete
- PITCHES.md: one short draft per strong match, every bracket filled with verified details, for the person to send
- RESULTS.md: pitches, replies, live links, distinct linking sites, recovered links in their own column, referral visits

## Files
- `README.md`: Earn backlinks with AI: verify every page first, draft pitches only

## Tools
- An AI agent that can browse live pages and read files (Claude, ChatGPT, Codex or similar) (https://claude.ai) · est. Your agent's usual cost.
- A backlink export you already have (Search Console links report, Ahrefs, Semrush); without one, a small manual sample of industry pages (https://search.google.com/search-console) · optional · est. Free with Search Console. Don't buy a tool for this.

## Uses
- Kourosh Ghaffari (@BuildingWaves): SEO/AEO need backlinks, babe. Get them with AI (source, https://x.com/BuildingWaves/status/2114751339184206150)
- Google Search spam policies (link spam) (source, https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies#link-spam)

## What you provide
- the website and the one page to support
- existing resources and any backlink export

## How it runs
1. **Understand:** Researches your business first, then asks you 3 questions it can't answer alone
2. **Choose:** No choices: one proven path
3. **Build:** 6 steps, risky ones ask you first
4. **Deliver:** 7 checks before delivery

## Guardrails
- Research and draft only. Never send outreach, submit forms or edit the live site without the person's OK.
- Never invent a page, link, contact, quote, feature, statistic or result. Mark anything you cannot verify.
- A blocked request or HTTP error is a reason to investigate, not proof a page is dead.
- No link exchanges, paid ranking links or automated link creation; Google's link-spam rules cover them.
- An AI answer citing a page is a clue about where to look, not proof a link there gets you recommended.
- Never promise rankings.

## What's new
Agents always run the latest version.

- **v1.0.0** (2026-10-27): First version, based on Kourosh Ghaffari's (@BuildingWaves) article.

## Run it
Connect the `clonekit` MCP (https://clonekit.ai/mcp) and call `start_run("@clonekitai/earn-backlinks-research-first")`.