Loading tutorials…
Loading tutorials…
Ubersuggest's Backlinks module is the most underrated tool in the platform — and the most data-limited compared to Ahrefs. This walks through the qualification logic that separates 'real outreach targets' from 'noise that won't convert.'
Who this is forMarketers on Ubersuggest's $29-49/mo plans who have run Backlink Opportunity once, exported 2,000 referring domains, and never opened the CSV. This is how to turn that export into a real outreach list.
What you'll need
Step 1
Ubersuggest → Backlinks → enter your domain. Note total backlinks, referring domains, DA, and Spam Score. This is your baseline.
Open Ubersuggest → Backlinks. Enter your apex domain.
Ubersuggest returns: Total Backlinks, Referring Domains, Domain Authority (DA), Spam Score, and a breakdown by Type (text/image/form/frame).
Note your current DA — this is the benchmark for picking competitors. Competitors more than 20 DA above you have link profiles you can't realistically replicate.
Check Spam Score. Anything over 30% is a warning sign — Ubersuggest flags low-quality referring domains. Audit and consider disavowing the worst.
Export your current referring domains. You'll use this list as a 'doesn't already link to me' filter in the next step.
Step 2
Backlinks → Backlink Opportunity tab → enter your domain + 3-5 competitor domains. Result: domains that link to competitors but not to you.
Open the Backlink Opportunity tab. This is the gap-analysis module.
Enter your domain in the 'Your Site' slot.
Add 3-5 competitor domains in the 'Competitor' slots. Pick competitors within 20 DA points of yours.
Filter by 'Show domains linking to at least 2 competitors' — this filters out one-off rankings and surfaces real topical signals.
Click Search. Ubersuggest returns referring domains that link to multiple competitors but not to you. Typical result: 200-2,000 domains.
Step 3
Filter the export: DA > 25, Spam Score < 30%, topically relevant. Cut the list 70-85%.
The raw Backlink Opportunity output is typically 200-2,000 referring domains. Most are unusable.
Filter 1 — DA > 25: removes the lowest-value domains. Anything below DA 25 rarely moves your rankings.
Filter 2 — Spam Score < 30%: removes domains Ubersuggest flags as risky. These are often PBN-like footprints or sites that link to anything.
Filter 3 — Topical relevance: open each shortlisted domain in a new tab. A DA 60 food blog is not a backlink target for a SaaS company. Be ruthless.
Filter 4 — Active site: check 'last published date.' If the site hasn't published in 6+ months, it's dead and the publisher won't reply to outreach.
After all filters, expect 20-100 qualified targets. That's your real outreach list.
Step 4
For each qualified domain, find the specific URL linking to your competitors. Categorize as editorial / resource list / guest post / listicle.
Click each qualified referring domain. Ubersuggest shows the specific URLs linking to each competitor.
Categorize each link: (1) Editorial — mentioned naturally in an article. (2) Resource list — a curated 'top X tools' page. (3) Guest post — a contributed article. (4) Listicle — a 'best of' page.
Editorial mentions are highest value but hardest to replicate. Resource lists are the best outreach targets — they're literally curated link lists.
Skip footer links, sidebar widgets, and 'we use these tools' homepage modules. Google discounts those heavily.
Capture URL, link type, anchor text, and outreach contact email (use a tool like Hunter or VoilaNorbert) for each target.
Step 5
Score each target: Win Probability (1-5) × Link Value (DA score). Outreach the top 20-30 first. Queue the rest.
Build a simple priority score: Win Probability (1-5) × Link Value (DA score divided by 10).
Win Probability factors: existing relationship (5), recent content match (4), publisher accepts pitches (4), generic resource list (3), cold approach with no hook (1-2).
Sort descending. Top 20-30 are this quarter's outreach. The next 60 are queue.
Realistic conversion: 5-10% reply rate, 30-50% of replies convert to placements. So 30 pitches typically yields 1-4 placed links if your targeting and copy are good.
Step 6
Per-target personalization. Reference the specific page. Lead with value (broken link, outdated stat, missing tool), not the ask.
Open each target's linking page. Read it. Find one specific observation: a typo, outdated stat, missing tool, or broken link.
Lead with that observation, not your link request. 'I noticed your guide cites 2023 SEO stats — here's the 2026 data' beats 'I'd love to be added to your list.'
Pitch the link as a value-add to the existing page. Don't ask for a guest post unless the publisher explicitly accepts them.
Follow up once after 7 days. Move on after the second attempt — most placements happen on first or second touch.
Track every outreach in a CRM (HubSpot, Pipedrive, even a sheet). Backlink relationships compound — the publisher who linked once will often link again.
Common mistakes
Trusting Ubersuggest backlink coverage to be exhaustive
What goes wrong: You run Backlink Opportunity and get 200 results. You assume that's the universe of opportunities. Reality: Ubersuggest's backlink index is 1/5 of Ahrefs', so you're missing 80% of real opportunities. Six months of outreach feels thin — typically 2-4 placed links instead of 10-15, costing $5,000-15,000 in domain-authority growth not earned.
How to avoid: If backlinks are a primary growth lever, upgrade to Ahrefs Standard ($249/mo). The 5x deeper index pays for itself when your outreach engine is real. If on a tight budget, accept that Ubersuggest's output is a starting point, not exhaustive — supplement with manual SERP research.
Targeting aspirational competitors
What goes wrong: You're DA 25 and run Backlink Opportunity against DA 85 SaaS giants. You get 1,500 placement opportunities you can't realistically earn — TechCrunch, Forbes, Inc., none of which will publish you. Three months of outreach produces zero links and tanks team morale — typically $3,000-6,000 in outreach time wasted.
How to avoid: Stay within 20 DA points of your own domain. Build the profile up in waves — DA 25 → 40 → 55 → 70 over 12-24 months. Each tier unlocks the next.
Outreach with no personalization
What goes wrong: You blast 200 generic emails. Open rate is 8%, reply rate is 0.5%. You burn through your qualified list with one placement. The publishers you pitched will ignore you next time too. $400-800 in writer/VA time wasted.
How to avoid: Personalize per target. 30 personalized pitches beat 300 templated ones. Publishers get 50 pitches a week — generic ones get auto-archived.
No CRM, no follow-up cadence
What goes wrong: You pitch 50 publishers, forget who you contacted, and re-pitch the same person three weeks later with a different angle. You look unprofessional. The lead dies and the publisher remembers your brand negatively — $500-1,500 in outreach time burned, plus reputation damage that costs future placements.
How to avoid: Track every outreach in a CRM. Define a follow-up sequence (initial → +7 days → close). Backlink work compounds only when relationships are managed.
Ignoring the link type before pitching
What goes wrong: You spend hours pitching guest posts to publishers who don't accept them. Or you celebrate getting a footer link Google ignores. Effort doesn't convert to ranking impact, and you don't know why — typically $1,000-2,500 in outreach time spent for zero ranking lift.
How to avoid: Categorize every target by link type before pitching. Resource-list placements convert best. Editorial mentions are highest value. Skip footers and sidebars entirely.
Paying for paid link placements
What goes wrong: A publisher offers 'sponsored content' for $200-2,000 per link. You buy 5-10 of these. Google's link-spam classifier flags the pattern. Your rankings drop instead of rising. $1,000-20,000 paid for a ranking penalty.
How to avoid: Skip paid links entirely. Google's link-spam policy explicitly penalizes paid editorial links. The juice isn't worth the risk. Earned links only.
Recap
Done — what's next
How to do keyword research in Ubersuggest (the right workflow)
Read the next tutorial
Hand it off
Backlink outreach is the hardest, most relationship-driven part of SEO. A vetted technical SEO specialist on EverestX will run quarterly gap analyses, manage publisher relationships, and ship 5-15 placed links per quarter — typically $500-1,000/mo at $14-16/hr.
See specialist rates
Ubersuggest's backlink index is roughly 1/5 the size of Ahrefs' Yep crawler index. For competitor research on smaller niches, the gap doesn't matter much. For SaaS / ecommerce / news verticals where competitors have 100K+ backlinks, the gap is meaningful.
5-10% reply rate on personalized cold outreach to qualified prospects. Of replies, 30-50% convert to placements. So 100 pitches typically yields 2-5 placed links if your targeting and copy are good. Below 2% reply rate = your pitch or list is wrong.
Only if you have clear evidence of a manual action or algorithmic penalty. Google's algorithm now ignores most spam links automatically. Disavowing aggressively can backfire if you remove links that were actually helping. Default to leaving them alone unless GSC shows a manual action.
Quarterly. Competitors' link profiles evolve — new placements appear, old ones disappear. Monthly is overkill; annually misses moving opportunities.
As of 2026, Ubersuggest doesn't have a built-in outreach feature like Pitchbox or BuzzStream. Use it for discovery, then push to a dedicated outreach tool — Pitchbox, BuzzStream, Mailshake, or even Lemlist. Discovery and outreach are different jobs.
Ubersuggest
Ubersuggest's Keyword Ideas tool is the cheapest serious keyword research interface on the market. The trap is treating volume as the answer. This walks through the operator workflow that turns raw exports into shippable briefs.
Ubersuggest
The Chrome Extension is the most-used and least-explained Ubersuggest feature. It pulls keyword + SERP data inline on Google, YouTube, Amazon. This walks through the actual workflow that turns 'free SEO tool' into 'real research engine.'
Ahrefs
Backlink gap is the most powerful module in Ahrefs and the easiest to misuse. This walks through the qualification logic that separates 'links a specialist would chase' from '5,000 directory submissions.'
SEMrush
Backlink Audit returns 50,000 backlinks with toxicity scores. Most teams export them, panic, and disavow half the list — including links that were helping them. This is the workflow specialists use to actually clean a backlink profile.
Moz Pro
Link Explorer is Moz's strongest module — DA, Spam Score, and the link intersect workflow give you a usable backlink gap analysis without the complexity of Ahrefs. The trap is treating the export as an outreach list. This walks through qualification.
Ubersuggest
You're paying $29-99/mo for Ubersuggest. The question isn't whether the tool is worth it — it's whether you're using more than 20% of it. This is the honest decision framework for when to hire vs. keep doing it yourself.