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Free Guide · @vibha.in.progress

Backlinks From Zero

Brand new site, zero backlinks, zero social proof? This is the from-scratch playbook. Claude picks the exact links to claim, drafts every submission and pitch, and one weekly task tracks them landing. Every tool, every prompt to copy. Free to start.

Already have basics?

If some links already point to you, the Backlink Engine is your next step up. It maps your competitors' links and reclaims your unlinked mentions.

What you're building

Three moves, one board

A backlink profile from nothing, built the honest way. It runs on the seo-backlinks and humanizer skills plus a few free sources.

Foundation  →  Pitch  →  Track  →  (repeat)

Foundation claims the links every real business should have. Pitch earns the editorial links that actually move rankings. Track watches them land. You watch the whole thing on one board.

What it costs

Free to start

₹0
seo-backlinks + humanizer skills + Source of Sources + your Search Console + Bing
₹0
Moz authority scores (free tier) + the directories themselves
~₹50
DataForSEO, optional, pay-as-you-go for competitor + visibility depth

The whole loop runs free: Search Console, Bing, Source of Sources, Moz free tier, the directories, your own inbox. The only optional paid piece is DataForSEO for deeper competitor and visibility data, and Qwoted if you ever want premium press. Never buy links, that is what gets you de-ranked.

Step 1

Set up your project and connect your tools

  1. Open Claude and add the seo-backlinks and humanizer skills in Settings → Capabilities. These are the brain and the voice of the whole system.
  2. Make a project, name it "Backlinks From Zero," and paste the instructions below into Project Settings → Instructions.
  3. Sign up free at Source of Sources so journalist requests land in your inbox. It is the free service built by the original HARO founder.
  4. Verify your site in Google Search Console (free, one time). This is what the Tracker reads.
  5. Add a free Bing Webmaster Tools account too, it catches links Google misses.
  6. Connect Google Search Console. Pick one of three ways: the GSC MCP (free, open source, self-host), Windsor.ai (no-code, about 1 minute, paid with a free trial), or Composio (managed auth, free tier, for builders).
  7. Get a free Moz Links API key for authority scores. Free tier is plenty to start.
  8. Optional, for competitor and visibility depth: add the DataForSEO MCP and top up a little at dataforseo.com.
Paste into Project Instructions
You are my backlink analyst and outreach writer for a brand new site with no links yet. You use the seo-backlinks skill to pick the links worth claiming, the humanizer skill to draft my outreach, and you track what lands over time. Rules: - Start from zero. Claim the foundation links first, then earn the editorial ones. - Always tag a link do-follow or no-follow, and rank by authority via Moz. - You find, score, draft and track. You never auto-send, you give me paste-ready drafts and I submit and send them myself. - Free route first (Source of Sources, my Search Console, Bing). Only use DataForSEO when I ask for depth. - Never suggest buying links or auto-blasting. Plain English, tell me exactly where each draft goes.
In plain English

Wait, what are these skills and connectors?

None of this needs code. Here is what each piece actually is.

🧠
The seo-backlinks skill free
A skill teaches Claude one job really well. This one knows how to pick, score, draft and track backlinks. You add it once in Settings.
✍️
The humanizer skill free
Rewrites every pitch so it reads like a real person, not a template. This is what keeps your outreach out of the spam pile.
📰
Source of Sources free
Journalists post what they need sources for, up to 3 emails a day. Reply with a real, useful answer and they credit you with a link. Built by the original HARO founder.
📊
Moz Links API free tier
Gives every site a Domain Authority score from 0 to 100. The free tier is enough to rank your shortlist.
🔍
Google Search Console + Bing Webmaster free
Your own backlink records, straight from Google and Bing. This is what powers the live Tracker so you see links land.
⚡
DataForSEO paid, cheap
A paid database for competitor backlinks and visibility depth. Pay as you go, no subscription. Optional.
Step 2

The three moves, and the prompt for each

1 · The Foundation

The 10 to 15 links every real business should claim, the names your buyers already trust. Product Hunt, Crunchbase, G2, Capterra, and your real niche directories, ranked by authority.

Google BusinessDA 100
LinkedInDA 98
GitHubDA 96
CrunchbaseDA 91
Product HuntDA 91
G2DA 90
CapterraDA 88
TrustpilotDA 93
Prompt
I run [brand] ([website]). We do [one line]. Use the seo-backlinks skill to find the 10 to 15 highest-authority profiles and directories I should claim, ranked by Moz DA, each tagged do-follow or no-follow. Then draft a paste-ready submission for each in my voice. My best proof point is: [a real result you can quote].

Honest note: foundation links are table stakes, they make you findable but will not rank you alone. They are the floor. The editorial links in move two are what climb.

2 · The Pitch the links that move rankings

Editorial links, from roundups and journalists, are what actually climb. Claude finds the "best tools" roundups and the reporters asking for sources right now, and drafts a pitch that does not read like spam.

Prompt
Scan today's Source of Sources digests and any "best [my niche] tools 2026" roundups. Find the 5 most relevant to [brand]. For each, draft a short, humanized pitch using the humanizer skill, with one real proof point: [proof]. Do not send anything, just draft each one so it does not read like spam.

Speed matters: popular Source of Sources requests get hundreds of replies within the first hour. You reply from your own inbox, before the deadline. Never auto-blast.

3 · The Tracker

A live board wired to your own Search Console and Bing (and DataForSEO if you want depth). It watches your links, your visibility, and your competitors' link gaps, and flags every change on its own.

Prompt
Build me a live Backlink Board artifact. A Foundation tab (the claimable links with copy-ready submissions), a Pitch tab (roundups and journalist requests with drafted pitches), and a Tracker tab wired to my Google Search Console and Bing. Show backlinks landed, my Domain Rating trend, my organic visibility, and my top 3 competitors' referring domains as a link gap I can pitch. Refresh the numbers each time I open it.

See the Backlink Board (the one from the video) →

Step 3 · make it run itself

Put the Tracker on autopilot

An artifact only refreshes when you open it. So schedule one tiny task to watch your links, visibility and competitors every week, even when you are not looking.

Prompt
Every Monday at 9am, use my Google Search Console connection (and DataForSEO if set up) to check for new and lost backlinks and my visibility trend. Compare against these 3 competitors: [comp 1, comp 2, comp 3]. Message me a short summary of what changed, and flag any link that dropped.

Now the board climbs on its own, and you get pinged the moment a link drops.

Step 4 · make it a real, linkable asset

Host your Backlink Board on GitHub, free

GitHub Pages hosts a single HTML file as a live web page, for free. This gives you a real link to your own tool, which is itself a linkable asset (the whole point of move two). Here is the exact path.

  1. Create a free account at github.com. Skip if you have one.
  2. Click the + top right, then New repository. Name it something clean like backlink-board, set it to Public, tick Add a README, and click Create repository.
  3. Rename your zero.html to index.html on your computer first (this makes the URL clean). Then in the repo click Add file → Upload files, drag in index.html, and Commit changes.
  4. Go to Settings → Pages. Under Source pick Deploy from a branch, set the branch to main and the folder to / (root), then Save.
  5. Wait about a minute and refresh. GitHub shows your live URL: https://[your-username].github.io/backlink-board/. That link is now a live, shareable tool.
  6. To update it later: open index.html in the repo, click the pencil to edit (or re-upload), and Commit changes. Pages redeploys on its own within a minute.

Optional: put it on your own domain

In Settings → Pages, add a custom domain like tools.yoursite.com, then add the matching CNAME record with your domain provider. Now your tool lives on your brand, which is a stronger asset than a github.io link, and a better thing to point pitches at.

The honest part

What is automated, what is not

Claude automates the finding, the writing and the tracking. It picks the links, drafts every submission and pitch in your voice, and watches everything weekly.

You do the submitting and the sending, because creating accounts and real outreach needs a real human. Never auto-blast links or emails, and never buy links. Both are exactly what Google de-ranks you for.

Every link in one place

Your toolkit

Want me to set this up with you?

Not everyone wants to wire up connectors, projects and hosting themselves, and that is completely fine. If you would rather have it built for your brand, with the prompts tuned to your business and the board live on your own domain, book a paid working session with me. We set the whole thing up together, from zero.

Book a session → vibha.is/taking-meetings
Made by Vibha · @vibha.in.progress · save this, you'll come back to it