gr-backlinks

name	gr-backlinks
description	Systematic backlink building for indie founders. Covers 5 channel types ranked by GEO + SEO ROI: Wikipedia (entities), authoritative media (PR), industry reviews (G2/Capterra/Product Hunt), Reddit/Quora discussions, and HARO/Featured.com expert quotes. Designed for 0→1 sites where domain authority is the bottleneck. Aligns with 2026 Google/Bing GEO guidance: backlinks are the strongest brand-authority signal AI search engines use to decide citations.
metadata	{"author":"Iris / Gingiris","version":"0.1.0","phase":"Phase 2 main line 4 (added 2026-05-07)"}

gr-backlinks — Systematic Backlink Building

Why this skill exists

Phase 2 missing piece: We do title/content/schema/cluster optimization but have zero systematic backlink work. Article research (2026-05): backlinks are the #1 GEO signal — LLMs decide citations partly by brand authority, which is downstream of backlink graph.

For Iris's site (gingiris.github.io, subpath under GitHub Pages), the domain authority ceiling is fundamentally capped without external backlinks. No on-page work can beat Wikipedia / Hootsuite / Wired for head terms — only backlink quality + count can.

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The 5-Channel Priority Matrix

Adopted from 2026-05 WeChat article + JeffLi1993 / AgriciDaniel / zubair-trabzada skills audit:

Channel	SEO Value	GEO Value	Priority	Effort/week
Wikipedia dedicated entry	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	MAX	3-6h (one-time setup, ongoing edits)
Authoritative media (PR)	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	MAX	2h (HARO + outreach)
Industry reviews (G2/Capterra/PH)	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	HIGH	1h (one-time submission)
Reddit/Quora discussions	⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	HIGH	2h (sustained presence)
Generic backlinks (directories/blogs)	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐	MED	skip until top 3 done

Rule: Start from highest GEO value. SEO-only signals (DA passing) are less leveraged than 2-3 years ago.

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When to use this skill

• "I want to build backlinks for my site"
• "How do I get into Wikipedia?"
• "How do I do HARO / Featured.com?"
• "What's a Reddit / Quora strategy that doesn't get me banned?"
• "How do I get into G2 / Capterra?"
• Phase 2 monthly checkpoint shows domain authority capping ranking

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Channel 1: Wikipedia (highest GEO leverage)

Reality check before you start

• Wikipedia is notability-gated, not effort-gated
• Threshold: 5+ independent reliable-source articles discussing your subject substantively (not in passing)
• Listicle mentions, PR releases, sponsored content do NOT count
• Paid Wikipedia services (Fiverr / WikiExperts / Wiki Mavericks): 80% of articles deleted within 6 months — they fail notability not because of editor skill

Correct sequence

1. Build the case file first (4-12 weeks)

   • Earn 5+ independent press articles via Channels 2 + 3 below
   • Document them in a data/wikipedia-prep/ folder
   • Format: {publication, date, url, key_quote, indepth_or_passing}

2. Wikidata first, Wikipedia second

   • Create a Wikidata entity (much lower notability bar) → builds a structured record AI crawlers find
   • LLMs heavily weight Wikidata for entity recognition

3. Use Articles for Creation (AfC)

   • Submit at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_creation
   • Free, peer-reviewed, 2-8 week wait
   • Pass rate: ~40% if notability is clearly demonstrated

4. Hire a real editor (optional)

   • Search Upwork for "Wikipedia editor 1000+ edits 5+ years"
   • Rate: $80-200/hr
   • Must disclose payment per WP:PAID — non-negotiable
   • Avoid agencies charging fixed $2k+ for "guaranteed" articles (banned by 2026 standards)

Checklist before submission

• Subject has 5+ deep independent sources (not press releases)
• Each notability claim has a citation
• Neutral point of view (no marketing language)
• Wikidata entity exists
• All paid contributors disclosed
• Article has 600-1,500 words (too short = "stub" rejection)

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Channel 2: PR / Authoritative Media

Two paths to backlinks

Path A: Inbound — HARO / Featured.com / Qwoted

Journalists request expert quotes daily. Reply with concise, citable answers → published article with backlink.

• HARO: helpareporter.com — free, 3 emails/day, US-heavy
• Featured.com: featured.com — pay-to-submit answers, US + global, higher conversion
• Qwoted: qwoted.com — newer, more international

Reply template (works ~15-25% of the time):

Hi [Journalist],

I'm Iris Wei, ex-COO of AFFiNE (60k+ GitHub stars). For your question
about [topic], here's a 3-sentence answer with concrete data:

[ANSWER: lead with a number, give the mechanism, end with a takeaway.
50-100 words. Cite a specific personal experience, not generic advice.]

If you need a longer quote or follow-up, happy to share more.

— Iris
Site: https://gingiris.com
Twitter: @WeiYipei

[Disclosure: I run gingiris.com — no expectation of a link, just a useful quote.]

Pace: 3-5 responses/week. Time/response: 8-12 min. Expected: 1-2 links/month.

Path B: Outbound — Targeted journalist outreach

For deep-dive features, not 1-line quotes.

1. Identify 10 journalists who cover your niche (use Twitter / Muck Rack)
2. Build 3-week warm-up (read + comment on their posts, no DM yet)
3. Pitch a specific story angle (not "want to feature my product")
4. Offer exclusive data, customer interview, or unique angle

Best pitch types for Iris:

• "I led AFFiNE from 0 → 60k GitHub stars. Here's the playbook." (TechCrunch / The Information)
• "Why most OSS marketing playbooks are wrong" (Wired / The Verge)
• "Real data: 30 Product Hunt #1 launches in 4 years" (Fast Company / Forbes)

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Channel 3: Industry Reviews (G2 / Capterra / Product Hunt / SourceForge)

One-time submissions (high ROI for any SaaS / open source)

Platform	URL	What to submit	Backlink type
G2	g2.com/products/new	Product + features	Profile + reviews
Capterra	capterra.com/vendors/sign-up	Product + pricing	Profile + reviews
Product Hunt	producthunt.com/posts/new	Each major version	Listing
SourceForge	sourceforge.net/projects/add	Open source only	Project page
AlternativeTo	alternativeto.net	Free	Profile + alt-listing
StackShare	stackshare.io	Tech stack	Profile

Once submitted, ask early users for genuine reviews (5-10 reviews unlocks featured placement on most platforms).

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Channel 4: Reddit / Quora / Hacker News

Anti-pattern (gets you banned)

• Drop your URL in a top-level post
• Generic "check out my tool" comments
• Multiple accounts (sockpuppeting)

What actually works (builds trust + backlinks naturally)

Reddit:

1. Build account karma to 500+ over 4-8 weeks (comment in non-promotional subs first)
2. Find 5-7 subreddits where your audience hangs out
3. Answer questions deeply with real experience — link to your blog only if it directly answers (1 in 10 responses)
4. Once respected: AMA in r/SaaS, r/Entrepreneur, r/IndieHackers, r/OpenSource

Quora:

1. Pick 3 topics where you can speak with authority
2. Answer specific questions, not topic-wide overviews
3. Each answer: 200-500 words + 1 personal anecdote
4. Link to blog only when blog has the deeper version of your answer

Hacker News:

1. Build karma to 50+ before posting
2. Show HN: best slot Tuesday 9am ET (see existing /gr-oss-marketing for details)
3. Engage with every comment in first 6 hours

Why this matters for GEO

LLMs heavily weight Reddit / Quora content during training:

• ChatGPT cites Reddit ~12% of its responses (2026 Q1 audit)
• Perplexity grounds 18% of answers in Reddit/Quora
• Claude weights Quora answers for "how to" queries

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Channel 5: Generic Backlinks (skip until Channels 1-4 maxed)

Directories, guest posts on low-DA sites, blogger network exchanges. Low GEO value in 2026.

Don't waste time here until Channels 1-4 are mature.

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Workflow: First 30 days for Iris

Week 1

• Sign up: HARO, Featured.com, Qwoted (Channel 2A)
• Create 1 Featured.com answer per day = 7 responses
• Submit AFFiNE + Gingiris to G2, Capterra, AlternativeTo, StackShare (Channel 3)

Week 2

• HARO/Featured: 5 responses
• Identify 10 journalists covering OSS / SaaS growth (Channel 2B prep)
• Start Reddit karma build in r/SaaS, r/Entrepreneur (Channel 4)

Week 3

• HARO/Featured: 5 responses
• Pitch 3 journalists with specific story angle (Channel 2B)
• Quora: answer 3 questions in your domain

Week 4 + Monthly retro

• HARO/Featured: 5 responses
• Count backlinks earned (use scripts/backlinks-audit.py — Tier 0 free)
• Update Wikipedia case file (Channel 1 prep)

Months 2-3

• First Wikidata entity submission
• First AfC Wikipedia submission (if 5+ independent sources accumulated)
• Reddit AMA in 1 high-fit sub

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Scripts

scripts/backlinks-audit.py (Tier 0 — free, no API)

Uses Common Crawl + verification crawler to get baseline:

• Inbound link count from common crawl
• Verify each known link (HTTP 200 + still links to us)
• Domain-level metrics: in-degree, PageRank approximation, harmonic centrality

Run monthly to track growth.

scripts/haro-helper.py (planned)

• Parse incoming HARO emails
• Auto-suggest which to respond to (based on Iris credentials)
• Draft 3-sentence answer skeletons

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Tracking

Maintain data/backlinks.jsonl (one line per backlink):

{"date":"2026-05-15","from":"techcrunch.com","to":"gingiris.github.io","anchor":"AFFiNE","channel":"PR","tier":1,"context":"60k stars article"}

Use this for:

• Monthly retro (Channel mix vs target)
• Phase 2 checkpoint (correlate backlink growth with SERP rank changes)
• Wikipedia case file building

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Anti-patterns (avoid)

• ❌ Paid agency Wikipedia services — sockpuppet farms, articles deleted
• ❌ Reddit account farming — gets you banned permanently
• ❌ Generic HARO replies — quote rate <2% without specific credentials
• ❌ Buying links — Google's algorithm now flags within days
• ❌ Asking friends to write fake reviews on G2 — flagged + removed
• ❌ Guest posting on link farms — negative SEO

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Cascade recommendations

• Channel 2 PR success → gr-blog-post reference that media article in our content (build social proof)
• Channel 4 Reddit AMA → schedule via gr-oss-marketing
• Wikipedia entity created → update gr-geo-cite to track Wikipedia citations in AI responses (highest-priority test)
• Backlinks accumulated → re-run gr-seo-patrol to measure rank impact

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API dependencies

Service	Env var	Tier	Cost
Common Crawl (CDX index)	none	0 (always)	Free
Moz API	MOZ_TOKEN	1 (optional)	$99/mo
Bing Webmaster API	OAuth	2 (optional)	Free with verified site
DataForSEO Backlinks	DATAFORSEO_B64 (existing)	3 (you have)	Pay per query

Start at Tier 0 + Tier 3 (DataForSEO already configured for gr-seo-patrol).