Sites that link to our own two apps, after a pitch
Every way to get backlinks hurts.
If you run a small product and you’ve tried, you’ve hit one of these.
You write to blogs yourself
“Out of roughly 300 emails sent, I’ve gotten maybe 8 responses and only 2 actual links placed.”
You buy them
“Half the sites that respond look like they exist only to sell links.”
You hire an agency
“I just find the service to be very opaque.”
Sellers price those links by Ahrefs’ Domain Rating. From Dec 1, 2026, its default version, DR4, gives more weight to links from sites that get search traffic. What works is slower: an article that already covers your niche, one line that makes it better, and an offer the editor wants. We made that part fast.
2,326 emails. 33 links.
All for our own apps.
July to October 2026, for our Mac app and our SaaS. About 180 editors said yes. 130 sites now link to our two apps; these 33 did after a pitch we sent, and each card opens the page that links to us.
2,326
first emails sent
276
editors wrote back (of the first 1,515)
33
links went live
Why the Domain Rating matters, and what changes on Dec 1
Ahrefs scores every site from 0 to 100 by the strength of the sites that link to it, and sellers price links by that score. From Dec 1, 2026, its default is a new version, DR4, which gives more weight to links from sites that get search traffic. We read our 32 sites under both versions on Nov 6: thenextscoop.com went from 70 to 72 and ifun.de from 65 to 61, while 9 of the 19 sites rated 30 or more fell by more than 10 points.
- Median Domain Rating of the sites that link to us, DR3 → DR4
- 34 → 16.5
- Sites rated 30 or more under DR4 (19 under DR3)
- 12 of 32
- What our 14 dofollow links from sites rated 20+ under DR4 would cost at Respona’s prices
- $3,480
We paid with free licences, guest posts and links back. Domain Rating by Ahrefs, read on Nov 6, 2026 through its free API, under DR4 (the version Ahrefs makes the default on Dec 1, 2026) and DR3 (the formula used until then). “Fell” means more than 10 points lower under DR4. franiglesias.github.io is left out: its rating is GitHub’s. Prices from respona.com/pricing, Oct 25, 2026 (DR 20+ $100, 30+ $160, 40+ $240, 50+ $400, 60+ $500). We show the rating of the sites that link to you; we don’t promise your own will rise by a number.
Mac app: 1,169 emails offering a free licence, 22 links. SaaS: 346 emails offering a guest post and a link back, 8 links; then 811 link-swap emails, 3 links. Replies were counted on the first 1,515 emails only. Setapp (DR4 79) links to both apps from two columns we wrote for its blog; it is not one of the 33. Links recounted on Oct 30, 2026 by crawling every site we emailed; Domain Rating by Ahrefs, DR4, read on Nov 6, 2026.
From 35 Google clicks a month to 8,862
Our Mac app, March to September 2026. A Domain Rating is the score Ahrefs gives a site. What you want is people finding you on Google, and links from real articles are how a new site earns that.
- 35Mar
- 69Apr
- 239May
- 2,072Jun
- 5,974Jul
- 7,451Aug
- 8,862Sep
- 8,046Oct*
We stop the count on Sep 20. After that, about 2,500 spam domains linked to the app on their own; we don’t count junk.
We don’t show a Domain Rating gain for our own apps: the Mac app also launched on directories and Setapp, a wave of spam links hit both apps this autumn, and Ahrefs changes how it computes the rating on Dec 1, 2026. What we credit to outreach is the 22 sites that linked after a pitch.
Google Search Console, Mar 15 to Oct 28, 2026 (*October: 28 days so far). Linking sites from DataForSEO. The app’s own pages earned the clicks, and links from real sites helped Google trust them; we can’t measure the split, and the app also launched on directories and Setapp. These are our numbers, not a promise for yours.
What to expect
Our own numbers, so you can do the maths.
1 in 70
first emails becomes a link. With a real offer, expect 1 to 3 links a month; close to none without.
$100–400
is what one link costs to buy (Respona, The HOTH, LinkDR).
$0
paid to editors. Some will ask; the agent tells you and moves on.
It won’t burn your domain.
These settings are locked on for every customer. You can make them stricter, never looser.
- You set what it says about your product, what you offer in return, and which blogs it may write to.
- You approve your first 20 pitches one by one, and every reply comes back as a draft.
- Sends fromA mailbox on a second domain you own
- Daily limit emails
Locked. Stricter only.
- Same blogOnce a month, across every customer
- BouncesPauses above 3% of the last 50
- Paid linksNever. No promised link counts
- About your productOnly what’s on your product sheet
- Every email ends withReply “no” and I won’t write again.
What the Cloud will do for you
One bought link costs $100 to $400.
- The agent, sending for youNew articles in your niche every week, each with its own line and pitch, follow-ups and reply drafts.Respona from $198/mo
- Outreach from day oneThe agent starts on your product the day it takes on your site: first articles, first pitches, sent once you approve.Day 1
- The offers that got us 33 linksThe three offers that worked (a free licence, a guest post with a link back, a link swap) and the real emails behind them.Our playbook
- Guest posts written when an editor asksYou read it and sign it.Included
Buying links, or earning them
Prices read on each vendor’s own page, Oct 25 to 28, 2026: Respona, The HOTH and LinkDR (per link, priced by the site’s Domain Rating by Ahrefs, 20 to 50+); backlinkoutreach.agency (agency); MentionAgent and BacklinkGPT (tools).
Get early access
The Cloud version runs the agent for you without an open session: follow-ups, reply drafts, one pitch per blog a month across every customer. It isn’t open yet. Leave your email and your website and Arthur writes to you himself when it can take on your site.
Early access
or find who should mention you, free- TodayOne email to confirm your address.
- Once you confirmOne email to say you’re on the list. Nothing else.
- When the Cloud can take your siteArthur writes to you himself.
One email to confirm, one to say you’re on the list, then nothing until the Cloud can take on your site. Leave the list in one click. Privacy
Questions
Anything else: arthur@earnedbacklinks.com. Arthur answers himself.
Get early access.
The Cloud isn’t open yet. Join the early-access list, or find who should mention you with the free tool today.
