Guide · Agent skill
How to use the Link Building agent skill
Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data
The link-building skill is a set of instructions that turns an AI agent into a link-building strategist for a website. It helps you find out whether links are really the reason a page is stuck, then suggests where to earn mentions and how to pitch them. After following this guide you will know how to install the skill, how to ask for help with natural requests, and what the skill will and won't do.
Link Buildingcoreyhaines31/marketingskills · MIT Download the skill Quick start
- 1Download and unzip the skill. Download the ZIP from the skill's page and unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/ for personal use or .claude/skills/ inside a project.
- 2Or upload it in the Claude apps. Open Settings, go to Capabilities, choose Skills, and upload the skill.
- 3Name the target page. Tell the agent which page needs to rank or be cited, and the queries or AI prompts it should win.
- 4Share the competitors. List the three to five pages that outrank the target so the agent can run a page-level link gap.
- 5Read the gap verdict. If competitors have several times your referring domains from relevant sites, the skill points to link building; otherwise it points to content or technical fixes.
- 6Choose tactics and prospects. Pick the tactics the skill ranks highest for your situation, then qualify each prospect for relevance, traffic health and a reachable owner.
- 7Pitch short and specific. Write one short ask per prospect that refers to their page and offers a single, clear reason to link or mention you.
What the link-building skill makes the agent do
The skill tells the agent to judge every placement on two outcomes: whether it passes authority to a page that needs to rank, and whether it is a third-party page that AI engines cite for your category's questions. The agent starts by checking whether links are the bottleneck, rather than jumping straight to outreach.
It compares the referring domains of a target page against the three to five pages that outrank it, and it reads the gap using a table of common situations. If the gap is one of content, intent or freshness, the skill sends you to the seo-audit skill instead of recommending outreach.
- Confirms whether the target page is indexed, matches search intent and covers what top results cover
- Runs a page-level link gap against the pages that outrank it
- Suggests linkable assets such as data, free tools, glossaries, templates and integration pages
- Ranks tactics by effort and quality, from unlinked mention reclamation to data-led PR
- Points you to related skills for PR, directories, reviews, communities and on-site AI citation work
Install the skill from the ZIP download
Download the ZIP from the skill's page on this directory, then unzip it. You can install it for yourself or for one project. For a personal install, unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/. For a single project, unzip it into the project's .claude/skills/ folder.
If you use the Claude apps instead, open Settings, go to Capabilities, and upload the skill under Skills. The skill's files are SKILL.md, references/tactics.md, references/prospecting-and-outreach.md, references/risk-policy.md and evals/evals.json.
- Personal install: unzip into ~/.claude/skills/
- Project install: unzip into .claude/skills/ inside the project
- Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload
~/.claude/skills/link-building/SKILL.mdTrigger the skill with natural requests
You don't need a special command. Describe the problem in plain language and include the page and the competitors if you have them. The skill's description lists phrases that should activate it, such as 'link building', 'backlinks', 'link gap', 'unlinked mentions', 'broken link building' and 'is this link vendor safe'.
The skill asks for missing context when it needs it. Useful details are the target page, the queries or AI prompts it should win, the pages currently outranking it, what assets you have, and any past link purchases or manual actions.
- "Our pricing page ranks on page two. Find out whether we need backlinks and who we should target."
- "Find unlinked mentions of our brand and draft a short ask for each one."
- "Show me the referring domains that link to two of our top three competitors but not to us."
- "Is this link vendor safe? They want to sell me placements on guest posts."
Examples of what you can ask for
The most useful requests name a specific page and a specific gap. The skill then works through its prospecting and risk guidance, rather than producing a generic list of directories.
For AI visibility, you can ask which third-party pages engines cite when someone asks your category's question. The skill treats those pages, usually 'best X' lists, comparisons, review pages and community threads, as the top of the prospect list.
- A competitor link gap for one commercial page
- A prioritized outreach plan with tactics ordered by effort
- Reclaiming brand mentions that have no link
- Fixing broken or redirected links that point at old URLs
- Checking whether a proposed sponsored post is safe to accept
Safety notes: scripts, network and paid links
According to the skill's metadata, it does not run scripts and does not use the network, and it lists no required tools. It is made of instructions and reference documents, so the agent works from what you give it and from its own knowledge unless you connect a tool yourself.
The skill is firm on one point: never recommend buying links that pass ranking credit. Paid or exchanged placements should be marked rel=sponsored or nofollow. The risk reference describes what Google treats as link spam, including buying or selling followed links and excessive link exchanges. Its note says it was checked against Google Search Central's spam policies and should be re-checked before advising on a borderline case.
- No scripts are run by this skill
- No network use is declared by this skill
- Paid or swapped links should be marked sponsored or nofollow
- Pages with a past manual action should be reviewed before new outreach
Tips for getting useful results
Give the agent real data where you have it. The skill is designed around referring domain counts for specific competing pages, so a list of competitor URLs gets you further than a domain rating. The tactics reference includes search patterns such as a brand name in quotes with your own domain excluded.
Treat the output as a plan to check, not a finished campaign. Each prospect still needs a human to confirm that the site is relevant, real and reachable before any message is sent.
- Name the target page, not just the homepage; links to a homepage rarely move a commercial page
- Add the internal links from your strongest pages first, since they are free
- Ask for prospects to be qualified for relevance, traffic health and a named contact
- Keep outreach short and specific to the prospect's page
"brand name" -site:yourdomain.comWhat people use it for
- Closing an authority gap on a commercial page that ranks below competitors with more relevant referring domains
- Reclaiming unlinked brand mentions from sites that already write about your product
- Getting onto 'best of' lists that AI assistants cite for your category
- Replacing broken resource links on other sites with a page you own
- Screening a link vendor's offer before deciding whether it is safe to accept
Frequently asked questions
How do I install the link-building skill?
Download the ZIP from the skill's page and unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/ for a personal install, or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder. In the Claude apps, you can upload it under Settings, then Capabilities, then Skills.
Is the link-building skill free?
The source gives its licence as MIT. It does not state a price, so check the directory listing for any cost details.
Does the link-building skill need any tools or accounts?
The skill's metadata lists no requirements, runs no scripts and uses no network. It mentions tools such as Ahrefs, Semrush, DataForSEO and Moz as optional sources for referring domain data.
Will this skill help me buy backlinks?
No. The skill says never to recommend buying links that pass ranking credit. Paid or exchanged placements should be marked rel=sponsored or nofollow, and the skill warns that such purchases violate search engine guidelines.
Why does the skill send me to other skills?
Some problems belong elsewhere. Press coverage goes to public-relations, directories to directory-submissions, reviews to referrals, Reddit and communities to community-marketing, and on-site AI citation work to ai-seo.
What if my page isn't indexed or doesn't match search intent?
Links won't fix that. The skill says to run a page audit first, and it refers you to seo-audit for pages that don't match intent or aren't indexed.
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Our verdict
Use this skill if you are a marketer, SEO lead or founder trying to close an authority gap against specific competing pages, or if you want a structured, prioritized outreach plan. Pick something else, or fix the page first, if the page is not indexed or does not match search intent, or if you were thinking of buying links to pass ranking credit.
Download the skill