How to find backlinks in any niche (even with no competitors)
written by Frey Chu
How to find backlinks in any niche (even with no competitors)
"Should I build a directory in a niche with no competitors?"
I get this question all the time, and I get why.
Competitors are actually a huge advantage in SEO. If they're doing well, you can copy what's working. You can study their content, their structure, and most importantly, you can pull up their backlinks in Ahrefs and reach out to those same websites to ask for links yourself.
So when there's no competitor, what do you do for backlinks?
Here's a repeatable manual process you can run in pretty much any niche, even when there's nobody to copy from.
Step 1. Use this prompt to generate a batch of relevant search queries to your keyword
Drop your niche into this prompt, paste it into Claude/ChatGPT and let it spit out queries you can search for:
You are an expert SEO strategist specializing in link building for niche websites. I am building a website in the following niche: [DESCRIBE YOUR NICHE HERE, e.g. "hiking trail directory", "dog grooming", "solar panel installation"]
Generate a list of 25 Google search queries that would help me find small to mid-size blogs, resource pages, guides, and content sites in my niche or adjacent niches. These are the types of sites whose owners might be open to adding a link to my site if I reached out to them. Organize them into three groups:
GROUP 1 (7 queries): The most directly relevant search terms for my niche. These should surface content that is specifically about what I do.
GROUP 2 (10 queries): Adjacent and related topics. Think about overlapping audiences, related verticals, and broader categories that my target audience also cares about.
GROUP 3 (8 queries): Creative and unexpected angles. Long tail searches, problem-solution content, lifestyle content, location-based variations, and roundup-style queries that most people in my niche wouldn't think to search.
Rules:
- Do NOT give me queries that would mostly surface Yelp, Reddit, Wikipedia, YouTube, Amazon, Facebook, Pinterest, TripAdvisor, or other major platforms
- Do NOT give me product pages or shopping queries FOCUS on queries that would surface blog posts, resource pages, guides, how-to articles, roundups, niche blogs, and small to mid-size informational sites
- Each query should be 2 to 5 words, phrased the way someone would actually type it into Google
- Every query should surface meaningfully different results from the others
You'll get three buckets back: directly relevant, adjacent topics, and creative angles. Generate as many as you want. When you run out, ask for 20 more.
Example output when I insert "Luxury restroom trailer rentals" into the prompt
Step 2. Pick a query and Google it
Grab any query from the list. Something like "upscale portable bathroom wedding." Search it.
Now look at the top 3 to 5 ranking websites. They're already winning for this keyword, which means they're doing something right.
Step 3. Drop these URLs into Ahrefs
Heads up: you are NOT pitching the top 3 to 5 websites for a backlink.
They're likely too big and they probably won't respond.
What you ARE doing is taking their URLs and dropping them into Ahrefs Site Explorer to see who's linking to them. Those linking sites have already proven they'll link to content in this space. That's your prospect list.
Step 4. Filter the backlinks and find the approachable ones
A site might show 5,200 backlinks. Others might show 6 backlinks. Here's how I filter to find the good backlink prospects:
Turn off spam
Set "one link per domain" (since one site can link to the same page dozens of times)
Click through each remaining domain to see if it's a small blog or article you could realistically email
In the example above, this website has 6 backlinks and 5 referring pages. There's 2 out of 6 sites that are small, approachable blogs that I'd email and offer $30-$50 to in exchange for a link insert (putting a link into their existing content).
Small blog #1 that linked to a porta potty business - ask for a link insert here.
Small blog #2 that linked to the same porta potty business - ask for a link insert here.
Here's what I want you to take away from all this. The vast majority of websites only have a small handful of high quality backlinks worth pursuing.
High quality meaning relevant, decent DR, or actual traffic going to the root domain and/or referring page.
Your job isn't to chase volume. It's to find those few good links inside each prospect site, and approach the people who can actually give them to you.
One small ask
This whole process is manual. Like, really manual. Which is exactly why I've spent every waking minute of the last 3 weeks building a SaaS to automate it.
Same prospecting process I just walked you through, connected to the Ahrefs API, with smart filtering, qualification, and eventually the full outreach pipeline (email assignment, sending, the whole thing).
The tool isn't finished yet. I'm hoping to wrap it up in the next 2 to 3 weeks.
But I'm looking for a handful of beta testers to try it out when it's ready, give me feedback, and build some backlinks in the process.
If that sounds interesting, head over to heylinks.ai and fill out the form so I know to reach out:
I'll send another email once it's all ready to go.
