> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.frase.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.frase.io/feature-reference/backlinks.md). # Backlinks {% embed url="" %} **Backlinks** is a link-building SEO tool inside Frase. It's more than "who links to me" monitoring — it's really a prospecting tool for finding new sites to pitch for a link, with monitoring of your existing links layered on top. It does four things: * **Competitor gap analysis** — finds domains that link to your competitors but not to you, so you know who to pitch. * **Adjacent-product prospecting** — finds domains linking to complementary (non-competing) businesses that share your audience, widening your pool of outreach targets beyond direct competitors. * **Your own backlink monitoring** — tracks who currently links to your site and flags when a link disappears. * **Two bonus angles** — "content that earns links" (which competitor pages get linked to the most, useful as content ideas) and "unlinked mentions" (pages that mention your brand by name but don't link to you — an easy outreach ask). ## How to Use Backlinks On the left sidebar, head to **Monitor → Backlinks**. From here, you'll run scans, review prospects, and monitor your existing links. ### Run a Scan Backlinks doesn't run on a schedule — you trigger it yourself, and you can run **one scan per billing period**, so pick your moment. When you start a scan, you can choose which competitors to analyze for that specific run. Backlinks then works through your own backlinks, finds prospects from your competitors and from adjacent products, and detects unlinked mentions. When the scan finishes, your summary tiles, prospect list, and referring domains are all populated. ### Read Your Summary At the top of the Backlinks page, you'll see summary tiles highlighting key metrics:
The ***Referring Domains*** tile shows the **competitor median** rather than a derived percentage, giving you a like-for-like benchmark against your competitors. ### Work Your Prospects The prospects table is where your outreach candidates live. Each prospect carries a **DA** ("domain authority") **score, Value fit score,** and a **status** you can move through as you work it: *new*, *contacted*, *won*, or *ignored.* Filter, group, and sort the table as needed to narrow a large list down to the prospects worth your time. Your prospects come from two sources: * **Competitor gap** — domains that already link to competitors but not to you. * **Adjacent products** — domains linking to complementary businesses that share your audience. The prospects page includes an explanation of what adjacent products are, so you understand why a domain showed up. #### Draft Outreach Click into an individual prospect to open its detail view. This kicks off a deeper analysis: Frase looks at the linking page, works out the context behind why it linked, and drafts a personalized cold outreach email for you. You can edit that outreach draft directly in the prospect detail before you send it, so the final message is in your words. {% hint style="warning" %} **Important**: Currently, prospect outreach must be copied and sent *outside of Frase.* {% endhint %} #### Export Prospects Need your prospects outside Frase? You can export the prospect list to **CSV** or **HTML**. Your referring domains export as well, so you can pull your existing links out too. ### Monitor Your Existing Links Open any **referring domain** to see its detail sheet — this is where your current inbound links live. When a link disappears, Backlinks flags it as a lost link rather than quietly dropping it, so you can see what changed. {% hint style="danger" %} **Important:** Each scan retrieves the **1,000 highest-ranked** referring domains. If your site has more than that, the list will show the strongest slice. {% endhint %} ### Check Unlinked Mentions Unlinked mentions are pages that name your brand but don't link to you — usually the easiest outreach ask you'll have. They're ranked by confidence, and weaker ones are collapsed behind a count so the strongest opportunities stay front and center. Running another scan can also retract a mention that no longer holds, not just add new ones — so the list keeps itself honest over time. ### Get Content Ideas from Link Magnets Backlinks clusters the competitor pages that earn the most links. Treat these as content ideas: if a particular kind of page keeps pulling links for your competitors, that's a strong signal for what to create yourself. {% hint style="info" %} **Tip:** Use [**Frase Agent** ](#user-content-fn-1)[^1][to pull and analyze your backlink prospects, summary](#user-content-fn-1)[^1], and more. {% endhint %} [^1]: --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter, and the optional `goal` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.frase.io/feature-reference/backlinks.md?ask=&goal= ``` `ask` is the immediate question: it should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. `goal` is optional and describes the broader end goal you are ultimately trying to accomplish on behalf of the user. GitBook uses it to tailor the answer towards what is most useful for that goal. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.