Link Prospecting: Turn Competitor Backlinks into a Qualified Publisher Shortlist
Find link prospects in competitor backlinks, open the linking pages, and qualify each site by niche fit and article angle. With a real worked example and data.
- 18,944referring-domain records for 3 competitors
- 3,000scanned (first 1,000 per competitor)
- 2,402domains linking to a competitor, not to remote.com
- 36bookable guest-post publishers among them
- 36publishers reviewed on their linking pages
- 25shortlisted, with a format and a reason
A list becomes useful when every row has a decision.
Link prospecting is finished when every row on the list has a decision. Finding sites that link to competitors takes minutes with the right tool. The work that matters comes after: opening each linking page, checking the site against your brief, and deciding whether it is a guest-post opportunity, an existing article for a niche edit, a PR target or a reject, with a one-line reason. A short list of decided prospects is worth more than thousands of exported domains.
Relevance is part of that decision, but it is not only a property of the website. It also belongs to the article. A publication that is merely adjacent to your niche can carry a highly relevant guest post or PR piece when the angle connects its readers to your topic. Prospecting that rejects every site outside the exact niche throws away some of the best opportunities.
This guide uses a real run of our link-gap tool, checked on 30 September 2026. For illustration we compared remote.com with three competitors in remote payroll and hiring: deel.com, oysterhr.com and papayaglobal.com. None of them is an SEOlutions client, and the example says nothing about their marketing beyond public backlink data. Commercial context: the tool matches results against publishers SEOlutions sells placements on.
What a finished prospect list looks like
A prospect list is a set of decisions, not a set of domains. Each row should answer seven questions.
| Field | What it records | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Publisher | The site and, where relevant, the section | cyberpanel.net, blog |
| Relevant page | The page that links to a competitor, or the page you would appear on | “How much does an employer of record cost for global hiring?” |
| Audience and market | Who reads it and where | Developers, sysadmins and hosting resellers; global |
| Angle | The article topic that connects this site’s readers to your page | Hiring DevOps talent in other countries: contracts, payroll, compliance |
| Format | Guest post, niche edit, PR pitch, directory listing or none | Guest post |
| Decision | Shortlist, needs review or reject | Shortlist |
| Reason | One sentence a colleague could check | Adjacent technical audience; a competitor’s article already proves the angle works |
Without the last four columns, you have a research export. With them, you have something a team can act on, budget for and review later.
Where prospects come from
Competitor backlinks are one source among several. Each finds different kinds of opportunities and needs different checks.
| Source | Good at finding | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Competitor backlinks | Publications already willing to cover your category, including adjacent ones | Paid listings, syndicated copies and links you cannot replicate |
| Search results for your topics | Sites ranking for the questions your buyers ask | Big brands that do not accept contributions |
| Resource and roundup pages | Existing articles that could reference you | Outdated lists nobody maintains |
| Unlinked brand mentions | Sites that already talk about you | Mentions where a link would not help the reader |
| Publisher marketplaces and inventories | Sites with listed terms you can book directly | Sites listed for price rather than fit |
| AI-assisted matching | A reviewed starting list from a brief or URL | Suggestions are not confirmed availability |
This guide concentrates on competitor backlinks, because they answer a practical question: which publications already cover companies like yours, and with which angles? If you already have a product URL and want a reviewed starting list instead, the portal’s AI search does the matching from a brief.
Competitor backlink analysis, step by step
A backlink gap analysis compares the sites linking to your competitors with the sites linking to you, and keeps the difference.
- Choose the right competitors. Pick companies competing for the same buyers and search results, not only the ones your sales team names. Three to five is enough.
- Run the gap. Tools such as Ahrefs’ Link Intersect, Semrush’s Backlink Gap or the SEOlutions link-gap tool list domains that link to one or more competitors but not to you. Our tool matches that list against publishers you can book.
- Limit the scope honestly. Large competitors have thousands of referring domains. Decide how many records you will review and say so in your notes.
- Open the linking pages. A domain-level match says nothing about what kind of link it is, or which angle made the site relevant. Look at the actual page before judging the site.
The fourth step is where the list becomes useful, and it is the step most prospecting skips.
Relevance works on two levels
A prospect is relevant when two conditions hold, and only one of them depends on the website.
- Publisher level: the site is at least somewhat adjacent to your niche. Its readers share a job, a workflow or a business concern with your buyers, even if the site never covers your product category. A hosting blog read by developers and sysadmins is adjacent to remote hiring, because many of its readers work in distributed technical teams; a celebrity gossip site is not.
- Article level: the specific piece is topically relevant. The article’s subject connects the site’s readers to your page. For a payroll brief, “what an employer of record costs when you scale a remote team” is relevant on a hosting blog, because it answers a question its readers’ teams face.
For guest posts and PR, you create the article, so you can create the article-level relevance. The publication only needs to be close enough that its editor would run the piece and its readers would find it useful. For niche edits, you inherit an existing page, so the page itself must already cover a relevant topic; the angle cannot be written after the fact.
The competitors in our run show how often this works. Here are eight publishers that a niche-label filter would put outside payroll and HR: a hosting blog, a security news site, a legal publication, a regional business magazine, a general tech blog, an AI journal, a crypto site and a consumer-tech site. Each already carries a competitor article that bridged the topics:
| Adjacent publisher | What the competitor published there | Angle that would work for remote.com |
|---|---|---|
| cyberpanel.netTechnology / AI, Data & Software · $530 | “Scaling Your Remote Team: How Much Does an Employer of Record Cost for Global Hiring?” → papayaglobal.com/pricing (followed) | “Hiring DevOps and sysadmin talent in other countries: contracts, payroll and compliance” |
| cybersecuritynews.comTechnology / Cybersecurity · $425 | “What is payroll auditing? And how to avoid security breaches” → papayaglobal.com/blog/payroll-audit-objectives-process/ (nofollow) | “Protecting employee data when payroll runs in 30 countries” |
| attorneys.mediaLegal · $199 | “Employment Contracts: Essential Clauses and Warning Signs for Workers” → oysterhr.com/library/types-of-employment-contracts (followed) | “Employment contracts for international hires: the clauses that change by country” |
| azbigmedia.comBusiness / General · $179 | “How Arizona companies are hiring in Mexico quickly and cost-effectively” → papayaglobal.com/peo-mexico/ (followed) | “Arizona companies hiring across the border: employer of record or own entity?” |
| alltechbuzz.netTechnology / General · $175 | “Ways to Make Sure Payroll is Global Compliant” → papayaglobal.com/importance-of-global-payroll-compliance/ (followed) | “A payroll compliance checklist for a company’s first five countries” |
| aijourn.comTechnology / AI, Data & Software · $325 | “5 Gusto Alternatives with Better Global Payroll Solutions” → oysterhr.com/library/working-remotely-for-a-us-company (followed) | “Global payroll for AI startups hiring researchers in several countries” |
| chainbits.comCrypto & Blockchain · $325 | “Simple Crypto Tax Guide [2019 Edition]” → papayaglobal.com homepage (followed) | “What a company should check before paying contractors in crypto” |
| bitrebels.comTechnology / Consumer Tech · $195 | “4 Ways To Increase Diversity Within Your Company” → oysterhr.com/glossary/eor (followed) | “Building a more diverse team by hiring beyond your home country” |
Created relevance has limits. An angle cannot fix a site in the wrong market or language, a site with no plausible reader overlap, or an editor who would not publish the piece. If the angle only makes sense because you need the link, readers and editors will notice. The test is simple: would this article be worth publishing on that site if it contained no link at all?
The test run in numbers
We ran the gap for remote.com against deel.com, oysterhr.com and papayaglobal.com on 30 September 2026, reading the first 1,000 referring-domain records for each competitor.
- Checked
- September 30, 2026
- Client site
- remote.com
- Competitors
- deel.com, oysterhr.com, papayaglobal.com
- Scope
- First 1,000 records per competitor
- Provider
- DataForSEO Backlinks
- Method
- Domain intersection, one competitor per request
- Matched against
- SEOlutions guest-post and niche-edit inventory
- API cost
- $0.18 gap + about $0.72 linking pages
| Competitor | Referring-domain records | Scanned | Not linking to remote.com | Only this competitor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| deel.com | 11,879 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 772 |
| oysterhr.com | 3,815 | 1,000 | 998 | 547 |
| papayaglobal.com | 3,250 | 1,000 | 996 | 580 |
| Unique domains | 18,944 | 3,000 | 2,402 | 1,899 |
- Link to one competitor1,899
- Link to two competitors414
- Link to all three89
Examples linking to all three: producthunt.com, clickup.com, peoplemanagingpeople.com, jobgether.com, remotepeople.com, toolradar.com, softabase.com, hrtechsaas.com.
Four things stand out before a single page is opened.
- The run is a sample, and the table says how big. Deel has 11,879 referring-domain records; we read 1,000 of them, about 8%. For Oyster and Papaya the share is roughly a quarter to a third. A complete scan costs more and takes longer, and it mostly adds more of the same kinds of sites. Record the scope in your notes so nobody mistakes a sample for the whole picture.
- Overlap is the strongest raw signal. Of the 2,402 domains that link to a competitor but not to remote.com, 89 link to all three and 414 to two. Sites that cover several companies in a category are more likely to cover a fourth. Among the 89 are job boards, software directories and review sites, HR publications and SaaS tools, which shows how mixed even the best-overlap group is.
- Most prospects are not bookable anywhere. Only 36 of the 2,402 are guest-post publishers in the SEOlutions inventory, about 1.5%, plus 15 niche-edit offers on matching domains. None of the 36 links to all three competitors; 7 link to two. The rest of the list would need outreach, partnerships or PR, and many would not accept any of those.
- Most matches are usable, but not all in the same way. From the catalog niche and description alone, 14 of the 36 sit in the core niche, 16 are adjacent and need an article angle, and only 6 are unrelated or in the wrong market. A first pass that looked for the exact niche would have discarded most of the adjacent group, and the review below shows it would have been wrong about most of them. Use the triage to order the work, not to throw rows away.
All 36 bookable matches, triaged
First pass from the catalog niche and description, next to the decision after opening the linking page. Listed prices and DR as of September 30, 2026.
| Publisher | Niche | Links to | DR | Listed price | First pass | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| onrec.com | News & Media / General News | deel + oysterhr | 72 | $179 | Core niche | Shortlist |
| citybiz.co | News & Media / Local & Regional | oysterhr + papayaglobal | 75 | $419 | Core niche | Needs review |
| entrepreneur.com (US) | Business / Entrepreneurship & Startups | papayaglobal | 91 | $2,799 | Core niche | Needs review |
| careeraddict.com | Business / HR & Workplace | papayaglobal | 72 | $499 | Core niche | Shortlist |
| ceotodaymagazine.com | Business / General | papayaglobal | 74 | $729 | Core niche | Shortlist |
| ceoworld.biz | Business / General | papayaglobal | 79 | $599 | Core niche | Shortlist |
| techbullion.com | Finance / Fintech | papayaglobal | 79 | $149 | Core niche | Needs review |
| bmmagazine.co.uk | Business / General | papayaglobal | 76 | $279 | Core niche | Shortlist |
| apollotechnical.com | Business / HR & Workplace | papayaglobal | 79 | $215 | Core niche | Shortlist |
| ffnews.com | Finance / Fintech | papayaglobal | 75 | $499 | Core niche | Shortlist |
| businesscloud.co.uk | Technology / General | papayaglobal | 73 | $780 | Core niche | Needs review |
| businessabc.net | Business / General | papayaglobal | 71 | $169 | Core niche | Shortlist |
| flevy.com | Business / General | papayaglobal | 56 | $349 | Core niche | Shortlist |
| b2bnn.com | Business / General | papayaglobal | 67 | $430 | Core niche | Shortlist |
| softwaresuggest.com | Technology / AI, Data & Software | deel + papayaglobal | 78 | $489 | Adjacent: needs an article angle | Needs review |
| nucamp.co | Technology / AI, Data & Software | deel + papayaglobal | 70 | $499 | Adjacent: needs an article angle | Shortlist |
| aijourn.com | Technology / AI, Data & Software | oysterhr + papayaglobal | 77 | $325 | Adjacent: needs an article angle | Shortlist |
| bitrebels.com | Technology / Consumer Tech | oysterhr + papayaglobal | 70 | $195 | Adjacent: needs an article angle | Shortlist |
| analyticsinsight.net | Technology / General | papayaglobal | 80 | $279 | Adjacent: needs an article angle | Shortlist |
| coruzant.com | Technology / General | papayaglobal | 70 | $299 | Adjacent: needs an article angle | Shortlist |
| cyberpanel.net | Technology / AI, Data & Software | papayaglobal | 88 | $530 | Adjacent: needs an article angle | Shortlist |
| cybersecuritynews.com | Technology / Cybersecurity | papayaglobal | 78 | $425 | Adjacent: needs an article angle | Shortlist |
| azbigmedia.com | Business / General | papayaglobal | 77 | $179 | Adjacent: needs an article angle | Shortlist |
| highperformr.ai | Technology / AI, Data & Software | deel | 57 | $449 | Adjacent: needs an article angle | Shortlist |
| attorneys.media | Legal | oysterhr | 75 | $199 | Adjacent: needs an article angle | Shortlist |
| Alltechbuzz.net | Technology / General | papayaglobal | 52 | $175 | Adjacent: needs an article angle | Shortlist |
| computerworld.com | Technology / General | papayaglobal | 89 | $2,600 | Adjacent: needs an article angle | Needs review |
| technori.com | Technology / General | deel | 51 | $910 | Adjacent: needs an article angle | Needs review |
| business.express | Business / General | papayaglobal | 50 | $195 | Adjacent: needs an article angle | Shortlist |
| ceoweekly.com | Business / General | papayaglobal | 75 | $162 | Adjacent: needs an article angle | Shortlist |
| inkl.com | Politics & Society | deel + oysterhr | 70 | $219 | Unrelated or wrong market | Reject |
| scoop.co.nz | Politics & Society | deel | 79 | $799 | Unrelated or wrong market | Shortlist |
| computable.nl | Technology / General | deel | 76 | $499 | Unrelated or wrong market | Shortlist |
| auburnpub.com | News & Media / Local & Regional | oysterhr | 72 | $829 | Unrelated or wrong market | Needs review |
| chainbits.com | Crypto & Blockchain | papayaglobal | 51 | $325 | Unrelated or wrong market | Needs review |
| washingtonindependent.org | Politics & Society | papayaglobal | 46 | $325 | Unrelated or wrong market | Needs review |
Also on matching domains: 15 niche-edit offers, listed from $119 to $509.
How to qualify a prospect
Qualify fit first and metrics second, but judge fit on both levels. Two questions can reject a site outright: whether it is at least adjacent to your niche, and whether it reaches your market. Everything else decides the format, the angle and the order in which you act.
- Niche adjacency: does the site cover your niche, or an adjacent one whose readers share a job, workflow or concern with your buyers?
- Market: does it reach the countries and languages you sell in? No angle fixes the wrong market.
- Audience: could some of its readers use, buy or approve your product? On adjacent sites this may be a subset, such as team leads among the developers and sysadmins reading a hosting blog.
- Angle: can you name an article that serves its readers and leads naturally to your page? If you cannot, the site is not a prospect yet.
- The linking page: is the competitor’s link editorial, or a paid listing, a syndicated copy, a profile page or an aggregator?
- Format: is there a realistic way in: a new article, an existing page that already covers your topic, or a news story?
- Trend and upkeep: is traffic stable or growing, and are recent articles maintained? Our guide to SEO metrics explains how to read these numbers without over-trusting them.
- Terms: are link treatment, disclosure and price acceptable for this brief?
Qualify one prospect
Shortlist, review or reject?
Answer for one site and one brief. The first two checks decide whether relevance is possible at all; a “no” there rejects the prospect however strong its metrics are. On an adjacent site, the article angle creates the rest. No score, just a decision and the reasons.
0 of 8 checks answered.
Match each prospect to a format
Once a prospect is qualified, the linking page usually suggests the format. Decide it per row, because the same site can offer different routes.
| What you find | Likely format | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The site publishes contributed articles in your niche | Guest post | You can shape a new article around your angle and destination |
| The site is adjacent and accepts contributions | Guest post or PR piece with a bridging angle | The new article creates the topical relevance the site alone lacks |
| A relevant, maintained article already exists that lacks a source you have | Niche edit | The page exists and already covers your topic; a reference can improve it |
| The competitor was covered for news, data or a launch | PR pitch, or a data-led guest post | Coverage follows a story; bring one |
| The link comes from a paid directory, listing or profile page | Listing, if it is worth it for visibility | It is a commercial or automated placement, not editorial coverage |
| The link comes from syndication or an aggregator | Usually none | The original publisher is the real prospect |
| The link is a customer story, partnership or integration page | Only with the same relationship | You cannot buy your way into someone else’s partnership |
If you are unsure whether a new article or an insertion fits better, our comparison of guest posts and niche edits covers the trade-offs.
Worked example: all 36 reviewed, 25 shortlisted
We opened the linking pages for all 36 matched publishers, which returned 61 linking pages. In the gap report these publishers looked alike: each links to at least one competitor. The pages showed that the links were earned in eight different ways.
| How the competitor earned the link | Publishers | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Article angle bridging an adjacent niche | 9 | cyberpanel.net, cybersecuritynews.com, coruzant.com, azbigmedia.com, alltechbuzz.net, aijourn.com, chainbits.com, bitrebels.com, business.express |
| News and launch coverage | 9 | onrec.com, techbullion.com, citybiz.co, businesscloud.co.uk, computable.nl, scoop.co.nz, computerworld.com, technori.com, washingtonindependent.org |
| Executive byline, column or interview | 5 | ffnews.com, ceoworld.biz, ceoweekly.com, entrepreneur.com, ceotodaymagazine.com |
| Citation of a useful resource | 7 | careeraddict.com, apollotechnical.com, nucamp.co, flevy.com, b2bnn.com, attorneys.media, businessabc.net |
| Paid listing | 1 | softwaresuggest.com |
| Company or people profile page | 1 | highperformr.ai |
| Syndication or aggregation | 2 | auburnpub.com, inkl.com |
| Passing mention | 2 | bmmagazine.co.uk, analyticsinsight.net |
Each mechanism points to a different format and angle, which is why the decision belongs to the page, not the domain.
All 36 publishers reviewed, one decision each
Linking pages retrieved on September 30, 2026. Decisions and angles are our editorial assessment for a remote-payroll brief. The 25 shortlisted publishers are listed at $9,156 combined. Open a row for the evidence.
onrec.com→ oysterhr.com · News and launch coverage$179Shortlist
News & Media / General News · DR 72 · first pass: Core niche
- Oyster Powers Fast and Compliant Global Payroll in 20+ Countries, Giving HR Teams Confidence While Reducing Complexity | Onrec → homepage · followed · last seen 2026-09-28
- Transforming Work: Global Trends in the Future of Employment | Onrec → /get-started/eor-peo-alternative · followed · last seen 2026-09-28
- Oyster's 2025 Global Hiring Report Reveals How the Expertise Economy is Reshaping the World of Work | Onrec → homepage · nofollow · last seen 2026-09-28
A recruitment-industry trade publication covering the competitor’s launch and hiring report. Same buyers, editorial context and a clear angle: a data-backed piece on cross-border hiring.
Format: Guest post or news-led contribution
careeraddict.com→ papayaglobal.com · Citation of a useful resource$499Shortlist
Business / HR & Workplace · DR 72 · first pass: Core niche
- Payslip Explained for Employees: What Should Be in it? → /glossary/year-to-date/ · followed · last seen 2026-08-25
A payslip explainer links to the competitor’s glossary entry. The link was earned by a useful resource, so match it with an employee-facing guide rather than a product page.
Format: Guest post pointing to a resource
apollotechnical.com→ papayaglobal.com · Citation of a useful resource$215Shortlist
Business / HR & Workplace · DR 79 · first pass: Core niche
- Unraveling the Enigma: Navigating the Remote Engineer Quest with 9 Expert Tips - Apollo Technical LLC → /blog/employer-of-record-explained/ · followed · last seen 2026-03-24
A recruitment blog’s guide to hiring remote engineers cites the competitor’s employer-of-record explainer. The readers hire internationally, and the template is clear: a practical hiring guide that cites a useful resource.
Format: Guest post pointing to an explainer
ffnews.com→ papayaglobal.com · Executive byline, column or interview$499Shortlist
Finance / Fintech · DR 75 · first pass: Core niche
- Why Your Contingent Workforce Payments Strategy is Costing Y → /payments/ · followed · last seen 2026-06-23
- Red Flags in Fintech Payments – And How to Avoid Them → /payment-licenses/ · followed · last seen 2026-06-23
- Papaya Global and AKT Partner to Bring End-to-End Workfor… → homepage · followed · last seen 2026-06-30
A fintech publication runs contributed pieces on contingent-workforce payments that link to the competitor’s payments pages, plus partnership news. A fit if the client has a payments angle; the audience is finance, not HR.
Format: Contributed thought leadership on workforce payments
ceoworld.biz→ papayaglobal.com · Executive byline, column or interview$599Shortlist
Business / General · DR 79 · first pass: Core niche
- 5 Challenges CEOs Face When Building a Global Workforce and How to Solve Them - CEOWORLD magazine → homepage · followed · last seen 2026-08-31
A 2019 contributed article on building a global workforce still links to the competitor and was seen again in August 2026. The topic fits exactly, and the page shows this kind of placement can last for years.
Format: Executive-bylined guest post
cyberpanel.net→ papayaglobal.com · Article angle bridging an adjacent niche$530Shortlist
Technology / AI, Data & Software · DR 88 · first pass: Adjacent: needs an article angle
- Scaling Your Remote Team: How Much Does an Employer of Record Cost for Global Hiring? → /pricing · followed · last seen 2026-07-17
A web-hosting and server-management blog is not an HR publication, yet it ran a piece on what an employer of record costs when scaling a remote team, with a followed link to the competitor’s pricing page. Its developers and sysadmins work in distributed technical teams, and its listing asks for technical relevance, so the angle should stay technical.
Format: Guest post with a bridging angle
Angle for remote.com: “Hiring DevOps and sysadmin talent in other countries: contracts, payroll and compliance”
cybersecuritynews.com→ papayaglobal.com · Article angle bridging an adjacent niche$425Shortlist
Technology / Cybersecurity · DR 78 · first pass: Adjacent: needs an article angle
- What is payroll auditing? And how to avoid security breaches - Cyber Security News → /blog/payroll-audit-objectives-process/ · nofollow · last seen 2025-10-28
A cybersecurity news site published “What is payroll auditing? And how to avoid security breaches”, citing the competitor’s payroll-audit guide. Payroll data is a security topic, and IT teams help approve payroll software. The competitor’s link is nofollow, but the listed offer is dofollow: link treatment belongs to the offer.
Format: Guest post with a security angle
Angle for remote.com: “Protecting employee data when payroll runs in 30 countries”
ceoweekly.com→ papayaglobal.com · Executive byline, column or interview$162Shortlist
Business / General · DR 75 · first pass: Adjacent: needs an article angle
- The Changing Role of CEOs: Eynat Guez on Automation, AI, and Global Business Growth - CEO Weekly → homepage · followed · last seen 2026-05-28
A general business-leadership publication interviewed the competitor’s CEO on automation and global growth. The site is broad, but an executive story about building an international team fits its readers, and the listed price is low.
Format: Executive interview or leadership article
Angle for remote.com: “What a CEO should decide before hiring the first employee abroad”
highperformr.ai→ deel.com · Company or people profile page$449Shortlist
Technology / AI, Data & Software · DR 57 · first pass: Adjacent: needs an article angle
- Where is Deel Located? HQ, Global Offices & Company Insights → homepage · followed · last seen 2026-06-16
- Who is Alex Bouaziz? Discover Their Role as Co-founder & CEO | Highperformr → homepage · followed · last seen 2026-02-28
- Who is Jack Seymour? Discover Their Role as Associate Director of Sales - Deel IT | Highperformr → homepage · followed · last seen 2026-02-28
The competitor’s links come from automatically generated company and people profiles, which you cannot replicate by booking. The site also sells guest posts on its blog for marketers and founders, where a hiring article for growing sales and marketing teams can create the relevance.
Format: Guest post on the blog with a bridging angle
Angle for remote.com: “How AI-first startups build sales teams across borders from day one”
softwaresuggest.com→ deel.com · Paid listing$489Needs review
Technology / AI, Data & Software · DR 78 · first pass: Adjacent: needs an article angle
- /deel-HRMS → /paid-lp/hr · followed · last seen 2026-03-08
- /deel-Payroll → /paid-lp/global-payroll · followed · last seen 2026-03-01
- Top 6 HR Automation Tools in 2026 → /hr/engage/ · nofollow · last seen 2026-02-06
The followed links come from a paid listing (ppc subdomain, paid-listicle tracking). The editorial roundup link is nofollow. Decide whether a listing or an insertion into the HR-tools roundup is worth it.
Format: Directory listing or niche edit, not a guest post
entrepreneur.com→ papayaglobal.com · Executive byline, column or interview$2,799Needs review
Business / Entrepreneurship & Startups · DR 91 · first pass: Core niche
- Going Global? The Game Has Changed. Here's the New Playbook. → homepage · followed · last seen 2026-09-20
- Eynat Guez Built a $3.7B Company for AI’s Hiring Boom - Entrepreneur United Kingdom - Entrepreneur United Kingdom → homepage · followed · last seen 2026-09-22
- EYNAT GUEZ | Entrepreneur → homepage · followed · last seen 2026-08-29
The links come from the competitor CEO’s contributor column, author page and a founder profile. That reach rests on a recognised founder byline; at the listed $2,799 it needs a strong executive story.
Format: Founder column or profile, not a one-off guest post
nucamp.co→ deel.com · Citation of a useful resource$499Shortlist
Technology / AI, Data & Software · DR 70 · first pass: Adjacent: needs an article angle
- Nucamp → /fr/global-hiring-report-2026/ · followed · last seen 2026-09-27
- Nucamp → /blog/remote-work-visas/ · followed · last seen 2026-09-27
- Nucamp → /payroll/global/ · followed · last seen 2026-09-27
Country-by-country tech career guides cite the competitor’s global hiring report, remote-work visa guide and payroll page. The readers are future developers rather than buyers, so write for them: how remote hires get employed and paid.
Format: Guest post from the employee side, or a niche edit into a country guide
Angle for remote.com: “Working for a foreign company as a remote developer: contracts, pay and taxes”
techbullion.com→ papayaglobal.com · News and launch coverage$149Needs review
Finance / Fintech · DR 79 · first pass: Core niche
- Papaya Global Launches ONE, an Agentic Compliance Intelligence Platform Tailored to Each Organization - TechBullion → /papaya-one/ · followed · last seen 2026-08-29
- “You’ll Never Work Alone”: Papaya Global Doubles Down on Expert Support and Launches 360 AI - Layer - TechBullion → homepage · followed · last seen 2026-07-31
- Revolutionizing Global Workforces: Papaya Global’s Digital Wallet Innovation - TechBullion → homepage · followed · last seen 2026-08-02
Several launch announcements written in press-release style link to the competitor. Useful for distributing product news; not evidence of independent editorial interest.
Format: Sponsored news or press release
citybiz.co→ oysterhr.com · News and launch coverage$419Needs review
News & Media / Local & Regional · DR 75 · first pass: Core niche
- Oyster Raises $59M Series D | citybiz → homepage · followed · last seen 2026-06-21
Covered the competitor’s Series D. A US business-news site that fits a funding announcement, not an evergreen guest post.
Format: News coverage for a funding or launch story
bmmagazine.co.uk→ papayaglobal.com · Passing mention$279Shortlist
Business / General · DR 76 · first pass: Core niche
- Innovative Ways Startups Are Gaining Leads and Clients → homepage · followed · last seen 2026-08-03
A generic article on how startups win clients links to the competitor’s homepage in passing. That is a low bar; a specific article for UK small businesses expanding abroad is far more useful to the same readers.
Format: Guest post with a specific international-hiring angle
Angle for remote.com: “What a UK startup needs before hiring its first employee in the EU”
coruzant.com→ papayaglobal.com · Article angle bridging an adjacent niche$299Shortlist
Technology / General · DR 70 · first pass: Adjacent: needs an article angle
- A Guide to Tech Trends Shaping Global Payroll Systems. → homepage · followed · last seen 2026-08-24
A digital-technology publication filed a guide to the tech trends shaping global payroll under fintech. Payroll as a technology story is the bridge.
Format: Guest post on payroll technology
Angle for remote.com: “What changes in payroll technology when a company employs people in ten countries”
ceotodaymagazine.com→ papayaglobal.com · Executive byline, column or interview$729Shortlist
Business / General · DR 74 · first pass: Core niche
- Choosing an International Payroll System for Your Global Workforce - CEO Today → /global-payroll/ · followed · last seen 2026-09-25
- Eynat Guez, CEO of Papaya Global, Facilitating a Remote Workforce with a Global Payroll Solution - CEO Today → homepage · followed · last seen 2026-08-16
An executive magazine published a guide to choosing an international payroll system and a profile of the competitor’s CEO. Core readers, and two proven formats.
Format: Executive guide or interview
Angle for remote.com: “The questions a CEO should ask before choosing international payroll”
businesscloud.co.uk→ papayaglobal.com · News and launch coverage$780Needs review
Technology / General · DR 73 · first pass: Core niche
- Israeli takeover at payments firm Azimo → homepage · followed · last seen 2026-09-26
The link sits in UK tech-business news about an acquisition in payments. It suits a real UK announcement, not an evergreen guest post.
Format: News, when there is a UK story
computable.nl→ deel.com · News and launch coverage$499Shortlist
Technology / General · DR 76 · first pass: Unrelated or wrong market
- WESTPOLE steunt Belgische bedrijven via internationale competitie The Pitch - Computable.nl → /the-pitch-by-deel/ · followed · last seen 2026-09-18
- Deel kondigt nieuwe investeerders en financiële mijlpaal aan - Computable.nl → homepage · followed · last seen 2026-08-25
- Deel lanceert AI Workforce - Computable.nl → homepage · followed · last seen 2026-08-25
A Dutch IT publication carries the competitor’s press releases in Dutch: launches, funding and a Belgian startup competition. Not the wrong market if you sell in the Netherlands and Belgium; the relevance comes from a local announcement in the local language.
Format: Dutch-language press release
Angle for remote.com: “A Benelux announcement, written in Dutch”
scoop.co.nz→ deel.com · News and launch coverage$799Shortlist
Politics & Society · DR 79 · first pass: Unrelated or wrong market
- Deel IT Can Now Power The Full IT Lifecycle | Scoop News → homepage · followed · last seen 2026-05-06
- As Entry-Level Jobs Dry Up In NZ, How Can We Help Young People Find Their Way Into Work? | Scoop News → /the-role-of-ai-in-the-global-workforce/ · followed · last seen 2026-05-01
- Deel Expands Immigration Support To Everyone, Streamlining Global Visa Applications | Scoop News → /immigration · followed · last seen 2026-04-23
A New Zealand news site carries the competitor’s product releases and a story on entry-level jobs in NZ that cites its page on AI in the global workforce. A local story creates the relevance.
Format: Press release or NZ data story
Angle for remote.com: “How New Zealand employers hire and pay talent overseas”
flevy.com→ papayaglobal.com · Citation of a useful resource$349Shortlist
Business / General · DR 56 · first pass: Core niche
- Global PEO: Solution for Agile Overseas Hiring → /blog/5-considerations-for-choosing-global-peo/ · followed · last seen 2026-07-24
A business-consulting blog ran an article on global PEOs for overseas hiring, linking to the competitor’s guide on choosing a PEO. A strategy angle for consultants and operators.
Format: Guest post pointing to a guide
Angle for remote.com: “PEO, employer of record or own entity: choosing a model for overseas hiring”
analyticsinsight.net→ papayaglobal.com · Passing mention$279Shortlist
Technology / General · DR 80 · first pass: Adjacent: needs an article angle
- The Benefits of Applying Analytics to Hidden Data Sources → homepage · followed · last seen 2025-09-04
The competitor’s link is a passing mention in an article on analytics for hidden data sources. A tech-and-data site can carry a much stronger piece if payroll data is the subject.
Format: Guest post with a payroll-analytics angle
Angle for remote.com: “What payroll data across countries reveals about workforce costs”
b2bnn.com→ papayaglobal.com · Citation of a useful resource$430Shortlist
Business / General · DR 67 · first pass: Core niche
- 3 Ways Your B2B Business Can Go Global And Reap The Rewards → /blog/when-to-move-from-peo-to-payroll/ · followed · last seen 2026-08-18
A B2B news site ran “3 ways your B2B business can go global”, linking to the competitor’s guide on moving from a PEO to payroll. Going global is a B2B growth topic.
Format: Guest post for B2B leaders
Angle for remote.com: “When a B2B company should move from contractors to employees abroad”
attorneys.media→ oysterhr.com · Citation of a useful resource$199Shortlist
Legal · DR 75 · first pass: Adjacent: needs an article angle
- Employment Contracts: Essential Clauses and Warning Signs for Workers → /library/types-of-employment-contracts · followed · last seen 2025-09-13
- Non-Compete Clause - Attorneys.Media - Legal Expert Interviews & Trusted Advice → /library/types-of-employment-contracts · followed · last seen 2025-09-13
A legal publication’s employment-contract guide and non-compete glossary entry link to the competitor’s page on contract types. Employment law is the bridge between legal readers and payroll.
Format: Guest post on employment contracts
Angle for remote.com: “Employment contracts for international hires: the clauses that change by country”
azbigmedia.com→ papayaglobal.com · Article angle bridging an adjacent niche$179Shortlist
Business / General · DR 77 · first pass: Adjacent: needs an article angle
- How Arizona companies are hiring in Mexico quickly and cost-effectively - AZ Big Media → /peo-mexico/ · followed · last seen 2026-07-12
An Arizona business publication ran “How Arizona companies are hiring in Mexico”, linking to the competitor’s Mexico PEO page. The regional angle turned a local site into a relevant one.
Format: Regional guest post with a local angle
Angle for remote.com: “Arizona companies hiring across the border: employer of record or own entity?”
alltechbuzz.net→ papayaglobal.com · Article angle bridging an adjacent niche$175Shortlist
Technology / General · DR 52 · first pass: Adjacent: needs an article angle
- Ways to Make Sure Payroll is Global Compliant → /importance-of-global-payroll-compliance/ · followed · last seen 2026-08-08
- So stellen Sie sicher, dass die Gehaltsabrechnung global konform ist → /importance-of-global-payroll-compliance/ · nofollow · last seen 2026-08-08
- Способы обеспечения соответствия платежной ведомости международным требованиям → /importance-of-global-payroll-compliance/ · nofollow · last seen 2026-06-21
A general tech blog published “Ways to make sure payroll is global compliant”, with a followed link to the competitor’s compliance page. Its translated copies carry nofollow links.
Format: Guest post on payroll compliance
Angle for remote.com: “A payroll compliance checklist for a company’s first five countries”
businessabc.net→ papayaglobal.com · Citation of a useful resource$169Shortlist
Business / General · DR 71 · first pass: Core niche
- Key Reasons: Outsourcing Benefits → /blog/employer-of-record-explained/ · followed · last seen 2026-09-26
A business-media site’s article on why outsourcing matters links to the competitor’s employer-of-record explainer. The explainer did the work, not the product page.
Format: Guest post pointing to an explainer
Angle for remote.com: “What to outsource, and what to keep, when you hire your first international employee”
computerworld.com→ papayaglobal.com · News and launch coverage$2,600Needs review
Technology / General · DR 89 · first pass: Adjacent: needs an article angle
- Hiring across borders is tough. Global HR startups aim to help – Computerworld → homepage · nofollow · last seen 2026-09-18
Computerworld covered global HR startups in its own journalism (nofollow). The listed offer costs $2,600; an IT angle can fit its readers, but it needs a strong story at that price.
Format: Contributed IT article, if the price is justified
Angle for remote.com: “Equipping and securing remote employees in 40 countries”
technori.com→ deel.com · News and launch coverage$910Needs review
Technology / General · DR 51 · first pass: Adjacent: needs an article angle
- How Deel Compressed Years of Development Into Months → homepage · followed · last seen 2026-09-25
- How Deel Compressed Years of Development Into Months → homepage · followed · last seen 2026-06-18
Two startup features tell how the competitor built its product quickly. A founder or build story fits; at $910 it needs one worth telling.
Format: Startup story feature
aijourn.com→ oysterhr.com · Article angle bridging an adjacent niche$325Shortlist
Technology / AI, Data & Software · DR 77 · first pass: Adjacent: needs an article angle
- 5 Gusto Alternatives with Better Global Payroll Solutions | The AI Journal → /library/working-remotely-for-a-us-company · followed · last seen 2026-07-10
The AI Journal ran “5 Gusto alternatives with better global payroll solutions”, linking to the competitor. AI companies hire globally, and a comparison-style piece reaches them.
Format: Guest post or comparison for AI companies
Angle for remote.com: “Global payroll for AI startups hiring researchers in several countries”
chainbits.com→ papayaglobal.com · Article angle bridging an adjacent niche$325Needs review
Crypto & Blockchain · DR 51 · first pass: Unrelated or wrong market
- Simple Crypto Tax Guide [2019 Edition] | ChainBits → homepage · followed · last seen 2025-11-16
A crypto site links to the competitor from a crypto tax guide. Paying contractors in crypto or stablecoins is a real topic for its readers; decide first whether the brand wants to appear in crypto media.
Format: Guest post on crypto and payroll, if the brand fits
Angle for remote.com: “What a company should check before paying contractors in crypto”
washingtonindependent.org→ papayaglobal.com · News and launch coverage$325Needs review
Politics & Society · DR 46 · first pass: Unrelated or wrong market
- Papaya Global Shines In Fast Company’s 2024 Most Innovative Companies List With Its Digital Wallet For The Global Workforce → homepage · followed · last seen 2026-08-28
A politics and current-affairs site ran news about the competitor’s award. It fits news or labour-policy stories, not an evergreen product article.
Format: News or policy angle
Angle for remote.com: “How remote-work visas are changing where companies hire”
bitrebels.com→ oysterhr.com · Article angle bridging an adjacent niche$195Shortlist
Technology / Consumer Tech · DR 70 · first pass: Adjacent: needs an article angle
- 4 Ways To Increase Diversity Within Your Company | Bit Rebels → /glossary/eor · followed · last seen 2026-09-27
A consumer-tech and trends site ran “4 ways to increase diversity within your company”, linking to the competitor’s employer-of-record glossary. Diversity through global hiring made the topic relevant.
Format: Guest post with a workplace angle
Angle for remote.com: “Building a more diverse team by hiring beyond your home country”
business.express→ papayaglobal.com · Article angle bridging an adjacent niche$195Shortlist
Business / General · DR 50 · first pass: Adjacent: needs an article angle
- The Evolution of Payroll: How Technology is Shaping the → homepage · followed · last seen 2026-08-01
A general business publication ran “The evolution of payroll: how technology is shaping employee payments”. A broad site, a specific and useful subject.
Format: Guest post on payroll technology
Angle for remote.com: “How payroll technology pays employees in several currencies”
auburnpub.com→ oysterhr.com · Syndication or aggregation$829Needs review
News & Media / Local & Regional · DR 72 · first pass: Unrelated or wrong market
- Hiring globally? Key considerations for choosing where to hire → /library/hiring-globally-key-considerations-for-choosing-where-to-hire · followed · last seen 2025-11-05
The competitor’s article arrived by syndication into the paper’s personal-finance section, so it does not show editorial interest. A booked post can still work with a local angle, but the audience is regional and the listed price is $829.
Format: Local-business guest post, if the price fits
Angle for remote.com: “How Central New York employers hire remote staff”
inkl.com→ deel.com · Syndication or aggregation$219Reject
Politics & Society · DR 70 · first pass: Unrelated or wrong market
- Unlimited vacation policies can work—it just depends… → /deel-works/unlimited-vacation-europe-vs-north-america/ · followed · last seen 2026-08-08
- Deel CEO Alex Bouaziz was told he’d need to replace… → /blog/deel-is-acquiring-native-payroll-company-payspace · followed · last seen 2026-06-30
- 'I drove across the US in a hotdog van - now I'm… → /inbound-general · followed · last seen 2026-06-30
A news aggregator republishing other outlets’ journalism. The links follow the original stories; the real prospects are the original publishers.
Format: —
What the 36 reviews show:
- Almost every match can be used. 25 of the 36 made the shortlist, 10 need one specific decision, and only one is a skip. When the article creates the relevance, a competitor’s link is usually proof that the bridge works.
- Adjacent sites did as well as core ones. 13 of the 16 adjacent sites made the shortlist, against 10 of the 14 core-niche sites. A hosting blog, a legal publication and a consumer-tech site all carry payroll or hiring articles; being in the right niche did not guarantee a good opportunity either.
- Even the “unrelated” group mostly had a way in. Five of the six sites the first pass called unrelated or wrong market have a usable format: Dutch-language press releases on Computable, a New Zealand jobs story on Scoop, a crypto tax guide on ChainBits, labour-policy news on Washington Independent and a local-business angle on Auburnpub. Only the news aggregator is a skip.
- The linking page decides the format. SoftwareSuggest’s followed links come from a paid listing, TechBullion’s from press-release-style announcements and Highperformr’s from automatically generated profile pages. Those sites can still work, but not with the format the domain suggests.
- The competitor’s link shows what earned it. Seven links point to a glossary, explainer or guide rather than a product page, from CareerAddict and Apollo Technical to Attorneys.Media and BusinessABC. To earn comparable references, remote.com would need equally useful resources, not a sales pitch.
- Some links depend on a person or an event. Entrepreneur, CEO Weekly and CEO Today feature the competitor’s CEO; Citybiz and BusinessCloud covered a funding round and an acquisition. You can pursue these, but only with an executive willing to write or be interviewed, or a real announcement.
- Most links point deeper than the homepage. Of the 61 linking pages, 33 point to specific pages, such as pricing, glossaries, explainers, country pages and paid landing pages, and 28 to a homepage. Plan your destination per prospect.
- Link treatment belongs to the offer, not the domain. 55 of the 61 links are followed. The competitor’s links on Cyber Security News and Computerworld are nofollow, while the listed offers there are dofollow. Confirm the treatment for your own placement.
- Good placements can last. CEOWORLD’s 2019 article, B2BNN’s 2020 article and CEO Today’s 2021 profile all still link to Papaya and were seen again in August 2026.
The shortlist for this brief is 25 publishers, each with a format, an angle where needed and a reason, listed at $9,156 combined. Nobody should book all of them at once; the next section shows how to order them. The ten reviews each need one decision first: a high price (Entrepreneur, Computerworld, Technori, Auburnpub), a format that only suits news or listings (SoftwareSuggest, TechBullion, Citybiz, BusinessCloud, Washington Independent), or brand fit (ChainBits). The one skip is the aggregator, where the original publishers are the real prospects.
Prioritize without fake precision
Weighted scores out of 100 look rigorous but hide judgement calls behind arithmetic. Sort the list in tiers instead:
- Shortlist, clear format and angle, acceptable cost. Act on these first.
- Shortlist, but expensive or slow. Keep them for when a strong angle or asset justifies the cost.
- Needs review. One open question each; resolve it or drop the row.
- Rejects. Keep them with the reason, so nobody re-researches them next quarter.
Core-niche and adjacent prospects belong in the same tiers. An adjacent site with a strong angle can outrank a core site with a weak one. In our example, a first campaign could start with the cheaper shortlisted sites that have a ready angle, such as CEO Weekly, Apollo Technical or Onrec, and keep the expensive ones for when there is a story that justifies them. Then size the list to your capacity. If you can publish four articles this month, qualify ten prospects well rather than two hundred badly. If budget is the constraint, compare offers within tier 1; our guest post pricing research shows how listed prices are distributed.
Common prospecting mistakes
- Rejecting adjacent sites on the niche label. A hosting or security site can carry a strong payroll article when its readers hire, pay or protect a team. Look for the angle before you reject.
- Forcing an angle nobody would publish. The opposite mistake: if the article only exists to carry a link, editors and readers will treat it that way.
- Chasing authority scores. A high domain rating does not create reader overlap or an angle on its own.
- Judging the domain, not the page. Paid listings, profile pages, syndication and aggregators all look like editorial links in a domain report.
- Ignoring the market. A strong publication in the wrong country reaches the wrong buyers, and no angle changes that.
- Using niche edits on adjacent sites. An inserted link inherits the existing page’s topic. If that page is not about your subject, choose a new article instead.
- No format decision. A prospect without a format and angle is not an opportunity yet; it is a domain.
- Starting outreach before the asset exists. If the competitor earned the link with research or a tool, pitching a product page will not replicate it.
If you would rather hand over the outreach once the list is qualified, our guide to blogger outreach compares delivery models and what to confirm before commissioning them.
Link prospecting FAQ
What is link prospecting?
Link prospecting is the research that turns possible linking sites into a list of specific opportunities worth pursuing. A finished prospect list records the publisher, the relevant page or section, the audience and market, the proposed format and a decision with its reason.
Is competitor backlink analysis enough on its own?
No. It is an efficient source of candidates, but a competitor’s backlink can come from a paid listing, a syndicated copy, an aggregator or an old press release. Open the linking page and qualify each site against your own brief before adding it to the shortlist.
How many prospects should a list contain?
As many as you can genuinely qualify and act on. A short list of well-matched publishers with a decided format is more useful than thousands of domains exported from a tool. Size the list to your outreach or budget capacity for the next campaign.
Does a publisher have to be in my exact niche?
No. For guest posts and PR, the publisher needs to be at least somewhat adjacent to your niche, and the article needs to be topically relevant. A web-hosting or cybersecurity site can carry a strong payroll article when the angle connects to its readers. Niche edits are different: the link goes into an existing page, so that page must already cover a relevant topic.
Which metrics matter when qualifying a prospect?
Start with fit: niche adjacency, market, a realistic article angle and the section your article would appear in. Then use authority, estimated traffic and its trend to compare otherwise suitable sites. Metrics cannot rescue a site where no angle would interest its readers.
Should I contact every site that links to a competitor?
No. Some links cannot be replicated, such as customer case studies, partner pages or paid directory listings. Others sit on sites whose audience does not match yours. Pursue the ones where you can offer a comparable or better reason to be referenced.
Can I skip outreach and book the prospects directly?
Where a prospect is listed in a marketplace or inventory, you can request that placement directly and still apply the same qualification. The SEOlutions link-gap tool shows which bookable publishers already link to your competitors but not to you.
Sources and method. Backlink data comes from DataForSEO Backlinks, retrieved on 30 September 2026 through the SEOlutions link-gap tool: a domain intersection per competitor, reviewing the first 1,000 referring-domain records each, and live-backlink lookups for all 36 matched publishers (up to three linking pages each, 61 in total). The API cost was $0.18 for the gap and about $0.72 for the linking pages. Matches, niches, DR, prices and link treatment of the offers reflect the SEOlutions inventory on that date. Linking-page titles, link attributes and last-seen dates are as reported by the provider. The first-pass triage, the link mechanisms, the article angles and the decisions are our editorial assessment for an illustrative remote-payroll brief; remote.com, Deel, Oyster and Papaya are not SEOlutions clients.
About the author
Janis Thies
Co-founder & Managing Director, SEOlutions GmbH
Janis Thies co-founded SEOlutions GmbH and leads its strategic direction, link building methodology and service development. He writes SEOlutions Insights on publisher evaluation, guest posting, digital PR and search visibility.
Continue your research