ChatGPT Link Building: A Guide to Building Backlinks at AI Speed

Which Version to Use, Paid or Free ChatGPT?

Let's cover the prerequisites first: do you need the paid version of ChatGPT to streamline your link building?

The answer is no, but it can definitely help. The differences between the two are not huge, as they offer the same basic functionalities and features. Even more advanced features, like custom GPTs, are available with the free version.

The main difference between the two is that the paid version "offers availability even when demand is high, faster response speed, and priority access to new features."

However, for us who are trying to use the tool to build backlinks, some other advantages may be more important:

• ChatGPT Plus allows you to upload and process more files—such as prospect lists, backlink reports, or content calendars.
• It also offers advanced data analysis, which can come in handy in various ways. For example, you can use it to track campaign performance and ROI.
• Finally, the paid version lets you add voice inputs that can really accelerate the process.

We'll explore how to use some of these features to automate or speed up different parts of your link building process.

How to Use ChatGPT

Using basic ChatGPT functionalities is extremely simple. All you have to do is go to OpenAI’s website, log in, and start typing in your prompts. The process is similar to interacting with chatbots on commercial websites.

Other features to leverage include, as mentioned, uploading files and recording voice prompts. You can now also search the web with both paid and free versions of ChatGPT.

You can access these features right from the chat box:

Additionally, you can click "Explore GPTs" in the menu on the right and find GPTs custom-built for link building. You can add these GPTs to your dashboard for free and leverage their (supposedly) more advanced capabilities. These GPTs have been specifically trained for link building purposes.

What Are the Benefits of Using ChatGPT for Link Building?

Using ChatGPT for link building can help you:

• Speed up the process: Finding relevant keywords and link building opportunities is a time-consuming process. You can cut it in half by giving ChatGPT appropriate prompts. The AI will generate a list of suitable “candidates” more quickly than you could do manually.
• Reduce costs: ChatGPT can also save you the money you’d probably spend on content creation or hiring professional link builders. That’s not to say you don’t need humans to supervise and rate ChatGPT’s outputs – you do. Still, ChatGPT can skyrocket your team’s productivity and save you dollars in the long run.
• Generate ideas: ChatGPT can act as your brainstorming buddy and help you develop new blog post ideas, creative keywords, or ways to paraphrase clumsy sentences. No more feeling stuck!  

13+ Ways to Use ChatGPT to Build Backlinks

ChatGPT can streamline your link building process, from finding relevant websites to relationship-building and content generation. What it can't do is actually build links for you.

You'll still need to do the outreach yourself, create content, and choose the most suitable anchor phrases. If you need help with that, reach out to our team for help.

With that said, we'll give you 13+ ideas on how to speed up various parts of the process using ChatGPT, but know that the list doesn't end here. You can always find new ways to leverage the power of ChatGPT and make your link building process more efficient.

1) Ask ChatGPT to create a list of target websites

First, ask ChatGPT to find websites that would be a good fit for you. To do so, we recommend giving it some context on your business and what you're looking for, as well as clear instructions on what the final output should look like.

Turn on the Search the Web feature for best results.

Keep in mind that ChatGPT doesn't have access to tools like Ahrefs and can't actually check domain authority (DA) or domain rating (DR) scores. Even so, we found it to be surprisingly close.

Here is what the output looks like:

We should now do some manual analysis to confirm that the websites on this list are truly a good fit. This can include double-checking the topics, DR and DA scores, and submission guidelines.

2) Upload the sheet and generate personalized suggestions

Once you have the final list of target websites ready, you can upload it back to ChatGPT and ask it to, for example, generate personalized outreach emails for every website.

Besides helping you establish initial contact, the AI tool can also help you with longer-term relationship building. If you have existing email templates, you can also upload those and ensure that ChatGPT follows a high-quality structure.

Additionally, you can ask it to create guest post suggestions for every website, or write entire posts autonomously.

Overall, this strategy is particularly useful when time is of the essence. For example, as one user demonstrated, you can use ChatGPT to be the first to answer HARO queries:

(Well, actually, HARO has shut down since this video was recorded. But you can, of course, use the same approach with any other media outreach platform.)

3) Generate more content ideas

You can also use ChatGPT to generate personalized-to-you content ideas based on the keywords you're trying to rank for rather than the websites you're trying to write for.

Start by uploading a target keyword list. Then, leverage ChatGPT to generate post ideas that allow you to naturally weave in your target keywords as anchor phrases and link to the pages you've optimized for these keywords.

Here is the response we got:

You can also ask ChatGPT to provide link magnet ideas, or suggest content that could naturally attract backlinks. Typically, ChatGPT provides pretty solid ideas, especially when given enough context.

4) Generate keyword ideas

On the flip side, you may not know what topic to cover in a piece of content or which keywords to target. ChatGPT can help you come up with some truly outstanding ideas and speed up brainstorming.

Of course, you should still run all the proposed keywords through specialized SEO tools.

ChatGPT has no idea if the keywords it suggests have adequate search volumes or if you could realistically rank for them. So, you’ll still have to do the actual keyword research part on your own.

Even so, ChatGPT can give you a great starting point.

5) Find relevant influencers

Partnering with influencers in your niche is one of the fastest ways to build links. Finding them, on the other hand, can be a time-heavy process. ChatGPT can assist you here, too.

Besides generating a list of relevant influencers, ChatGPT can also ensure they fit your specific criteria. For example, if you can’t afford to work with the biggest influencers in your industry, you can simply instruct ChatGPT to find relevant micro-influencers:

You can also add other criteria. Your prompts – and your results – will come down to your requirements and creativity.

6) Find relevant online communities

Forum link building is one of the lesser-used link building strategies, primarily because it results in nofollow backlinks that don't have as much influence as dofollow ones. Still, considering that you can secure backlinks there for free, we personally wouldn't ignore it.

Plus, joining industry-relevant online communities allows you to connect with your target audience, (subtly) promote your business, and build thought leadership.

You can find relevant communities faster using AI.

Again, check every suggestion manually to confirm that it’s truly suitable for you and your niche. If so, you can start submitting content, commenting on other people’s posts, and building new links to your site.

7) Find industry events

Speaking at industry events and conferences can often earn you some juicy backlinks from high-authority sites. The problem? Finding such events is often tricky, especially if you're not sure where to look.

AI can help you with that, too. Simply prompt ChatGPT to create a list of upcoming or annual events related to your industry:

8) Find relevant podcasts

Getting featured on podcasts can immediately up your credibility, but it won’t always earn you backlinks. Many podcast hosts don’t publish the episodes on their website nor link back to their guests.

So, you need to find podcasts that fit these very specific requirements, and a simple Google search won’t cut it.  

ChatGPT, on the other hand, can easily find websites that fit all your criteria. Just make sure you include them in your prompts and enable searching the web.

As we’ve mentioned, ChatGPT’s suggestions may not always be accurate, so always double-check them.

9) Create content quickly

Creating content is one of the key aspects of link building. And whether you need to create guest posts, provide expert commentary, or submit niche edits, ChatGPT can help. In fact, this is where link building with ChatGPT becomes especially creative. You can experiment with many different prompts and approaches.

One of our favorite strategies is telling ChatGPT to pretend it is an expert in a particular field.

You can use ChatGPT for far more than just blog posts. Besides being able to write other forms of content, it can also generate titles, meta descriptions, meta tags, and everything else you’ll need to get your content to rank and convert.

10) Competitor analysis

Competitor analysis should be a key part of your link building efforts, and you can use ChatGPT to streamline it in various ways. One way to leverage it is to quickly compare your existing content against your competitors':

ChatGPT can actually provide some terrific insights:

You can also upload CSV files with key competitor metrics and compare them against yours in a fraction of the time. For example, ChatGPT can assist in identifying link building opportunities by pinpointing the sites that link to your competitors, but not to you.

11) Broken link building

Broken link building is one of the most efficient, but also time-consuming link-building strategies. Though ChatGPT can’t replace broken links with yours for you, it can help you find sites to monitor for broken links.

Once you find these sites with ChatGPT, you want to scour them for broken links. If you find them, reach out to the site owners to have them replaced with yours. And don’t forget to use ChatGPT to write those outreach emails, too.

12) Scholarship link building

Scholarship link building is one of the lesser-known, but hugely effective link building strategies. It refers to offering and promoting a scholarship on websites that will link back to your site.

You can create a scholarship, together with the contest rules and criteria, using the power of AI. However, the harder part is usually finding sites that promote scholarships and link to companies offering them–or finding the sites you could pitch to.

That’s where ChatGPT truly shines.

Again, you can make your prompt way more specific than we did. A good start is including some details about your target industry or subject field. Also, asking ChatGPT to organize this information in a spreadsheet would probably make the output more useful to you.

13) Identify interview opportunities

Getting your interview published on high-authority websites can immediately bump you up in search engines. Find appropriate sites using ChatGPT and pitch yourself as an interviewee to website owners from there.

14) And More

The list doesn’t end here. There are many more ways to use ChatGPT to build links. Your results will come down to two things: your knowledge of SEO and link building and your creativity.

If you know a lot about SEO and link building, you’ll be able to come up with more prompts and more ways to use ChatGPT. And the more creative you get with your prompts, the better results you’ll get.

Still, you want to be careful about how you use ChatGPT. There are some limitations – and possible penalties – you should be aware of before blindly copying and pasting its outputs.

Beware Of The Limitations Of ChatGPT

Regardless of how groundbreaking ChatGPT is, it still has many limitations you should be aware of when using it for link building and content creation purposes.

• ChatGPT is known for lying: When ChatGPT doesn’t have enough information about a topic, it tends to generate responses that are inaccurate but sound plausible (we call this 'AI hallucinations'). Also, remember that ChatGPT is trained on internet data, which isn't exactly known for its credibility. Always double-check its outputs.
• ChatGPT can't replace human expertise: ChatGPT is a computer program, and it doesn't have the same level of expertise and knowledge as a human expert. Humans should still guide it.
• It may not always provide unique ideas: ChatGPT is trained on existing data, so it can’t always generate original ideas. In fact, it does the very opposite a lot of the time. This may even get you in some unfortunate legal situations if you don’t review ChatGPT’s content before publishing it!
• It's not a magic solution: ChatGPT is just one tool among many that you can use for SEO and link building. You’ll get the best results when you pair it with other tools and, of course, human experts.
• Google can recognize (and penalize) content generated by artificial intelligence: Last but definitely not least, publishing AI-generated content may be against Google’s guidelines. However, you can almost always get away with it if humans edit your content and make it more unique. Keep in mind that many website owners don't want to publish AI-generated content either.

Need Humans To Build Your Backlinks? Let’s Talk.

Considering the many limitations of ChatGPT, it’s clear that you still need human experts to help you throughout the process. After tool, ChatGPT can't actually build links.

Our team of link building experts can do it for you. Schedule your free consultation today to find out how we can help you build links on high-authority websites — and why we’re able to offer a lifetime guarantee on all your placements. And if you already know what you're looking for, order your backlinks now.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can ChatGPT generate backlinks on its own?

At the moment, no, ChatGPT can't generate backlinks on its own.

Can ChatGPT use links?

Yes, ChatGPT can use links in terms of opening and visiting them. Additionally, ChatGPT can also offer links in its outputs.

Can ChatGPT search a website?

Yes, ChatGPT can search the entire web, including individual websites.

How has link building changed with the rise of AI and machine learning?

Generally speaking, more link builders now use AI-driven instead of manual, outreach-heavy tactics to automate as much of their work as possible. Also, generating content has never been easier—but the demand for original content with unique insights has also never been greater.