HOW IT WORKS

Getting started with Ranking Raccoon

We vet each site very carefully. Here's what we're gonna need from you:

Email and password

The standard stuff. We'll send you a code to verify your email.

This is how we prevent fake profiles.

LinkedIn verification

We make sure all users are credible SEOs by verifying their LinkedIn profiles.

Other users will only see your first name and picture. We don't collect any other information.

Site info

You’ll need to provide the URL of your site, select an industry, list your main topics and add a meta title/short description.

This will help your future backlink buddies decide if your site is relevant to them.

Metrics

We then ask for your site's Ahrefs metrics (DR and traffic).

Don’t have Ahrefs? Don’t sweat, these metrics are accessible for free.

Getting verified

We don’t just let in anybody. Moderators manually review each registered site and user.

What do we check?

Validity of metrics

Authenticity of profile

Quality of content and copy

Niche relevance and spam keywords

Website health score

Company profile

Any red flags, from inflated metrics to toxicity

If you have any questions about this process, please let us know.

The raccoon mascot in front of a laptop, holding a magnifying glass.

Finding relevant sites

Homepage

Here, you can edit your website profile: update your data or add guidelines.

These profiles are shareable and basically serve as your mini-portfolio.

On your homepage, you’ll see all the websites you manage.

You can add new sites here, which will also go through the verification process.

You’ll also be able to access your favorite contacts.

Building links

To build links, click on the “build links” button on your homepage. This will take you to a dashboard where you can see all sites within your industry.

The cards show you basic information about each site to make prospecting faster. To learn more about the sites, click the arrow to visit their site profile.

If you want to explore, play around with the filter setting, and search for sites in other industries, or organise them by DR or recent additions.

See all sites a person manages by clicking on their names.

Select the ones that are relevant to your topics, and start chatting.

Please remember that paid links, explicit or adult material, illegal activities, gambling, spam, or any content that violates intellectual property rights are prohibited.

Refer to our community guidelines for more information.

Messaging

Once you found a promising site, hit the “Start a chat” button to (you guessed it!) send a message: specifically, a link request.

When you send somebody a link request, please make sure that:

Your message is personalised
You are aware of your prospect’s industry, topics and content
You are asking/offering thematically relevant backlinks

Use the “Suggest link placement” toggle if you already have a specific placement in mind.

When you offer an anchor text please make sure that you’ve considered the context and placement

Your message will be sent as a private message on Ranking Raccoon. Your backlink buddy will get an email notification about your message, and you’ll be notified when they reply.

You can chat freely to discuss details (as long as you’re following the community guidelines.) Once you made an agreement, you can confirm links. We'll check and inform them that the link is live.

Ranking Raccoon is an anti-ghosting platform, so you’ll never have to wait too long for an answer. Your backlink buddy will keep getting notifications about the messages waiting for their reply.

To keep the platform active, users who keep ignoring others will be suspended. You can also check when a user was last active on their site card.

To make responses easier, we have fast replies available to quickly say no / yes / maybe / laters.

We’re proud to say that 30% of requests result in links built.

That’s a success rate cold emails can’t beat!

Try it now for free