Case study
11 links, nopublisher fees.
Relationship outreach for a medical education platform. We wrote to 524 relevant sites one to one and offered article swaps. Ten education partners said yes.
The numbers
From April 2026 to late October 2026, counted from our link tracker.
- personal emails, each written for one site
- 2,041personal emails, each written for one site
- relevant sites contacted
- 524relevant sites contacted
- live editorial links won
- 11live editorial links won
- education partners linking
- 10education partners linking
- paid to publishers for those links
- $0paid to publishers for those links
- paid placements live in 2026, run alongside
- 68paid placements live in 2026, run alongside
How it built up
- STEP 01
April 2026
Outreach starts. We find education sites that fit the platform and write to each editor one to one.
- STEP 02
Summer
Replies turn into agreed article swaps with partner sites. The emails keep going out, 2,041 by late October.
- STEP 03
Late September
5 editorial links live from partner sites.
- STEP 04
Late October
11 live editorial links from 10 education partners. No publisher was paid for any of them.
What relationship outreach is
An add-on to a LinkHatch plan, $500 a month, for sites established enough that editors agree to swaps.
- 01
Written one to one
Every email is for one site and one editor, about why a swap helps their readers. No templates sprayed at a list.
- 02
Swaps, not payments
Partners link because they get an article or a mention back, so there's no publisher fee to pay.
- 03
A monthly report
Who we wrote to, who replied, what was agreed and every link that went live, with its receipt.
- 04
No fixed number
Earned links come when editors say yes, so we promise the work and the report, not a count. Your plan's paid placements keep running alongside.
What this shows
It shows that patient, personal outreach in a narrow niche can win editorial links from real sites without paying for them. It took about six months to reach 11.
It doesn't show rankings or traffic, and we don't claim any here. Links are one input to search. What we can prove is where each link is and that it's live.
We don't name the client or the partner sites.
What a receipt showsFair questions
- Can I get the same result?
- We can't promise a number. Niches differ, and swaps need sites that are a fair match for yours. The free link plan tells you which sites in your market we'd write to first.
- Do I need a plan to add relationship outreach?
- Yes. It's $500 a month on top of a plan, and it stops when you cancel it. Swaps need a site editors want to be linked from, so we offer it once yours is established; your link plan says whether it fits.
- Who writes the swap articles?
- We do, for each partner's readers, and you see every article before it goes out.
See who we'd write to.
The free link plan lists the pages worth pushing and the links your competitors have that you don't. It arrives by email within one working day.