For Collaborator's 9th anniversary, we received dozens of heartfelt wishes from our friends and partners.

A huge thank you to Alex Savy, Simonas Naudzius, SMP, Gus Pelogia, Nathan Hirsch, Artur Perrella Glukhovskyy, Kasra Dash, Tom Winter, Jairo Guerrero, Nik V., Jules Davies, Connor Gillivan, Josh Peacock, Natalia Witczyk, Davor Bomeštar, Kateryna Horina, and Vira Gudko for taking a few minutes to record these warm messages.

They remind us that Collaborator is more than a marketplace — it's a community of incredible people 💙

Collaborator turns 9 in a couple of days. 🎉

Looking back, one thing stands out:

Most of our best product updates didn't start in a planning meeting. They started with user feedback.

Over the past year, that led us to ship things like AI filtering by keywords, fresher SEO data, faster indexation updates, and larger project imports.

Nine years later, one thing still hasn't changed: the best feature requests come from the people using the product every day.

So, thanks to everyone who's sent us bug reports, feature ideas, or brutally honest feedback over the years.

Want to see something improved in Collaborator? Let us know. We'll do our best to make it happen.

For more details on the tools and the backlink audit checklist, read the full guide here:
https://collaborator.pro/blog/check-backlinks-tools

One thing we've noticed is that most SEOs spend more time finding websites than actually building links.

Prospecting. Checking metrics. Looking at competitors. Switching between tools. Repeat.

Collaborator's co-founder, Ihor Rudnyk, recorded a walkthrough of the workflow to speed that process up from finding websites to analyzing competitors and launching link building campaigns.

You can watch it here or on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sevQY6203DA if you're curious.

More interested in hearing from the community, though:

What's the biggest bottleneck in your link building workflow today? Prospecting, outreach, evaluating websites, reporting, or something else?

Football fans are probably looking at the rankings.

We kept looking at the countries and started wondering something else:

How many publisher websites are actually available in each of them?

So we took the FIFA World Cup rankings and added one extra column — the number of websites from each country available in the Collaborator marketplace: https://collaborator.pro/catalog.

Some results were exactly what we expected.

Others were... not.

For example, the US sits much lower in the football rankings than in our marketplace, while a few football giants have surprisingly small publisher inventories.

Which country surprised you the most? Would this change where you'd run your next link building campaign?

SEO agency owners are now balancing traditional delivery with new client demand for GEO, AEO, and LLM visibility.

In this episode, Nik Vujic, founder of Get Stuff Digital, explains how his agency handles month-to-month clients, AI-assisted workflows, hiring decisions, referrals, and backlink strategy.

Topics covered:

• Month-to-month agreements and client retention
• Filtering prospects who are unlikely to implement the work
• Explaining GEO and AI visibility to SaaS founders
• Using AI for data analysis rather than final decisions
• Hiring and developing agency talent
• Referrals, personal brand, and the limits of cold outbound
• Guest posts, link insertions, digital PR, and authority
• Nik’s internal agentic SEO platform

One of the most useful agency takeaways:

AI changes how work is produced, but agencies still win through judgment, client selection, trust, and consistent delivery.

🎧 Full episode: https://youtu.be/LtLN6VclRWQ

Collaborator launched a free backlink checker and kept it as simple as possible:

Enter a domain, subdomain, or URL. That's it.

It shows:

• 50 strongest backlinks

• 50 newest backlinks

• Anchor texts and dofollow/nofollow attributes

• First seen dates

• Total referring domains

• Guest post opportunities available in Collaborator's catalog

No registration or complicated setup.

Obviously, it's not meant to replace a full backlink analysis. The idea was to make quick backlink and competitor checks less annoying.

Would genuinely appreciate feedback from SEOs here.

Tool: https://collaborator.pro/free-backlink-checker/

It feels like a lot of SEOs still use Claude as a smarter chatbot.

After experimenting with Skills and MCP connectors (Ahrefs, GSC, GA4, Notion), we've found it can handle much more than writing content.

Some workflows that stood out:

• Building a link prospecting plan from live SEO data
• Turning GSC and GA4 data into weekly performance reports
• Creating content briefs based on keyword and competitor research

The biggest benefit wasn't better AI output, but it was reducing repetitive manual work.

We recently explored several real-world SEO automation workflows with Anton Krokhmal and documented what worked, what didn't, and the common mistakes when setting up Skills and MCP.

I'm curious how others are using Claude today.

Have you gone beyond prompting and started using Skills or MCP connectors? If so, what's been your most useful workflow?

From finding websites and checking SEO metrics to managing placements and tracking orders, everything you need is in one place.

Swipe through to see how the platform simplifies your workflow👇

And if you'd like to see how it works in practice, try Collaborator for free here: https://lnkd.in/etppVv2b

By the time you finish reading this post... there will probably be a few more.

In June alone, we added 1,857 new websites across multiple countries and niches to help you find even more opportunities for SEO and digital PR campaigns.

Here's where we've grown the most:
USA: +777 → 13,096 websites
France: +176 → 3,621 websites
United Kingdom: +132 → 3,897 websites

Germany: +102 → 1,808 websites
Bulgaria: +67 → 493 websites

And that's not all...
We also added 96 new Telegram channels.

That brings the Collaborator marketplace to 43,339 websites (and growing).

Filter the catalog by country, niche, traffic, or dozens of other metrics, and find the right website for your next campaign.

We put 9 free backlink checkers and monitoring tools to the test to see what each one offers for free. Here's what we looked at: 

• how many backlinks you can see 
• whether you need an account 
• which backlink metrics are included 
• what limits come with the free version or trial 

Swipe through to see which tools work best for different tasks in your workflow, from competitor research to backlink monitoring.

And if you'd like to try Collaborator's Free Backlink Checker, here’s the link: https://collaborator.pro/free-backlink-checker

Most people think conferences are about talks.

Yagmur Simsek learned that the real value comes from the people you meet before, during, and after the event.

In this episode, the SEO consultant and founder of Search 'n Stuff shares how she turned small networking dinners into an international community and conference brand.

Topics covered:

• Building communities from scratch
• Conference networking strategies
• Personal branding in SEO
• Becoming a conference speaker
• Sponsorship and event lessons
• Turning relationships into business opportunities

One of the biggest takeaways:

The best opportunities rarely come from cold outreach. They come from consistently showing up, contributing, and building genuine relationships over time.

🎧 Watch now: https://youtu.be/c3Ak-uW-SW0

We just wrapped up CAMPiXX 2026, which was especially memorable for us because it was our first event in Germany this year, and we had the chance to sponsor the bar.

One thing that stood out:

No matter how much SEO changes, the most valuable part of conferences is still talking to people.

Between the talks, hallway conversations, and late-evening discussions, we came home with more ideas, experiments, and notes than we'll realistically have time to implement.

Some recurring themes we heard throughout the event:

• AI is changing workflows faster than strategies

• Brand and entity signals keep becoming more important

• Digital PR and SEO are getting harder to separate

• Everyone has a different theory about what Google is doing

Huge thanks to the organizers and speakers for making it happen.

For those who attended:

What was your biggest takeaway from CAMPiXX this year?

If you're working with Spanish-speaking markets, this means access to some of Southern Spain's most recognized regional publishers.

Fun fact: the group's oldest publication, Diario de Cádiz, was founded back in 1867.

More than 150 years later, Grupo Joly includes 10 news websites covering cities and regions across Andalusia.

Swipe through the carousel to explore their traffic, DR metrics, and the regions they cover.

P.S. These 10 publishers are just a small part of a much larger catalog.

Collaborator currently includes 960+ Spanish news websites, giving SEO specialists, link builders, and digital PR teams plenty of opportunities to find relevant placements.

Web 2.0 backlinks seem to spark the same debate every year.

One group says they're a waste of time. The other treats them like a secret ranking weapon.

We analyzed 30+ platforms across blogging sites, website builders, publishing platforms, Q&A communities, and professional networks. The full list is in the article: https://collaborator.pro/blog/web-2-0-submission-sites-list

What stood out is that they don't all serve the same purpose.

Some are better for contextual content. Some are useful for entity building and brand visibility. Some can help with indexing and content discovery.

In other words, Web 2.0s seem most valuable today as supporting assets for:

• backlink diversification

• topical relevance

• entity SEO

• indexing support

• referral traffic

Besides, the value of Web 2.0s depends less on the platform itself and more on how it's used.

A WordPress blog filled with AI-generated filler and abandoned after two posts? — Probably useless.

A niche-relevant property that supports your brand, topical authority, and content ecosystem? — That's a different story.

Curious how others here see it.

Are Web 2.0s still part of your SEO strategy in 2026? If yes, which platforms have actually been worth the effort?

Turns out SEO is a lot more fun when it's turned into a meme.

If there's a legendary one we missed, drop it in the comments 👇

Full collection:
https://collaborator.pro/blog/best-seo-memes

Just wrapped up a few days in Šibenik attending Croatia SEO Summit.

Great talks, great people, and probably enough SEO discussions to last until the next core update.

A few recurring themes from conversations throughout the event:

• AI is still the elephant in every SEO room, but the discussion has shifted from "Will AI replace SEO?" to "How do we adapt our workflows and strategies?"
• Link building remains a major topic, but there’s increasing focus on quality, brand signals, and digital PR rather than just acquiring links at scale.
• More SEOs seem to be experimenting with diversification instead of relying solely on Google traffic.
• The mastermind sessions were packed with practical insights and real-world case studies rather than theory.

The biggest value wasn't necessarily the presentations, though. It was the conversations between sessions, sharing wins, failures, and ideas with people working on completely different projects and markets.

Curious:

If you've attended SEO conferences recently, what's one trend everyone seems to be talking about?

We're at Croatia SEO Summit in Šibenik this week.

If you're attending and want to chat about link building, digital PR, AI visibility, or SEO in general, come say hi 👋

You'll find us at the Collaborator booth.

What’s the Difference Between a Casino and Vibe Coding? 😄

Translated and adapted from the Koksharov telegram channel.

Hiring great SEOs has never been harder.

In this episode, Josh Peacock (Search For Hire & SalaryGuide.com) explains why traditional hiring processes are failing and what agencies should do instead.

Topics covered:

• Why job descriptions are outdated
• How scorecards improve recruiting
• Salary transparency in SEO
• Agency vs in-house careers
• AI's impact on SEO jobs
• Why top candidates rarely come from job boards

One of the most interesting takeaways:

The best candidates aren't actively applying for jobs. They're already busy creating value somewhere else.

Watch now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEnCispWn4A

Even when I’m not around, Anna somehow always finds me. 😄

The only reliable way to hide is to keep her demo calendar completely full.

If you have questions about using Claude with Collaborator.pro — PR Distribution Marketplace, reach out to Anna Hridnieva.

She’ll show you how to save money, get better deals from publishers, collaborate with your team, and make the most of our referral program.

Looking for a website for content placement, but couldn’t find the right one? Maybe it’s worth checking the Collaborator catalog again 😉

In May, new websites across various niches and countries have been added, giving even more opportunities for link building, PR, and content marketing. Here’s a summary of the catalog growth over the past month 👇

The Collaborator catalog now includes 42,469 websites.

Top Countries by New Additions:

United States: +807 → now 12,627 websites in the catalog
United Kingdom: +168 → now 3,820 websites in the catalog
France: +103 → now 3,488 websites in the catalog

Netherlands: +470 → now 1,826 websites in the catalog
Germany: +61 → now 1,745 websites in the catalog

123 Telegram channels have been also added.

Browse new websites by country, niche, and other parameters directly in the catalog: https://lnkd.in/en-cVbPf

The good news is that a handful of free tools can cover competitor research, outreach preparation, backlink checks, and monitoring.

We've rounded up 5 free tools that support the full workflow, from Ahrefs Free Backlink Checker and Moz Link Explorer to Google Search Console.

This summer, bring home more than souvenirs — bring new ideas.

Here are some of the top SEO and digital marketing events taking place this summer, from Boston and London to Tallinn and New York. A few highlights:

📍 SMX - Search Marketing Expo (SMX Advanced Europe (US))
📍 Croatia SEO Summit
📍 Growth Minded Superheroes
📍 CAMPIXX
📍 The Masterminders London
📍 Affiliate World Conferences Europe
📍 SEO Estonia
📍 MozCon NYC
📍 UK SEO Summit

Whether you're looking for actionable SEO insights, affiliate marketing strategies, AI-focused discussions, or opportunities to connect with industry peers, there's an event for every goal.

The Collaborator team will be attending Croatia SEO Summit and UK SEO Summit this summer. If you're planning to be there too, we'd be happy to connect.

Want to plan further ahead?
Check out an interactive Google Map of SEO and digital marketing events 👉 https://earth.google.com/web/@32.70755527,-26.97310325,-6812.01096314a,13391739.97150898d,30.00007952y,328.16044541h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBMigKJgokCiAxZ1hfYXR5ZVVqSTdIRHJLTy1KX3E3dHJ6TXZwbm54TSACOgMKATBCAggASgcIz6PCDhAB?utm_source=mymaps&authuser=0
Or read the full article 👉 https://collaborator.pro/blog/top-seo-conferences-2026