Agencies have a specific link-building problem. It's not just finding good links. It's finding good links for lots of clients, across different markets and languages, and being able to explain each one to a client who wants to know where the budget went.

Unfair Links was built with that in mind. This post walks through a realistic workflow, from choosing pages to reporting results.

Why local links are hard for agencies

Doing local link building properly by hand means, for every client market:

• Finding relevant local sites in the right country and language
• Checking there's a real business behind each one
• Making sure the sites aren't part of an obvious network
• Arranging placements, often in a language nobody on the team speaks
• Verifying the links are live and indexed

Multiply that by ten or twenty clients and it stops being realistic, which is why so many agencies fall back on generic English guest posts. The Unfair Links homepage describes the alternative: we've already done the groundwork across the network, so you paste a URL and get the finished, matched, verified link.

The workflow, step by step

Step 1: Pick the pages that need help

Start from the client's priorities, not from link inventory. Good candidates:

• Service pages for specific cities or regions
• Country or language versions of a site
• Category pages in competitive local markets
• Pages that are close to ranking and need a push

Unfair Links works one URL at a time, so this step matters. A well-chosen page gets more out of a well-matched link.

Step 2: Paste the URL

The tool auto-detects the page's country, language and niche. Check the detection. If a German page for a roofing company comes back as "general services," correct it. Better inputs give better matches.

Step 3: Review matches and fit scores

You'll see candidate sites with a fit score, along with business type, city, language, review count and trust tier. Look for:

• The highest-scoring match, unless there's a reason not to use it
• Language match. Don't accept an English site for a non-English page without a good reason.
• Niche sense. Would the client recognize this as a related business?

If nothing scores well, that's useful too. It tells you the page might need a different approach.

Step 4: Order and receive the details

Once you order, the entity and domain are revealed. Record them in your client tracking sheet along with the score and the reasons you chose that match.

Step 5: Verify

Each link is checked to be live and indexed as part of the service. It's still good practice to verify indexing yourself a few weeks later and add it to your routine quarterly checks.

Step 6: Report clearly

This is where agencies get the most value. Instead of "we built 15 links this month," you can report something like:

"We placed a link for your Gothenburg service page from a Swedish home-services business in Göteborg with an established review history. Fit score: 96. Live and indexed as of [date]."

That's a link a client can understand, and one you can defend.

Handling multi-market clients

For multi-country, multi-language clients, the workflow is the same per page, which is the point. You don't need a separate sourcing process for Sweden, Germany and Spain. Each page gets matched in its own market and language.

A practical approach:

• List priority pages per market
• Run each through the matching flow
• Track scores by market to see where fit is strongest
• Pair with local editorial or PR where it's available

Using your own judgement

The fit score helps, but it doesn't replace thinking. We'd encourage every agency to keep its own evaluation checklist and apply it to every link source, Unfair Links included. If something looks off for a particular client, skip it.

What to tell clients about the name

Sooner or later a client will ask why their link vendor is called "Unfair Links." A simple answer:

"Unfair as in an unfair advantage. They're local links from real businesses in your market that competitors can't easily copy. It doesn't mean anything against the rules."

If they want more, point them to our post on what the name means.

Budgeting with quality in mind

Agencies often budget by link count. A better approach is to budget by page. Decide which pages matter, then work out what each needs. It's the same argument as quality over volume: fewer links that fit usually do more than many that don't, and they're far easier to justify on a report.

Getting started

Unfair Links is in beta and not yet open to the public. Pricing and launch timing haven't been announced. If you run an agency and want to be told when it opens, join the beta waitlist with your email on the homepage.

In the meantime, the workflow above is worth adopting with whatever tools you use now: start from the page, match on market, language and niche, check for real entities, verify indexing and report each link with a reason.