Backed by Y CombinatorTiers every referring domain by relevance and authority, checks Search Console before flagging anything toxic, and builds your outreach list with a reason on every prospect.
Free download · No account needed
What you get
Pack of 5 files: 2 documents, 3 spreadsheets
Backlink Profile and Outreach TemplateToxic Review
Checked against Search Console's Manual Actions report, dated, every quarter.
| Manual action on file? | |
|---|---|
| Date checked |
| Referring Domain | Toxicity Score | Markers | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
A high score is a reason to look, not a reason to disavow. Most sites never need to.
Every backlink audit template scores referring domains by toxicity and implies the fix is obvious: disavow anything above the line. Semrush's own scale runs 0 to 100, with 60 and above marked toxic. Google's disavow documentation says the opposite: in most cases Google can assess which links to trust without help, so most sites will never need the tool. Disavowing is warranted only alongside an actual manual action, not a third-party score.
On this pack's own worked pull, Corvine Analytics's 587 referring domains split into 498 non-toxic, 68 potentially toxic, and 21 scoring toxic under Semrush's own bands. Manual review of those 21 found 14 with a private-link-network signature and 2 carrying keyword-stuffed anchors from a discontinued 2019 campaign, both worth a removal request. The other 5 were ordinary sites having a bad month, a broken page or a ranking drop of their own, with nothing to disavow. Search Console showed no manual action on file, so nothing here got disavowed regardless of score.
Link Register tiers every domain by relevance and authority rather than by score alone. Prospect List works the other direction: it diffs two named competitors' referring domains against this site's own, then reads each candidate's page for why they would actually link, a stale statistic, a missing roundup entry, a broken outbound link. Pair it with the competitor content gap for what to write next, the internal linking review for the equity already sitting inside your own site, and the local listing audit for the directory side of the same authority question.
Link RegisterSample rows for Corvine Analytics, a fictional inventory-forecasting SaaS company. 587 referring domains from a Semrush pull, 8 September 2026.
| Domain | Authority | Type | Anchor | Relevance | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| retailopsweekly.com | 58 | Follow | inventory forecasting software | High | Priority |
| themerchantstack.io | 44 | Follow | demand planning tool | High | Priority |
| b2bsaasroundup.net | 26 | Follow | Corvine Analytics review | Medium | Maintain |
| foundersweekly-directory.net | 21 | Follow | best inventory software | Low | Low-value |
| retaildata-pbn-cluster3.net | 7 | Follow | inventory forecasting | Low | Review |
498 of 587 domains score non-toxic. Tiering runs on relevance and authority together, not on toxicity score at all.
Toxic ReviewManual Actions report checked 8 September 2026: nothing on file.
| Domain | Score | Markers | Verdict | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| retaildata-pbn-cluster3.net | 86 | Reciprocal links, shared registrar | Manipulation pattern | Removal request |
| guestpostnetwork-hub.info | 79 | Keyword-stuffed anchor, 2019 campaign | Legacy manipulative anchor | Removal request |
| smallblogonshipping.wordpress.com | 68 | Intermittent 5xx, unrelated ad network | False flag | Ignore |
| oldretailtechblog.net | 63 | Domain's own ranking dropped 40% | False flag | Ignore |
21 domains scored toxic. 16 got a removal request, 5 got Ignore, 0 got disavowed, because no manual action was on file.
Prospect ListBuilt from two named competitors' referring domains, minus domains already linking to Corvine.
| Domain | Authority | Reason | Hook | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| retailopsweekly.com | 58 | B: Roundup omits Corvine | Lists 7 tools, no demand-sensing entry | Sent |
| themerchantstack.io | 44 | C: Reviews a competitor | Reviews Ledgerline, no Corvine mention | Sent |
| warehousetechreview.com | 39 | A: Outdated statistic | Cites a 2023 accuracy benchmark | Sent |
| b2bsaasroundup.net | 26 | D: Broken outbound link | Links to a shut-down competitor page | Drafting |
96 prospects total across four reason categories. Every row names the specific page and sentence that makes the reason true.
The health of the whole link profile, and the reasoning behind every toxic-scored domain's verdict, including which markers describe the linking page's own bad month rather than manipulation.
Four reason categories for prospecting, each with a sample opening line, built from what a candidate's own page already does rather than a generic pitch template.
Every referring domain tiered by relevance and authority together, with anchor text and link type kept on the row so a reclassification can be checked against the source.
The Search Console manual-action check, dated, ahead of any verdict, then a per-domain call: ignore, removal request, or logged for disavow only if a manual action ever lands.
Candidate domains diffed from named competitors' own referring domains, each carrying the specific existing page and sentence that makes it a real prospect rather than a guess.
Open the pack and send your latest Ahrefs or Semrush export, or download the Word documents and CSV sheets and build the register yourself.
Link Register sorts every referring domain by relevance and authority together, so a relevant mid-authority link and an irrelevant high-authority one are not treated the same.
Toxic Review checks Search Console for a manual action first, dated, then reviews each flagged domain's actual markers instead of trusting the score alone.
Diff their referring domains against your own, then read each candidate's real page for the specific reason they would plausibly add a link.
Yes, and the download is not cut down. The zip holds all five files in Word and CSV, no signup and no card. Edit with AI is the other branch: send your backlink export, and River builds your own Link Register and Toxic Review. More packs in the template library.
Word documents (.docx) for Profile Assessment and Outreach Angles, and CSV (.csv) for Link Register, Toxic Review and Prospect List, all in one zip. They open natively in Word, Pages, Google Docs, Excel, Numbers and Sheets.
No, and treating it that way is the mistake this pack is built to catch. Google's own disavow documentation says most sites never need the tool, and warrants it only alongside a real manual action. A toxic-scored domain gets reviewed individually first; several turn out to be an ordinary site's bad month, not manipulation.
Those tools score every link; they don't tell you what to do about the score, and their own documentation says as much. This pack adds the Search Console check that actually governs disavow, a per-domain verdict instead of a raw number, and the prospect list neither tool builds for you.
Name one or two direct competitors and River pulls their referring domains from whatever export you can share, or works from a description of their profile. It subtracts domains that already link to you, then reads each remaining candidate's actual page for a real reason to reach out.
It creates a free account, installs these five files as a private workspace, and opens by asking for your backlink export and one or two competitors. Then it tiers your real link profile, checks Search Console before flagging anything, and builds your own prospect list from real pages.
Written by
Co-founder & CEO, River
Chandler has spent the last six years working in AI, building tools for millions of users and Fortune 100 companies. In 2025, he co-founded River to build a new kind of operating system for AI agents.
Send your backlink export and a competitor or two. River tiers your real profile, checks before flagging anything toxic, and builds your prospect list.
Edit with AI