A good outreach follow up email is short, adds something new, and gives the editor an easy way to say yes or no. Send the first one about four to seven business days after your original pitch, keep it under 100 words, and stop after two follow ups. Below is how we plan, write, and time follow ups when we pitch editors and site owners for editorial link placements.
Why Follow Ups Matter in Link Building Outreach
Editors and site owners receive a steady stream of pitches. Your first email might land on a busy day, get filtered into a promotions tab, or get read on a phone and forgotten. None of that means the editor is not interested.
A polite follow up is simply a reminder that keeps a promising conversation alive. In our experience, a well timed nudge often turns a silent inbox into a reply, and sometimes into a placement.
The flip side is real, too. A pushy or careless follow up can get your sending domain flagged, close the door on a site you wanted to work with for years, and reflect badly on the brand you represent. The goal is to be remembered as helpful, not persistent.
When to Send an Outreach Follow Up Email
Timing matters more than clever wording. Here is the cadence we use as a starting point:
- First follow up: four to seven business days after the original pitch.
- Second follow up: seven to ten business days after the first follow up.
- After that: stop. Move the contact to a “revisit later” list and only reach out again if you have a genuinely new reason, such as a fresh study, a new resource, or a topic that fits a section they just launched.
Send during the recipient’s working hours in their own time zone. This matters a lot when you pitch sites in other countries, because a message that arrives at 3 a.m. local time is buried by morning.
Check these things before you hit send
- Did they already reply, maybe from a different address or through a contact form?
- Is the article you referenced still live, and has it changed since your first email?
- Is the person still the right contact? Check the site’s author page or masthead.
- Has anyone else on your team pitched the same site this month?
The Anatomy of a Follow Up That Gets Read
Every outreach follow up email we send follows the same five principles.
1. Reply in the same thread
Keep the original pitch underneath your follow up so the editor has full context without searching. Never fake a “Re:” subject line on a brand new email. Editors notice, and it erodes trust immediately.
2. Lead with something new
“Just checking in” gives the reader no reason to act. Add one new piece of value instead: a second topic idea, a short outline, a relevant data source you found, or a note about a broken link on their page.
3. Keep it short
Aim for three to five sentences. If your follow up is longer than your original pitch, cut it down. The editor should be able to read it in a few seconds and decide.
4. Make one clear ask
End with a single question that is easy to answer, for example, “Would either of these angles work for your readers?” Avoid stacking several requests in one message.
5. Offer an easy out
Tell them it is fine to say no. A line like “If this is not a fit right now, no problem at all” lowers pressure and often earns a reply, even if the reply is a polite decline. A clear no is still useful, because it saves you both time.
Three Follow Up Templates You Can Adapt
The examples below are hypothetical. Treat them as structure, not scripts, and personalize every message to the site and the editor.
Template 1: The new angle
Subject: (same thread as your pitch)
Hi [Name],
Following up on my note about a guest article for [Site]. I also had a second idea that might suit your [section name] readers: [one sentence topic summary].
Would either of these work for you? Happy to send a short outline.
Thanks,
[Your name]
Template 2: The value add
Hi [Name],
While rereading your guide on [topic], I noticed the link to [resource] now returns an error. In case it helps, [replacement source] covers the same point.
And if you are still open to contributor pieces, my earlier pitch is below.
Best,
[Your name]
Template 3: Closing the loop
Hi [Name],
I will not keep filling your inbox, so this is my last note on this pitch. If the timing is wrong, I would be glad to reconnect later in the year with fresh ideas.
Thanks for your time either way.
[Your name]
Follow Up Mistakes That Hurt Your Link Building
These are the habits we see most often in weak outreach campaigns:
- Guilt trips. Lines like “I noticed you ignored my email” make editors defensive.
- Too many touches. Four or five follow ups to the same person turns outreach into spam.
- Pitching several editors at one publication at once. If two people at the same site compare notes, you look careless.
- Raising money in the follow up. Offering payment in exchange for a followed link is a direct conflict with Google’s link spam policies, and it signals that your content cannot earn the placement on its own merit.
- Broken personalization. Automated sequences that send “Hi {first_name}” or reference the wrong article do more harm than sending nothing.
- Ignoring a clear no. Once someone declines or asks not to be contacted, remove them from the sequence right away.
Keep Your Outreach Respectful and Compliant
Good follow ups depend on good record keeping. Keep a shared suppression list so anyone who opts out is never contacted again by any campaign your team runs. Log every reply, including declines, so a teammate does not pitch the same editor next week.
If your messages include any commercial promotion, read the FTC’s CAN-SPAM compliance guide for business. It covers honest subject lines, identifying the sender, and honoring opt-out requests promptly. Rules differ by country, so check the requirements that apply to the people you email.
How Follow Ups Fit Into a Bigger Outreach Process
A follow up cannot rescue a weak pitch or the wrong site. If the host site has no relevant audience, thin traffic, or a history of selling links to anyone who asks, a reply is not worth chasing. That is why we vet sites before the first email goes out, using the checks in our guide on how to vet guest post sites before you pay for a link.
For online stores, the right targets look different from SaaS targets. Our ecommerce backlink building guide covers the kinds of sites and angles that tend to suit product brands.
A simple tracking sheet keeps the whole process tidy. At minimum, record:
- Site, contact name, and contact role
- Date of the original pitch and each follow up
- The angle or topic you pitched
- Status: no reply, declined, interested, published
- Notes for future outreach, such as preferred topics or submission rules
Conclusion
The best outreach follow up email is brief, adds a reason to reply, and respects the editor’s time. Send one or two, space them out, and stop when you get a clear answer or no answer at all. Combined with careful site vetting and a strong first pitch, polite follow ups help turn cold outreach into lasting editorial relationships.
Want a team that handles vetting, pitching, and follow ups for you? We build editorial links for ecommerce and SaaS brands and work as a white-label partner for SEO agencies. Explore our link building services to see how we can help you earn placements on relevant, real sites.