Link Builder Pro – Link Building & Outreach Module

If you are using Link Builder Pro to run outreach campaigns, one of the most important things you need to understand before sending your first email is why you should never send cold outreach from your main business domain.

This guide explains what a secondary domain is, why it matters, and how to set everything up inside Uprankly — step by step.

Why Not Use Your Main Domain?

Your main domain (e.g., yourbusiness.com) is what your customers, partners, and team use every day. It carries your brand's email reputation.

When you send cold outreach, some recipients will mark your email as spam. That is normal — even the best campaigns get some spam complaints. But if those complaints happen on your main domain, the damage spreads to all email sent from that domain — including invoices, proposals, and internal communication.

Here is what can happen:

Your regular business emails start landing in spam folders
Email providers like Google and Microsoft lower your domain's trust score
In serious cases, your domain gets blacklisted entirely

This is why every professional outreach operation uses secondary domains.

What is a Secondary Domain?

A secondary domain is a separate domain that looks similar to your main domain but is used exclusively for outreach. If your business domain is acmeseo.com, your secondary domains might be:

getacmeseo.com
tryacmeseo.com
acmeseohq.com

These domains protect your main brand while still looking professional and recognizable to recipients.

How Many Domains and Mailboxes Do You Need?

For link building outreach, the volumes are much lower than mass cold email. You are reaching out to specific site owners, editors, and webmasters — not blasting thousands of strangers. One secondary domain is usually enough to get started.

The safe baseline:

30 emails per day per account — this includes your initial pitch AND all follow-ups
3 email accounts per domain — gives you ~90 emails per day total
1 secondary domain — handles up to ~2,000 outreach emails per month

Here is how it scales:

|----------------|---------------|-----------------|----------------------|

| Up to 2,000 | 1 | 3 | 30 (pitch + follow-ups) |

| 2,000–4,000 | 2 | 6 | 30 |

| 4,000–6,000 | 3 | 9 | 30 |

Most link building campaigns run well under 2,000 emails per month. If you are running one or two campaigns at a time, a single secondary domain with 3 email accounts is all you need.

Important: The 30 emails per day limit includes everything — your initial pitch, first follow-up, second follow-up. So if your campaign has a pitch + 2 follow-ups, each account is handling roughly 10 new prospects per day. That is a healthy, sustainable volume.

Tip: Use real person names for your email addresses (e.g., sarah@getacmeseo.com), not role-based addresses like sales@ or info@. Email providers trust person-named accounts more.

Where to Buy Secondary Domains

You can buy domains from any registrar. These are commonly used for outreach:

Cloudflare Registrar — at-cost pricing (~$10/year), free DNS hosting, best API
Porkbun — affordable (~$11/year), clean interface, developer-friendly
GoDaddy — largest registrar, widely known
Namecheap — popular, good pricing (we recommend pointing DNS to Cloudflare after purchase)

Buy your domains, then set up email hosting at a provider like Google Workspace, Zoho Mail, or Hostinger Business Email.

What Are SPF, DKIM, and DMARC?

Before your secondary domain can send emails that actually reach inboxes, you need to configure three DNS records. These records prove to email providers (Gmail, Outlook, etc.) that you are authorized to send email from your domain.

SPF (Sender Policy Framework)

SPF tells email providers which servers are allowed to send email on behalf of your domain. Without it, receiving servers may reject or spam-folder your emails.

It is a TXT record on your domain that looks like:

`v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all`

The "include" value depends on your email provider (Google Workspace, Zoho, etc.).

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)

DKIM adds a digital signature to every email you send. The receiving server checks this signature against a public key published in your DNS to verify the email was not tampered with.

It is a TXT record that looks like:

`v=DKIM1; k=rsa; p=MIIBIjANBg...`

Your email provider generates this key for you. You copy it into your DNS.

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance)

DMARC ties SPF and DKIM together and tells email providers what to do when authentication fails. It also lets you receive reports about email authentication results.

It is a TXT record on `_dmarc.yourdomain.com` that looks like:

`v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourdomain.com`

Start with `p=none` (monitor mode) and tighten the policy later once you confirm everything works.

What About a Tracking Domain?

When Uprankly tracks email opens and link clicks, it uses a tracking pixel and redirect URL. By default, these use a shared Uprankly URL. But for better deliverability, you should set up a custom tracking domain on your sending domain.

For example, if you send from getacmeseo.com, your tracking domain would be:

`track.getacmeseo.com`

This is a CNAME record that points to Uprankly's tracking server. When the tracking domain matches your sending domain, email providers see full domain alignment — which significantly improves inbox placement.

Setting Up DNS Records in Uprankly

Uprankly helps you set up all four records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and tracking CNAME) from one screen.

Option 1: Guided Manual Setup

If you manage your own DNS, Uprankly shows you exactly which records to add:

Go to Configuration > Email Accounts
Click Domain Setup (or open the domain setup from the "Connect New Provider" flow)
Enter your sending domain (e.g., getacmeseo.com)
Select your email provider (Google Workspace, Zoho, Hostinger, or Other)
Uprankly generates all 4 records with the correct values for your provider
Copy each record and paste it into your DNS panel (Cloudflare, GoDaddy, Namecheap, etc.)
Click Verify — Uprankly checks that each record is live
When all 4 records show green checkmarks, your domain is ready

Option 2: Automatic Setup (Cloudflare, GoDaddy, or Porkbun)

If your DNS is hosted on a supported provider, Uprankly can add the records for you:

Go to Configuration > Email Accounts > Domain Setup
Enter your sending domain
Select your email provider
Select your DNS provider (Cloudflare, GoDaddy, or Porkbun)
Enter your API credentials (Uprankly shows you exactly where to find them in your provider's dashboard)
Click Auto Setup — Uprankly adds all 4 records via your provider's API
Records are verified automatically

No copy-pasting. No switching between tabs. Done in under a minute.

Domain Setup Checklist

Before you connect an email account and start a campaign, make sure each sending domain has:

[ ] SPF record added and verified
[ ] DKIM record added and verified
[ ] DMARC record added and verified
[ ] Custom tracking domain (CNAME) added, verified, and SSL active
[ ] Email account created at your email provider (Google Workspace, Zoho, etc.)
[ ] Email account connected to Uprankly (via OAuth or SMTP/IMAP)
[ ] Tracking domain assigned to the email account
[ ] Warmup started (gradually increase daily send volume over 2–3 weeks)

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Sending from your main domain — Always use secondary domains for outreach
Skipping DKIM — Without DKIM, your emails are much more likely to be flagged as spam
Setting DMARC to p=reject too early — Start with p=none, monitor for a few weeks, then tighten
Sending 100+ emails on day one — Warm up gradually (start with 5–10 per day, increase over 2–3 weeks)
Using the same domain for multiple accounts at high volume — Spread volume across domains
Using role-based emails (sales@, info@, contact@) — Use real person names

What Happens After Setup?

Once your domain is configured and your email account is connected:

Your account status will show Connected with a green badge
The tracking domain will show Verified with SSL Active
You can start building and launching campaigns immediately
Uprankly will track opens, clicks, and replies automatically
The Infrastructure Health score on your Email Accounts page will reflect your setup quality

If any record is missing or misconfigured, Uprankly shows you exactly what needs attention — so you never have to guess.

Why You Need a Secondary Domain for Outreach