Getting Into “Best Of” Lists: A Realistic Outreach Process

“Best project management tools,” “best accountants in [city],” “best hiking boots under $150” — best-of lists rank well precisely because they answer a comparison question, and that makes them some of the most valuable pages to appear on. Getting included is less about a clever pitch and more about making the list owner’s job trivially easy.

Why these pages are worth the effort

A best-of list that already ranks sends ongoing referral traffic and passes link equity every time it is refreshed, not just once. Unlike a single guest post, inclusion on an actively maintained list can persist for years and gets re-crawled every time the author updates it with new entries or pricing.

Finding the right lists

• Search variations of “best [category] for [use case/city/audience]”
• Check which lists your direct competitors already appear on
• Look at lists that are visibly maintained — updated dates, current pricing, working links
• Avoid lists that look abandoned or stuffed with unrelated ads; inclusion there rarely helps and can look spammy

Signs a list is actively maintained

Good sign	Warning sign
Recent “last updated” date that matches content changes	Date stamp but stale screenshots or dead competitor links
Specific, current details about each entry	Vague copy that could apply to any product
Editorial tone with both pros and cons	Every entry described as “the best”

What to send

Do not ask to be added — offer a ready-made entry. Include a one-sentence description, three concrete differentiators, and a plain-text URL. If the list format uses screenshots, offer to send one at the right dimensions. The less editing the author has to do, the higher your odds, especially on lists with dozens of entries already.

Handling the “why should we add you” question

Be honest about where you fit. If you are not the cheapest or the most established, say what you are instead — fastest onboarding, a specific niche fit, better support hours. List authors want variety in their entries, not ten near-identical pitches claiming to be the best overall option.

A simple pitch structure

1. Confirm you have used or reviewed the list and it is relevant to your product
2. State the one differentiator that matters for that list’s audience
3. Provide the ready-to-paste entry text and a link
4. Offer a discount code or trial only if genuinely available — never invent one

Following up on existing mentions

Sometimes you are already mentioned but the link is broken, outdated, or points to a wrong page. A quick, friendly correction email is one of the easiest wins in link building because you are helping the author fix an error rather than asking for a favour. This overlaps with the discipline described in https://successtoroad.com/blog/monitoring-lost-links/, just applied proactively to lists rather than waiting for a monitor alert.

Where this fits with paid coverage

Some best-of lists are run as advertorial content and disclose paid placement; others are purely editorial. Both are legitimate as long as sponsored ones are labelled correctly. If you want a faster, more predictable route than cold outreach, https://successtoroad.com/marketplace/ lists publishers who accept sponsored roundup entries with clear terms up front.

Timing your outreach

Many best-of lists get refreshed on a cycle tied to a season, a product launch window, or an annual review, and an author is far more receptive to pitches shortly before that refresh than in the middle of a quiet period. If you can identify roughly when a list was last substantially updated, aim your pitch to land a few weeks ahead of the likely next revision rather than immediately after one, when the author has just finished the work and moved on to something else.

What happens after you are added

Getting added is not the end of the relationship. Check back periodically to confirm your entry is still current — pricing changes, feature updates, or a rebrand can all make an existing entry inaccurate, and an inaccurate entry is one an author is more likely to remove during the next refresh than to correct on your behalf unprompted. A short, polite note flagging an outdated detail is a low-cost way to keep the placement alive for years rather than just one cycle.

Scaling this across many lists

Once you have a working pitch template and a ready entry, the marginal cost of reaching out to another relevant list is small. Keep a simple tracker of which lists you have pitched, the response, and the current status of each entry, so you are not duplicating effort or losing track of placements that need a periodic refresh. Treat this as an ongoing, low-intensity task you revisit monthly rather than a single campaign with a defined end date.

Where to go next

Best-of inclusion pairs naturally with https://successtoroad.com/blog/tool-roundup-inclusion/ and with https://successtoroad.com/blog/testimonial-link-building/ if the list owner also wants a quote. Track every pitch and result against https://successtoroad.com/blog/link-building-checklist/, and if you are choosing between building your own comparison page or getting listed on someone else’s, read https://successtoroad.com/blog/comparison-page-outreach/ next. For paid placement alongside organic outreach, https://successtoroad.com/marketplace/ lists relevant publishers by niche.

Frequently asked questions