James Dooley Interviews Chris Panteli from Linkifi

James Dooley and Chris Pantelli examine the role of modern digital PR, explaining how expert quote links, reactive PR, and coverage from tier-one publications now play a central role in shaping authority signals online. They break down why journalists consistently reference credible experts, noting that trusted sources raise the quality and reliability of published content. The discussion highlights how strategic link placement improves brand visibility, as Google places greater trust in fresh content hosted on high-authority domains with established editorial standards.

Chris Pantelli emphasises that digital PR has become more important than ever, not only for SEO but also for reputation management, as AI-driven systems increasingly extract and interpret entity data from published articles. Together, they position digital PR as essential infrastructure rather than a nice-to-have tactic, arguing that search engines increasingly reward brands that demonstrate real expertise, sustained visibility, and consistent authority across trusted platforms.

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James Dooley

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James Dooley is a Manchester-based entrepreneur, investor, and SEO strategist. James Dooley founded FatRank and PromoSEO, two UK performance marketing agencies that deliver no-win-no-fee lead generation and digital growth systems for ambitious businesses. James Dooley positions himself as an Investorpreneur who invests in UK companies with high growth potential because he believes lead generation is the root of all business success.

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James Dooley: So today I'm joined with Chris Pantelli from Linkify.

Chris Pantelli: Hey James. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

James Dooley: Good stuff mate. Good stuff. I'm going to start grilling you now with who you are and what you do and your bit of background. So for anyone that doesn't know who is Chris Pantelli.

Chris Pantelli: Uh he's a male model. No. Yeah Chris Pantelli. I'm from the UK and I co-founder of Linkify. So we are a digital PR agency specialising in expert quote links and PR campaigns.

James Dooley: So let's dive straight into it then. Expert quote links. Can you briefly explain for anyone that doesn't know what expert quote links is and has it got SEO value.

Chris Pantelli: Yeah so expert quote link building is inbound requests from journalists looking to source experts that they can quote in their article. It's not a link building opportunity per se from the journalist perspective but as seos we noticed that often times the journalists when they quote an expert they will link back to the expert’s website or the website that the expert is representing and therefore it is a wonderful opportunity to win links from some of the world's biggest publications.

James Dooley: So obviously it's a great time to be doing a podcast with yourself because recently HARO, Help A Reporter Out, has now upgraded to Connectively. So can you explain a little bit about for anyone that knows about HARO why the change. Is it better. The dashboard now. Is it making it harder for people who are trying to do expert quote link building. Has it made it better for Linkify. Why have they upgraded and is it good or is it bad for you as a company.

Chris Pantelli: Yeah so it used to be three emails a day. Anyone that knows the old system or remembers it. It's been around for nearly 15 years. It was three emails a day from multiple journalists sourcing experts. Everybody got very used to that. Fifteen years is a long time to be doing something the same way. As the introduction of AI became prevalent maybe 20 months ago journalists were getting bombarded with AI spam. Although there were some blocking systems with the old system it wasn't enough for journalists not to be annoyed by the mass onset of AI spam. Anything in SEO that’s good gets taken over quickly and becomes a bad thing. Also it was free. It had been free for 15 years. Peter Shankman the original founder started it as a free way to connect journalists with expert sources. The new system is now pay to play. You’ve got to pay if you want to play. It's not prohibitively expensive but there is a cost. You get five free pitches per month and then on top of that any additional pitches you want to do there's a cost.

Chris Pantelli: Is it better. It's different. It takes some getting used to. The biggest change is the psychology behind it. You used to get three emails a day and you'd maybe set aside time to look through and pitch. Now it's a continual roll of source requests dripping in continually. So now you have to decide how to approach it. Us as an agency we find it better. Our results have gone up because the barrier to entry even though small is there. Those mass AI spam systems are wiped out. If you want to be involved you’ve got to pay a small amount which means less AI spam. It’s a golden opportunity to create better pitches than people who pay but don’t take care. If you go one step above you will beat 90 percent of what’s being sent in.

James Dooley: So what was interesting then is several times you mentioned AI but you followed it with AI spam. Obviously artificial intelligence is everywhere. Does Chris Pantelli at Linkify use AI. Garbage in garbage out. It's how good your prompts are. Not all AI is spam. Some can be used in a good way. Is Linkify using AI in any way to integrate further growth.

Chris Pantelli: I think you’d be mad not to be using AI. It’s fantastic. But it's how you use it. I spoke at Dubai SEO conference last year about how journalists choose what they want and what they don't want. You should be using AI. We do. But the best thing you can do is have individuality to the voice and the English language you're using. Journalists want quotable expert commentary with a unique voice. Not something ChatGPT spits out. AI can massively improve workflow and speed. It's great for analysing data and cross-analysing documents. But the pitches sent to journalists need originality. Journalists can smell AI. They won't read past the first sentence if it’s obviously AI. They also need to protect their reputations. Publications may ban AI. So journalists will use AI detection tools. You need to pass those tools. AI can help rewrite things in your tone of voice.

Chris Pantelli: A really neat trick is to voice-note your answer on your phone for five minutes, then feed the messy text into AI with a prompt to keep your tone but tidy it up. You get a strong pitch that passes AI and plagiarism and is in your own voice.

James Dooley: Great knowledge bomb there. I like that. So as I've come to interview Chris Pantelli at Linkify I wanted to dig into what you've said recently. There's a quote where you said we are living in the golden era of link building. Can you explain what you mean.

Chris Pantelli: What we're noticing is content is everywhere now. It's easy to produce. The distinguishing features now are quality and where it’s coming from. News publications and journalistic content will survive AI mass production. Journalists enhance their articles by quoting experts. So this is a great time for us to be those experts. Getting featured builds brands and controls the narrative that AI will learn from. The more our names and businesses and messages are out there, the more we control what AI says about us.

James Dooley: Linkify does reactive PR campaigns and expert quote link building. For anyone wanting to know the difference check the link in the description. I'm now going to ask about the Google leak. Because the leak talks about tier one publications and fresh pages which screams digital PR. The SEO community now seems obsessed with fresh T1 links. Has business grown because of the leak. What’s your thoughts.

Chris Pantelli: It hasn’t really changed much for us. It just validated what we were already saying. Tier one publications get huge organic traffic which shows Google trusts them. Getting links there is safer long term than PBNS or Niche edits. The leak validated that tier one publications and fresh pages matter. PR goes beyond SEO. PR is older than the internet. PR builds brands and touchpoints. PR affects what AI learns about you. It grows E-E-A-T. When a human quality rater reviews your site, being featured in trusted publications helps you pass.

James Dooley: With digital PR you've sold the viewers. They all want to do digital PR. But for whatever reason they don't want to use Chris Pantelli. They think you look like my business partner Scott. They don't want to use Linkify. So if they want to do it themselves what setup, what profile, what visibility is needed.

Chris Pantelli: Sign up for the free platforms. Free Connectively account. Set alerts on X for #journorequest and #PRrequest. Make sure your about page reflects your credentials. You must look like an expert. Everything needs to be visible on your site and your social profiles. Consistency matters. Build a clean pitch template. Go for opportunities that match your expertise. Use AI detection and plagiarism checks. Set alerts on your name because 40 to 60 percent of our client links come after the fact from unlinked mentions. Chase those mentions and get the links added.

James Dooley: Sounds like a lot of hard work to me Chris. Anyone watching knows if I'm building an extension I get the bricklayer, the roofer, the electrician. For me it’s just better to outsource to people like Linkify.

Chris Pantelli: You can absolutely do it on your own. My advice for people with no budget is to find competitors, see what logos they’ve got, find those opportunities on the platforms, and pitch those exact ones.

James Dooley: Just a couple of things. If people are doing it themselves you mentioned tools. HARO has changed to Connectively. Is it pay and play or free tier. You mentioned Quoted. Press Plugs. Twitter hashtags. What's the four things people should do.

Chris Pantelli: Twitter with #journorequest and #PRrequest. Connectively free account with five free pitches. Quoted has a free tier. Press Plugs is paid. Media Matchmaker has a decent trial. Help A B2B Writer is free. All good places to source requests.

James Dooley: So last bits. Digital PR as a whole. Should people do everything or specialise.

Chris Pantelli: More referring domains brings more authority. If budget allows then yes do everything. Expert quotes get US-centric unique domains. PR campaigns get different publications. Both support each other. Both make you more visible to more journalists.

James Dooley: Well anyway Chris it's been an absolute pleasure interviewing you. Check the links in the description. I dig deeper into HARO to Connectively, why seos should use expert commentary, etc. For anyone that doesn't know where to find you, where's the best place.

Chris Pantelli: Linkify.io. Linkify on X. Christopher Pantelli on LinkedIn. Book a call. Or see me at a conference soon.

James Dooley: Chris Pantelli at Linkify it's been an absolute pleasure. Before we leave can you explain the WhitePress and Linkify joint venture SEO conference in Cyprus for anyone without tickets.

Chris Pantelli: Yes. SEO Vibes. With WhitePress and Linkify. October 23rd to 25th in Limassol Cyprus. Beautiful weather. Great speakers including the head of SEO at Alibaba, Lisa from Boohoo, Roman Halliday, Greg Elfrink from Empire Flippers.

James Dooley: Just so you know they’ve got a secret assassin, me and Kasra are coming. We’re doing a Q&A. I love the SEO Vibes conferences. They’re not a profit-making machine. They provide value worldwide. Massive hats off to WhitePress. I'm excited. Hope you've enjoyed the interview with Chris Pantelli from Linkify. Leave a comment and check out the other videos.

Chris Pantelli: Cheers James. It's been awesome.

James Dooley: Cheers mate.