Eight ways to use inurl in Ahrefs Content Explorer

Executive overview

Most SEOs know the inurl search operator from Google. Applied inside Ahrefs Content Explorer — a search engine across a billion indexed pages — it becomes a prospecting tool for link building, guest posting, and YouTube growth.

Eight distinct tactics use inurl to surface link targets, pitch opportunities, and double-dip traffic from Google and YouTube.

The core insight: combining inurl with title: and domain filters turns Content Explorer into a targeted outreach machine.

Finding link-building targets

• Search inurl:[current year] title:[topic] to find new pages attracting links fast; set referring domains minimum to 20.
• Replace the year with older dates (e.g. 2012 OR 2013 OR 2014) to find outdated posts with strong backlink profiles — skyscraper technique targets.
• Search inurl:resources title:[topic] to find resource pages; filter by domain rating (e.g. DR 50+) to qualify prospects quickly.

Outreach and guest posting

• Search inurl:infographic title:infographic [topic] + one article per domain to find sites that have published infographics and are likely to accept yours.
• Search inurl:(guest-post OR guest-blog OR guest-author) [topic] + one article per domain to find sites actively accepting guest content — most won't have a "Write For Us" page.
• Search inurl:interview-with title:[influencer name] to find sites that interview people in your niche; expand with inurl:interview if results are thin.

YouTube-specific tactics

• Search site:youtube.com inurl:channel title:[topic] then sort by organic search traffic descending; high search traffic on a channel correlates with a large authentic subscriber base — use to find collaboration partners.
• Search site:youtube.com inurl:watch [topic] sorted by search traffic to identify YouTube videos that also rank in Google — double-dipping topics that drive traffic from both platforms simultaneously.