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app.athenahq.ai/outreach

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Purpose

The Outreach page exists to help marketers and PR professionals manage their AI-driven link-building and content placement efforts. By surfacing the exact URLs that AI models are citing across targeted prompts, this page allows users to discover high-value domains and specific authors they can reach out to to influence future AI responses. Beyond simply listing opportunities, the page acts as a lightweight CRM. Users can track their outreach pipeline from initial discovery to successful placement, assign team members to specific outreach tasks, and use AI to automatically extract author contact info and draft customized pitch emails.

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What’s on the page

Page Header Displays the page title “Outreach” with an info-icon tooltip explaining the purpose of the two tabs, and contains the tab navigation switcher. Tab Navigation Switches the main view between the Opportunities tab (a URL table) and the Progress tab (a Kanban board). Opportunities Tab – Filter Bar Provides comprehensive filtering options for the URL table. Available filters include search, date range, models, prompts, competitors, brand mentions, opportunity status, source tags, and a saved-view selector. Opportunities Tab – Table Footer Shows the count of currently displayed URLs versus the total available, along with a “Load More” button for infinite scroll pagination. Progress Tab – Kanban Board Displays outreach contacts grouped into four pipeline stages: Todo, In Progress, Done, and Canceled. Allows users to visually manage their outreach workflow. Kanban Column Headers Shows the column title, a status icon, and a count of how many contact cards are currently in that pipeline stage. Kanban Contact Cards Individual cards for each outreach effort. Each card displays the target URL, the author’s name, email address, email subject, a preview of the message body, the assignee’s avatar, and a yellow warning indicator saying “No message drafted” if the email body is empty. Writer Contact Drawer A slide-in side panel that opens when users intervene on a URL or click a Kanban card. It provides tools for composing an outreach message to a specific URL’s author, checking status, assigning a team member, using AI to draft the email, and launching the user’s default email client. Export Dialog A modal configuring and triggering a CSV export of the currently filtered URL list. Source Tags Drawer A slide-in panel where users can manage custom source tags (creating, editing, deleting) and bulk-assign domains to those tags via CSV or manual entry. Edit Source Tags Dialog A modal to assign or override the source type (e.g., Owned, Competitor) and select custom tags for a specific domain or URL. AI Accessibility Dialog A modal showing whether AI search engine bots (like ChatGPT or Claude crawlers) have access to crawl a given domain.

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Outreach Opportunities Table

A paginated, sortable list of AI-cited URLs showing outreach-relevant metrics and actions.
  • URL: The normalized URL of the cited source, shown with a favicon and color-coded by source type (owned, competitor, partner, third-party). Includes a click-to-copy tooltip. Clicking the row navigates to the source analytics page.
  • Intervene: A button that opens the Writer Contact Drawer for the row’s URL. When a contact record already exists, it displays a colored dot indicating the current outreach status (gray=Todo, amber=In Progress, indigo=Done, gray=Canceled).
  • Type: Source type badges (owned, competitor, partner, third-party) plus any custom source tags assigned to the domain. Clicking this column opens the Edit Source Tags dialog.
  • Citation %: The percentage of AI responses that cite this URL, shown to 2 decimal places. Hovering reveals the full 6-decimal value and raw citation count. Tooltip: “Percentage of responses with citations from this domain”.
  • Monthly Impressions: Estimated monthly impressions calculated as Citation % multiplied by estimated prompt volume. Tooltip: “Citation % * Estimated Prompt Volume”.
  • Citations: Raw count of times this URL appeared as a citation across all simulated AI responses. Tooltip: “Number of times this domain was cited in simulated responses”.
  • Mentioned: Indicates whether the brand was mentioned in content from this URL, showing a count of URLs where the brand appears. Tooltip: “Whether you were mentioned in sources from this URL”.
  • AI Access: Badge showing whether AI crawlers can access the domain. Clicking opens the AI Accessibility dialog. Tooltip: “Scan whether AI search engines can crawl this domain”.
  • Competitors Mentioned: Logos of tracked competitors that appear in content from this domain. Tooltip: “Competitors mentioned in sources from this domain”.

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Drilldowns

  • Click a table row (non-interactive area): Navigates to /sources/analytics/[encodedUrl]?returnTo=/outreach, showing detailed analytics for the selected URL.
  • Click the external link icon on a table row: Opens the actual cited article or page in a new browser tab.
  • Click Intervene button: Opens the Writer Contact Drawer (slide-in panel), showing author info, outreach status, assignee, AI-drafted email content, edit controls, and email launch actions for the selected URL.
  • Click a Kanban card: Opens the Writer Contact Drawer (slide-in panel), displaying full contact details and outreach composition tools for the selected contact.
  • Click the Type badges on a table row: Opens the Edit Source Tags dialog (modal), presenting the source type override selector and custom tag checkboxes for the domain/URL.
  • Click AI Access badge: Opens the AI Accessibility dialog (modal), showing bot crawlability scan results for the domain.
  • Click Export in More menu: Opens the Export dialog (modal), revealing the URL count selector and export configuration before downloading the CSV.
  • Click Tags button: Opens the Source Tags Drawer (slide-in panel), showing a list of all custom source tags with create, edit, and delete controls.
  • Click Columns in More menu: Opens the column visibility popover, displaying checkboxes and drag handles to show/hide and reorder table columns.

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What you can do here

  • Opportunities (tab): Switches to the URL table view showing citation opportunities.
  • Progress (tab): Switches to the Kanban board view showing the outreach pipeline.
  • Intervene: Opens the Writer Contact Drawer for the selected URL to start or review an outreach contact.
  • Tags: Opens the Source Tags Drawer to manage custom source tags.
  • Columns (in More menu): Opens the column visibility and order panel to show/hide and reorder table columns.
  • Export (in More menu): Opens the Export dialog to download the filtered URL list as a CSV file. Gated behind a paid subscription plan; free-plan users see an upgrade dialog instead.
  • Load More: Fetches the next page of URLs and appends them to the table.
  • Try again: Retries the failed data fetch when the table is in an error state.
  • Find author (in Writer Contact Drawer): Triggers AI extraction of the author name and LinkedIn profile for the target URL.
  • Draft / Regenerate (in Writer Contact Drawer): Uses AI to generate or regenerate an outreach email subject and message body for the target URL.
  • Edit (in Writer Contact Drawer): Enables inline editing of the subject and message fields.
  • Save (in Writer Contact Drawer edit mode): Persists the edited subject and message to the database.
  • Cancel (in Writer Contact Drawer edit mode): Discards unsaved edits and exits edit mode.
  • Prompt settings toggle (in Writer Contact Drawer): Shows or hides the custom instructions textarea for the AI message generator.
  • Open URL in new tab (in Writer Contact Drawer): Opens the target article URL in a new browser tab.
  • Open in mail client (⌘↵ shortcut, in Writer Contact Drawer): Launches the user’s default email client pre-filled with the drafted subject and message.
  • Copy full email (⌘⇧C shortcut, in Writer Contact Drawer): Copies the full email (To, Subject, Body) to the clipboard.
  • Status dropdown (in Writer Contact Drawer): Changes the outreach status of the contact record (Todo / In Progress / Done / Canceled).
  • Assignee picker (in Writer Contact Drawer): Assigns or unassigns a team member to the outreach contact.
  • Unassigned (in Kanban assignee dropdown): Removes the assignee from a kanban card.
  • [Team member name] (in Kanban assignee dropdown): Assigns the selected team member to the kanban card.
  • Drag kanban card to column: Moves the contact to the target pipeline status column with an optimistic update.
  • Click kanban card: Opens the Writer Contact Drawer for the selected contact.
  • Export (in Export dialog): Downloads a CSV file of the filtered URL list up to the configured limit.
  • Reset to 1,000 (in Export dialog): Resets the export limit to 1,000 URLs.
  • Export all (in Export dialog): Sets the export limit to the total number of available URLs.
  • + / - buttons (in Export dialog): Increments or decrements the export URL count by 1,000.
  • Quick select buttons 1,000 / 5,000 / 10,000 (in Export dialog): Sets the export limit to the chosen value.
  • Create a Type (in Source Tags Drawer): Opens the create-tag form to define a new custom source tag with a name, color, and domain list.
  • Save (in Source Tags Drawer create/edit form): Persists the new or updated source tag.
  • Cancel (in Source Tags Drawer form): Discards the form and returns to the tag list.
  • Delete icon (in Source Tags Drawer row): Opens a confirmation dialog to permanently delete the source tag. This is a destructive action.
  • Confirm delete (in Source Tags Drawer delete dialog): Permanently deletes the source tag and removes it from all domains. Confirmation dialog is shown before deletion.
  • Save (in Edit Source Tags dialog): Saves the updated source type override and custom tag assignments for the domain/URL.
  • Cancel (in Edit Source Tags dialog): Discards changes and closes the dialog.
  • Add (manual domain in Source Tags Drawer): Adds the typed domain to the tag’s domain list.
  • Download Template (in Source Tags Drawer): Downloads a CSV template for bulk domain import.
  • Browse / CSV file upload (in Source Tags Drawer): Parses the uploaded CSV and adds valid domains to the tag’s domain list.

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Data shown

  • AI-cited URLs from simulated prompt responses for the current website
  • Outreach contact records (author name, email, LinkedIn, subject, message, status, assignee, history) stored per URL
  • Organization team members for assignee selection
  • Tracked competitors for the Competitors Mentioned column
  • Custom source tags assigned to domains
  • Source type overrides (owned/competitor/partner/third-party) per domain or URL
  • Affiliate domain list
  • AI bot accessibility scan results per domain

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Common workflows

Discover and start outreach for a high-citation URL
  1. Navigate to /outreach (the Opportunities tab is the default view).
  2. Use filters (such as date range, models, or brand mentioned) to narrow the URL list.
  3. Identify a high Citation % URL in the table.
  4. Click the Intervene button to open the Writer Contact Drawer.
  5. Click “Find author” to automatically extract the author’s name and LinkedIn profile.
  6. Click “Draft” to generate an AI email subject and message.
  7. Review and optionally edit the generated draft.
  8. Change the Status dropdown to “In Progress”.
  9. Click the mail icon (or press ⌘↵) to open the draft directly in your email client.
Manage outreach pipeline on the Kanban board
  1. Click the “Progress” tab.
  2. Review cards currently sitting in the Todo, In Progress, Done, and Canceled columns.
  3. Drag a card to a new column to instantly update its status.
  4. Click a card to open the Writer Contact Drawer and review or update its details.
  5. Assign a team member using the assignee avatar directly on the card.
Export the filtered opportunity list to CSV
  1. Apply your desired filters on the Opportunities tab.
  2. Click the ”⋯” More menu button in the top right.
  3. Click “Export”.
  4. In the Export dialog, adjust the URL count using the +/- buttons or quick-select options.
  5. Click “Export” to download the CSV file.
Create and assign a custom source tag
  1. Click the “Tags” button in the filter bar.
  2. In the Source Tags Drawer, click “Create a Type”.
  3. Enter a tag name and choose a color.
  4. Upload a CSV of domains or add them manually.
  5. Click “Create” to save.
  6. Back in the table, click the Type badges on a row to open the Edit Source Tags dialog and assign the new tag to a domain.
Reassign an outreach contact to a team member
  1. On the Kanban board, locate the desired contact card.
  2. Click the assignee avatar (or the empty avatar circle) on the card.
  3. Select a team member from the dropdown, or choose “Unassigned” to clear it.
  4. The assignment is saved immediately with a success toast.

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Empty, loading, and error states

  • Empty: A “No sources data available.” message is shown when the table returns zero results.
  • Loading: An AnimatedLoader spinner is shown centered in the table area while data is fetching. The Kanban board shows a centered AnimatedLoader while contacts load.
  • Error: An error card reading “Unable to load outreach data. Please try again.” along with a “Try again” button is shown when the fetch fails.
  • Linked from: Left navigation sidebar (Outreach link)
  • Links to:
    • /sources/analytics/[encodedUrl]?returnTo=/outreach (Source analytics page)
    • External article URLs (opens in a new tab)
    • mailto: links (launches the user’s email client)
    • LinkedIn profile URLs (opens in a new tab)

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Common support questions

Why is the Export button asking me to upgrade? The outreach export functionality is gated behind our paid subscription plans. Free-plan users will see a prompt to upgrade instead of the CSV download. The button itself does not look locked; the gate only appears after you click it. Where did my canceled contacts go? By default, the Opportunity Status filter is set to ['active']. Canceled contacts are hidden from the table unless you manually adjust the filter to show them. Why can’t I see the total citations column in the table? The ‘Citations’ column is hidden by default to save space. You can enable it by clicking the ”⋯” More menu in the top right, selecting “Columns”, and checking the box next to “Citations”. Does my custom AI message prompt sync across my team? No. Custom instructions for the AI message generator are stored locally in your browser’s localStorage. They are scoped per user and per website, meaning they do not sync across devices, different browsers, or to your teammates. Why didn’t my edits to the drafted message save? The Writer Contact Drawer’s keyboard shortcut (⌘S) only saves when you are actively focused inside the text edit mode. If you press it outside of edit mode, it will have no effect.