Prompting Guide
This page offers guidance on how to prompt the Linkup API effectively for optimal results.
🧩 Why Prompting Matters
Linkup is a precise engine designed to follow detailed instructions like a research assistant. The more guidance you give, the better the result.
✅ Anatomy of a Good Prompt
A strong prompt usually includes:
| Component | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 🎯 Goal | What do you want to find or understand? | ”You are an expert business analyst. Describe the company’s activities in detail” |
| 📍 Scope | Where should the system look? | ”The company domain is linkup.so. Analyze the homepage, about us page, and blog section.” |
| 🧠 Criteria / Method | What type of information and analytical depth should the system apply? | ”Include products, business model, target market, and value chain positioning” |
| 📦 Format | How should the response be structured or returned? | ”Be sharp and business oriented in your answer.” |
Examples include: Company domains, Company fillings (10Ks), Linkedin URLs, etc…
❌ Anatomy of a bad prompt
Week prompts often:
- Are vague: “Tell me about the company” → What exactly? Revenue? Product strategy?
- Lack instructions: “Summarize this page” → How? As a bullet list? As a paragraph?
- Ask too many things: “Give me pricing, hiring plans, GTM strategy, and roadmap” → Split into 3+ prompts.
Even when a prompt seems precise, there are probably ways to improve it. For instance:
❌ Bad prompt: Analyze the company website to determine its GTM motion.
✅ Good prompt: Analyze the company’s homepage, pricing page, and sign-up flow to determine if it follows Product-Led Growth (PLG) or Sales-Led Growth (SLG). Use criteria such as self-service signup, free trials, or demo CTAs. Return a 3-sentence conclusion with your reasoning.
🧠 Sample Prompts for Business Intelligence
Below is a list of prompts you can leverage to extract intelligence from company websites. We have a full list here
Map a competitor’s value proposition from homepage and product pages
Your role is to map a company’s value proposition from the homepage and product pages of its website.
Inputs:
{company_name}{company_website}
Objective:
Extract the core value proposition communicated on public-facing product pages.
Instructions:
- Visit the homepage and primary product pages.
- Summarize the main customer benefits and positioning statements.
- Identify keywords or repeated language emphasizing their differentiators.
- Avoid internal taglines or vague marketing fluff. Focus on external value claims.
Identify a company’s ICP from homepage, use cases, and blog posts
Your role is to determine a company’s Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) based on how it communicates across its homepage, use case pages, and blog.
Inputs:
{company_name}{company_website}
Objective:
Infer the ICP based on target industries, company sizes, buyer personas, and key pain points addressed.
Instructions:
- Analyze use case pages and customer logos.
- Review blog themes and tone.
- Focus only on factual and clearly stated audience clues.
Determine if the company publishes a public roadmap
Your role is to check whether the company shares future product features publicly.
Inputs:
{company_website}
Objective:
Evaluate product transparency and customer feedback incorporation.
Instructions:
- Search for “roadmap”, “coming soon”, or “what’s next” pages.
- Look for tools like Canny, Trello, or Notion used for roadmaps.
- List any public roadmap items and statuses (planned, in progress, live).
- Include link if available.
👋 To go further
There are many ways to optimize your prompts and results with Linkup. If you’d like to discuss your use case further, please feel free to reach out to our team at support@linkup.so or via our Discord.
You can also book a quick 15-minute call here
Facing issues? Reach out to our engineering team at support@linkup.so or via our Discord.