Garrett French
Founder and CEO at Citation Labs
Louisville, Kentucky, United States
Garrett French is the founder and CEO of Citation Labs, a link building agency he started in 2011 and still runs from the Louisville, Kentucky area. His work centers on content-led link building campaigns, link prospecting at scale, and lately on how brands surface in AI search.
Garrett came up through search journalism as editor-in-chief of WebProNews from 2001 to 2009. With the late Eric Ward he co-wrote the Ultimate Guide to Link Building for Entrepreneur Press, a book that remains one of the standard references on earning links, updated in a second edition in 2020. He also co-developed the Link Prospector tool used by outreach teams to find placement opportunities.
Beyond the agency he built ZipSprout, a marketplace that matches brands with local sponsorships, running since 2016, and he is now building Xofu, an AI visibility tracker and sister company to Citation Labs. He spoke at BrightonSEO San Diego in 2025 and returns to BrightonSEO in September 2026.
On September 25, 2024 he spoke at SEO for Paws, the charity live stream supporting animal shelters in Ukraine, presenting organic link building for sales and landing pages together with James Wirth.
Key facts about Garrett French
- Founder and CEO of Citation Labs, the link building agency he started in 2011.
- Co-author with Eric Ward of the Ultimate Guide to Link Building, second edition from Entrepreneur Press in 2020.
- Editor-in-chief of WebProNews from 2001 to 2009 before founding Citation Labs.
- Co-developer of the Link Prospector tool.
- Built ZipSprout, a local sponsorship marketplace running since 2016.
- Currently building Xofu, an AI visibility tracker and sister company to Citation Labs.
- Spoke at BrightonSEO San Diego 2025 and returns to BrightonSEO in September 2026.
- Spoke at SEO for Paws on September 25, 2024, with James Wirth, on organic link building for sales and landing pages.
What Garrett French is famous for
Garrett is best known as the founder of Citation Labs and as Eric Ward's co-author on the Ultimate Guide to Link Building, one of the standard books on the discipline. He co-developed the Link Prospector tool, launched ZipSprout for local sponsorships, and his current focus is Xofu, an AI visibility tracker built as a sister company to Citation Labs.
Notable work
- Company: Citation Labs
- Book: Ultimate Guide to Link Building, with Eric Ward
- Company: ZipSprout, local sponsorship marketplace
- Talk: BrightonSEO speaker
