Editorial placements
Look beyond
the domain score.
A placement should make sense on the page where someone will read it. Use this guide to compare an offer, write a clear brief and check what was actually delivered.
Start with the buying briefThe first question
Would the reference help this page’s reader?
Read the proposed page and the destination before looking at a price. A connection between their subjects is more useful than a category label in a spreadsheet. A practical home-improvement article, for example, needs a relevant resource for that task. A link to an unrelated offer interrupts the reader even when the two sites have impressive metrics.
Before you buy
Five checks for a clearer decision.
- 01
Read an actual sample.
Ask for a public article on the proposed site, in the language you need. Check whether its subject, writing and surrounding navigation suit the intended audience. Distinguish an existing article insertion from a new publication: they have different editorial work and delivery requirements.
- 02
Date the evidence.
Record the tool, date and domain or page behind each traffic or authority measurement. Keep estimates separate from first-party observations. If a measurement is unavailable, leave it unknown. A high score alone does not establish useful readership, future rankings or a return on your spend.
- 03
Agree the placement itself.
Specify the destination URL, suggested anchor, article context and number of references. Agree who writes and reviews the copy. State the disclosure and link attributes before ordering. Google recommends marking paid links with
rel="sponsored";nofollowis also acceptable under its guidance. Read Google’s link-qualification guidance. - 04
Put the practical terms in writing.
Record the currency, full price, publishing deadline, revision allowance and retention period. Ask what happens if publication is refused, delayed, changed or removed. If the destination changes later, agree whether an update is included. Do not rely on a vague promise of a permanent placement.
- 05
Check who controls the delivery.
Establish whether you are dealing with the publisher or an intermediary and who can make corrections. For a client project, confirm that the proposed content and destination fit the client’s brief. A marketplace listing is an offer to inspect, not proof that a specific article has been published.
Keep this with the order
A buying brief
you can reuse.
Fill in the unknowns before comparing prices. A short, explicit brief makes different offers easier to compare.
- Audience
- Country, language, subject and intended reader
- Placement
- Proposed site, public sample and new article or insertion
- Destination
- Exact URL, relevant context and suggested anchor
- Evidence
- Measurement source, observation date and anything unknown
- Editorial terms
- Writer, review process, disclosure and link attributes
- Commercial terms
- Price, currency, deadline, revisions, retention and remedy
- Delivery record
- Published URL, checks, observation time and contact for changes
After publication
Save the result.
Then check it again.
Open the delivered URL in an ordinary browser. Confirm the agreed article, destination, anchor, disclosure and link attributes. Check that the page loads publicly and that the reference works. Keep a dated record of what you observed, together with the accepted terms.
A later check can catch a broken destination or removed reference. Record those changes against the original order so the publisher can investigate. Publication, search indexing, referral visits and customer revenue are different outcomes; measure each separately.
This is a practical buying guide, not a ranking forecast or a claim that a particular placement has been independently audited.