Teardown
A link insertion offer, taken apart clause by clause
Below is an invented seller message of the kind that lands in agency inboxes every week. We read it slowly, mark what is missing, and list the questions that fix it.
'Premium DR70+ link insertions, 100% real traffic, permanent, only $39 each, minimum 20, 7-day delivery, results guaranteed. Payment by transfer, details on request.'
Six clauses, six questions
Every phrase hides a question you should put back to the seller.
'DR70+'
Which domain, exactly? A range is not a list. Ask for the donor URLs and the niche of each before anything else.
'100% real traffic'
Traffic from where, and for which topics? Compare their number with what Ahrefs or Semrush shows for the same domain.
'Only $39 each, minimum 20'
A flat price implies the seller does not care which page you link to. That is $780 committed before you have seen one placement.
'7-day delivery'
Fine, if each link comes with a URL you can open. Ask what happens on day eight if nothing is live.
'Results guaranteed'
Nobody controls Google rankings. A seller who says otherwise has told you how they treat other claims.
'Payment by transfer'
No basket, no invoice trail, no way to dispute. For an agency this is a bookkeeping problem long before it becomes a link problem.
What a better offer looks like
A good offer is boring. It names the donor, shows its traffic and niche, lists a price per link and lets you choose the target page. Knowing where to buy link insertion backlinks mostly means knowing what a boring offer looks like.
That is the shape of a marketplace row: Domain Rating, organic traffic, referring domains, niche, language and price, filterable across 50,000+ vetted donor domains. You compare before you pay, and the basket charges nothing until you approve it.
Link insertions and editorial placements both sit there, so you can decide per target page which one fits. For the scoring, use the ten-point scorecard.
One more habit helps. Send the same five questions to every seller, including us, and keep the answers in the client folder. A year later you will know why you chose what you chose, and so will the client. See the budget guide for where this spend sits.
Seller pitch vs marketplace row
| Question | The invented pitch | A marketplace row |
|---|---|---|
| Is the donor named? | No, a range only | Yes, a domain in a table |
| Is the price per link visible? | Flat bundle, minimum 20 | Per link, from $1 to about $500 |
| Do you choose the target page? | Unclear | Yes: target URL and keyword |
| What do you get after paying? | An email, eventually | A status in your ordered-links list |
| How long does it take? | '7 days' | Usually about 24 hours after payment |
Five questions to send before you pay anyone
- 1
Which donor URLs, and in what niche?
Reject any list that arrives only as ranges or averages.
- 2
Who writes the content and who approves it?
Decide between automatic, your own prompt or your own finished article.
- 3
Is the placement permanent and dofollow?
Get it in writing, then confirm with a crawl a week later.
- 4
Where is the invoice?
You need one for the client file.
- 5
What if the link disappears?
Ask now, because afterwards the seller owes you nothing.
Verdict
Skip the offer, keep the checklist
The pitch fails on almost every line, yet the questions it raises are the ones to ask everywhere. Apply them to any seller, including us.
- Named donors beat ranges.
- Per-link prices beat bundles.
- No promise about rankings is a good sign.