Few Questions to Ask Before Anyone Builds You a Link
Hiring someone to build links is one of the few marketing purchases people make almost blind. The deliverable is invisible until it exists, the quality is hard to judge until months later, and the sales conversation is conducted entirely in promises. So most buyers default to comparing prices and testimonials the two least informative things a provider can show you.
The fix isn’t cynicism. It’s due diligence, done before any money moves. Whether you plan to buy backlinks to your site directly or hand the whole program to an agency, five questions asked up front will tell you more than any pricing page because the answers are hard to fake, and the refusals are informative in themselves.
How do you find and vet the sites you place on?
The answer reveals the business model. Listen for:
- Manual outreach and relationships — the expensive, slow, legitimate version.
- A vetted inventory with stated standards — acceptable if the standards are concrete (minimum organic traffic, topical fit, editorial review) and checkable against those sample placements.
- “Our network of partner sites” — usually a private blog network wearing a suit. Sites that exist to sell placements are the highest-risk inventory there is.
Vague answers here are answers. Nobody forgets how they source their core product.
What exactly will I receive, and what happens if a link dies?
Get the deliverable defined in nouns: how many placements, on what kind of sites, reported how, by when. Then ask about the failure case links get removed, pages get deindexed, sites go dark. A serious provider has a replacement policy with a stated window. A provider who’s never thought about it is planning to be unreachable by then.
Who writes the content, and do I approve anchors?
The words around your link and inside it carry most of the risk and much of the value. You want to know whether placements ride on real articles or 300-word filler, and you want approval rights on anchor text because a provider who insists on exact-match commercial anchors for every link is building you a detectable pattern, as covered at length in this batch’s risk discussion.
What results do you promise?
This one is a trap you’re setting on purpose. The correct answer is modest: placements delivered as specified, on sites meeting the agreed standards with ranking movement expected but not guaranteed, because no honest link building company controls Google’s algorithm. “Page one in 30 days or your money back” isn’t confidence. It’s a sign the refund was priced into a product that doesn’t work.
The decision guide
Score the conversation, not the website:
- Proceed — live samples shared freely, sourcing explained concretely, deliverables and replacement terms in writing, anchor approval offered, promises modest.
- Proceed with caution — good samples but fuzzy replacement terms, or solid process but reluctance on anchor approval. Negotiate the gap into the agreement before signing.
- Walk away — no live samples, “partner network” sourcing, guaranteed rankings, or pressure to decide today. Any one of these is sufficient.
FAQ
What if a provider passes four questions but fails one?
Depends which one. Fuzzy reporting is negotiable. Refusing to show live placements is not it fails the only question with no innocent explanation.
Is a cheaper provider automatically worse?
No, but ask where the savings come from. If the answer isn’t visible in their process, it’s hidden in their inventory.
Should I run a small test order first?
Always, if the provider allows it. Three placements tell you more than thirty minutes of sales conversation and a provider who won’t accept a small first order is optimizing for buyers who can’t leave.
If you retain one thing, retain the first question. A provider who won’t show you live sample placements before billing has already answered everything else you just have to notice that the interview ended early.