Sites that openly sell links pass 60% less measurable equity per link

Sites that openly sell links pass 60% less measurable equity per link

Sample: 290 placements split between solicited-paid marketplaces and earned editorial (n=290, 2024). The shortcut that backfires is sourcing from sites with public 'write for us / sponsored' link farms.

Median 90-day target movement per link:
— Earned editorial mention: +5.1 positions
— Marketplace/openly-sold link: +2.0 positions

Host pages stuffed with unrelated outbound paid links dilute every link on them, including yours.

Check outbound link patterns on the host page — if it links to 8 unrelated commercial sites, expect heavily discounted value.