<b>Also circulating: spotting the network behind the 'editorial' site</b>

<b>Also circulating: spotting the network behind the 'editorial' site</b>

Three threads on telling a real publisher from a dressed-up farm.

— A forum checklist this week: shared Analytics IDs, identical author bios across 'unrelated' sites, and outbound link patterns that all point to clients. Worth a read as a vetting pass.
— An SEO blog argues footprint-hunting is overrated and host quality (does it rank, does it get traffic) is the only tell that survives. Counterpoint to the detective approach.
— A Reddit thread shares a free tool that maps shared hosting and ad IDs across a domain list — useful for catching storefront clusters.

Editor's note: a network isn't automatically bad. An undisclosed network you paid premium-editorial prices for is the problem.

Pick of the week: the footprint checklist. Run your current vendor list through it once.