Worth a read: inflated metrics, current playbook

Worth a read: inflated metrics, current playbook

How sellers pump the numbers you're buying on. Four items.

— A teardown shows domains spiking authority metrics with a burst of cheap links right before listing, then decaying after sale. Worth a read for the timing tell.
— A forum thread on traffic faked via branded/parked-keyword rankings that look like real organic until you read the queries.
— Also circulating: a Reddit post on expired domains rebuilt to inherit old metrics that no longer match current content.
— A newsletter listing the three numbers that are easiest to fake and the two that aren't.

Editor's note: every metric a seller volunteers is the one they optimized. Check the ones they don't mention.

Pick of the week: the metric-spiking teardown. The before/after graph is the lesson.