Vetting a backlink means checking the site and the exact page before the link goes live, so you only accept links that help and never ones that put your rankings at risk. Most of the checks take a minute each with a backlink tool and a Google search. Here is the checklist we use, in the order we run it.
The checklist
1. Is the site relevant?
Read the site’s homepage and a few recent articles. It should cover your category or a close neighbour, and its readers should be people who could buy your product. A general site that publishes on any topic for a fee is a pass.
2. Does it have real organic traffic?
Open the site in a backlink tool such as Ahrefs or Semrush and look at the organic traffic graph. You want measurable, steady search traffic. A high authority score with a flat line near zero is the most common sign of a site built to sell links.
3. Does it meet your authority floor?
Check the Domain Rating (or Domain Authority). Set a minimum and stick to it: for a SaaS, DR 30+ is a sensible floor for a standard link and DR 40+ for a stronger one. Our DR vs DA guide explains how the two scores compare.
4. Are the site and the page indexed?
Search Google for site:example.com to confirm the site is indexed, then search for the exact article URL. If Google hasn’t indexed the page that will hold your link, the link won’t count.
5. Will the link be contextual?
The link should sit inside the body of an article, in a sentence about your topic. Footer, sidebar, author-bio and site-wide links are worth far less and look bought.
6. Is it free of link-farm signs?
Look for the red flags: articles on every subject, many posts that exist only to link out, a “write for us” page that accepts anything, and authority far out of line with the traffic.
7. Is the outbound linking healthy?
Count the outbound links on the page that will hold yours. A handful of relevant references is normal. Dozens of links to unrelated businesses means each one, including yours, is worth very little.
8. Is the anchor text natural?
Agree the anchor before the link goes live. It should fit your plan: mostly branded, partial-match and descriptive anchors, with exact-match keywords used sparingly. See our guide to anchor text for SaaS backlinks.
9. Does the audience match your market?
The site’s audience and language should match where you sell. A link from a site read in a market you don’t serve sends the wrong visitors and weaker signals.
10. Is it live and correct once placed?
After placement, check the link yourself: it is live, followed (no nofollow), points to the right URL and uses the agreed anchor. Then keep checking. Links get removed, edited and redirected, so monitor them for as long as you are relying on them.
Red flags at a glance
| Red flag | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| High DR, almost no traffic | Authority built by link networks, not by readers |
| Articles on every topic | A site that publishes anything for a fee |
| Dozens of outbound links per post | Link space being sold in bulk |
| Page not in Google’s index | The link will pass nothing |
| Publisher insists on their anchor | Keyword-stuffed anchors you don’t control |
How Autolinks vets links
Every Autolinks placement passes the same ten checks before it goes live, is verified once placed and is monitored daily, with free replacement for 12 months. The full standard, with what gets a site rejected, is on our link quality standards page.