A website can have a strong DR, a clean design, and hundreds of indexed pages and still not be a good fit for your campaign. Before adding a site to your outreach list, look at its relevance, content, traffic, and backlink profile.
Open the site’s recent articles and check where its traffic comes from. Look at the topics it publishes, the websites it links to, and the domains linking back to it. These details matter more than DR or DA when you’re deciding whether to contact a site.
A backlink from a low-quality website will not benefit your SEO. Google considers links created primarily to manipulate search rankings to be link spam, including low-quality directory or bookmark links and low-value content created mainly for linking purposes.
Here are the things to check before you decide to get a backlink from a website.
Check the Website’s Organic Traffic
Start with the site’s organic traffic.
Check its organic traffic trend, not just the current number. A site showing 5,000 monthly visits today may have had 50,000 a year ago, or most of that traffic may come from a single page. See how the traffic has changed over time and which pages bring in the most visitors.
Check:
- Organic traffic over time
- Ranking keywords
- Organic traffic by page
- Organic traffic by country
- Traffic distribution across the site
- Major increases or drops
The source of the traffic matters too. A website can have decent traffic while ranking for keywords that are unrelated to your niche.
Organic traffic is also one of the metrics link builders commonly use when assessing backlink quality. A survey found that 67% of SEOs considered organic traffic the most important metric for backlink quality, slightly ahead of domain rating.
That doesn’t mean a website needs a specific traffic number. A smaller niche relevant website can still be a good prospect if it has real traffic and relevant content.
Check What the Website Covers
Open the homepage and check the main categories. Then open 10 or 15 recent articles.
Check whether the articles are related to the site’s main topic. A technology website can cover SaaS, cybersecurity, software, AI, and business technology. You should be more cautious when the same site publishes articles about unrelated subjects such as casinos, payday loans, plumbing, fashion, CBD, pets, and car insurance.
A website publishing unrelated topics does not automatically mean it is a PBN or link farm. But if you see articles covering many unrelated industries, check the site more carefully before getting a backlink.
Check Recent Articles
Don’t rely on the homepage alone when reviewing a website.
Open recent articles from different categories and look at how they are written.
Check:
- Is the content useful?
- Are the topics relevant to the site’s audience?
- Are articles properly edited?
- Do authors provide useful information?
- Are the articles different from each other?
- Does the site maintain the same editorial standard across its categories?
Pay attention to articles that are clearly written to include a commercial link.
A page can look good but still be written only for the backlink. Look at the actual information in the article. Is it useful? Does it cover the topic properly? Does it fit with the other articles on the site?
A website can publish articles from outside writers and still be a good site. The main thing to check is whether those articles fit the website or are published mainly for links.
Google also says that third-party content is not automatically a problem. The problem is when third-party content is published mainly to get links or manipulate search rankings.
Look at the Website’s Outbound Links
Open recent articles and review the external links.
Look for:
- Links to unrelated niches
- Large numbers of commercial links
- Repeated links to the same domains
- Keyword-heavy anchor text
- Links that don’t add useful context
- Several commercial links in short articles
- Links that are not inserted naturally
One external link isn’t enough to decide whether a website is good.
Check the external links in recent articles.
For example, a business website may link to research papers, government websites, company resources, and other websites related to the topic. That’s different from a website where almost every article has several links to unrelated commercial websites.
Also check whether the linked websites are relevant to the article and whether they are genuine websites with useful content.
Check the Site’s Publishing Frequency
Review the articles published on the website over the last few months.
Be careful when a website suddenly starts publishing large numbers of articles on unrelated commercial topics.
You might see:
- Five healthcare articles
- Ten casino articles
- Several cryptocurrency articles
- Insurance articles
- Home improvement articles
- Several “best software” articles
It is more concerning when these articles are thin, heavily commercial, and packed with external links.
Also check if most of the articles follow the same template. Repeated introductions, the same article structure, similar anchor placement, and articles with almost the same content can be a sign that the site is publishing articles mainly for links.
Google also warns about articles created mainly to get links, keyword-rich anchor text, and similar articles published on many different websites.
Check for PBN Websites
Private Blog Networks, or PBNs, are networks of websites created and controlled by one owner to build links.
A PBN can look like a normal website at first. Check whether other websites share the same IP address, hosting, design, authors, or link patterns.
Check the site for these PBN factors:
- Similar designs across multiple websites
- Similar navigation or page structures
- Similar author profiles
- Similar publishing patterns
- Unrelated sites linking to one another
- Expired domains rebuilt around new topics
- Thin articles published mainly to build links
- Large numbers of commercial pages
- Very little organic search traffic
- Multiple sites that appear to be operated as one network
No single factor proves that a website is a PBN. Check several of these factors together before deciding that the sites may be part of the same network.
Watch for Link Farms
A link farm is different from a normal website with many external links.
The basic problem is that the websites or pages are created mainly to build links rather than provide useful information.
Common factors include:
- Pages containing large numbers of unrelated links
- Very little useful content besides the links
- Websites linking heavily to one another
- Unrelated niches covered on the same website
- Multiple pages created mainly to add links
- A large number of short, low-quality articles
- Commercial links added without much context
If most of the website’s content is created mainly to add links to other sites, avoid it for link building.
Don’t Treat a “Write for Us” Page as a Quality Signal
A “Write for Us” page tells you whether a website accepts articles from guest writers. It doesn’t tell you whether the website is good quality.
Once you find the page, check the articles the website has published from guest writers.
Check:
- What types of articles does the site publish?
- Who writes them?
- How often are guest articles published?
- Are contributors relevant to the site’s audience?
- Are articles edited?
- Do guest articles look different from the site’s normal editorial content?
- Are most guest articles commercial?
- Are there links in nearly every article?
A genuine website can accept expert contributions and still maintain strong editorial standards.
The problem starts when most of the website’s content is guest posts or sponsored posts created mainly for links.
That distinction is important. Google does not say that third-party articles or guest contributions are automatically against its policies. The problem is when this content is published mainly to manipulate search rankings.
Review the Website’s Backlink Profile
Now look at the links pointing to the website.
Tools such as Ahrefs, Semrush, or Moz can help you see referring domains, anchor text, and other backlink data.
Look for:
- Large numbers of unrelated referring domains
- Links from PBN websites
- Sitewide backlinks
- Suspicious directory links
- Foreign-language domains unrelated to the website’s niche
- Repeated commercial anchor text
- Unusual spikes in referring domains
- Links from other low-quality websites
A strong backlink profile doesn’t guarantee that the site is a good prospect, and a weak profile doesn’t automatically make it useless.
Use the backlink data to find anything that needs a closer look.
Don’t Choose a Website Because of DR Alone
DR and DA can help you choose websites. They don’t tell you everything about a website.
A high DR doesn’t tell you:
- Whether the website is relevant
- Whether its traffic is genuine
- Whether its content is useful
- Whether it publishes guest posts too frequently
- Whether it links to unrelated commercial sites
- Whether it is a PBN website
- Whether its audience matches your client’s niche
The same applies to traffic.
A website with 100,000 organic traffic isn’t automatically a good prospect if the traffic isn’t related to your client’s niche.
Use metrics to shortlist websites. Use manual review to make the final decision.
Check the Website’s History
A website may look completely different from what it was a few years ago.
Check the site’s history when possible.
Look for changes such as:
- A completely different niche
- A major redesign
- A change from a real business to a general blog
- Long periods with no content
- Sudden publishing activity after a long period without new content
- A major change in the type of articles being published
For example, a domain that spent years covering local business news and suddenly becomes a general “best products” website with hundreds of commercial articles should make you cautious.
History won’t give you a final answer by itself. Compare the old site with its current content, traffic, and backlink profile.
Check the Page Where Your Link Will Be Added
Don’t stop at the domain.
Review the actual page where your link will be added.
Check:
- Is the page relevant to the target page?
- Is the link relevant to the content around it?
- Would the link help the reader?
- Is the anchor text natural?
- Are there already many external links on the page?
- Is the page part of the site’s normal navigation and content structure?
- Does the article cover a topic the site normally publishes?
This is particularly important for guest contributions.
A good domain can still have pages that are not relevant to your link.
Check the Anchor Text
Check the anchor text used by websites that link to the site.
Repeated exact-match commercial anchors can be a warning sign, especially when the same keyword is used as the anchor across many articles.
For example, if many websites use the same commercial keyword as the anchor, it can make the backlink profile look unnatural. Natural anchor text can include brand names, URLs, page titles, and relevant words.
Google lists keyword-rich links in articles, guest posts, and press releases as examples of link spam when they are used to manipulate rankings.
You don’t need to follow a specific anchor-text ratio. There is no universal percentage that makes a backlink profile safe.
Check whether the anchor text is relevant to the page it links to.
Review a Website in Five Minutes
You don’t need an hour for every prospect.
For an initial review, open the website and check:
1. Homepage
What topics does the website cover?
2. Recent articles
Are they useful, relevant, and properly edited?
3. Organic visibility
Does the site get organic search traffic?
4. External links
Where does it link, and how frequently?
5. Backlinks
Do the referring domains look relevant and legitimate?
6. Publishing pattern
Does the site publish a consistent type of content?
7. Website history
Has the site consistently covered the same topic?
8. PBN or link farm
Does the website look like a PBN or link farm?
If the website fails several of these checks, remove it from your outreach list.
Red Flags to Check
One red flag doesn’t automatically disqualify a website. If you find several, check the site’s traffic, content, outbound links, and backlinks before contacting the site.
Check for:
- Little or no organic search traffic
- A website covering unrelated topics
- Thin or repetitive articles
- Too many outbound links
- Large numbers of commercial articles
- Repeated keyword-rich anchors
- Similar websites with similar designs
- Websites that appear to be PBNs
- Websites created mainly to sell or pass links
- Sudden changes in the site’s main topic
- A large amount of guest content
- Articles published mainly to build links
- Backlinks from the same group of websites
- Content that doesn’t match the site’s normal editorial standard
What to Look for in a Link-Building Prospect
A good prospect doesn’t need a specific DR or traffic number.
Look for a website that has useful content and covers topics related to your client’s niche.
Check whether the website has real organic traffic, regular content, and a natural backlink profile.
The website should be useful even without your link.
Ask yourself:
Would you still consider this a good website if you couldn’t get a backlink from it?
If yes, the website is worth considering for your outreach list.
Website Quality Checklist
| What to Check | What You Want to See |
| Topic | A clear topic |
| Organic traffic | Real organic search traffic |
| Content | Useful, original, well-edited articles |
| Relevance | Topics related to your client’s niche |
| Outbound links | Relevant links in useful content |
| Publishing pattern | Consistent topics and editorial standards |
| Backlinks | Natural referring domains |
| Guest content | Guest articles that fit the site’s topics |
| Website history | A consistent topic and normal publishing history |
| PBN | Not a PBN website |
| Link-farm signals | No pages created mainly to build links |
| Target page | A relevant page for the link |
Final Thoughts
Choosing the wrong websites can lead to poor backlinks and wasted time.
A prospect list may contain hundreds of websites, but DR, DA, and traffic alone are not enough to choose the right ones.
Check the website. Read its content. Check its traffic and rankings. Review its outbound links and backlinks. Check its publishing history. Then check whether the website is a PBN or link farm, and whether articles are being published mainly to build links.
Google says that links created mainly to manipulate rankings are considered link spam, and unnatural links may not help a website rank higher.
A good link-building prospect doesn’t need to be perfect. It needs to be relevant, useful, and trustworthy.
Don’t choose a website based on DR alone.
FAQs
How do I know if a website is good for link building?
Review its topic, organic traffic, content, outbound links, backlinks, publishing history, and website history. Also check whether it is a PBN, link farm, or a site publishing articles mainly to build links.
Is high DR enough when choosing a website?
No. DR is useful, but it doesn’t tell you whether the website has relevant content, real organic traffic, or a natural backlink profile.
Are websites with a Write for Us page bad for link building?
No. A Write for Us page isn’t enough to select a website. Check the site’s guest articles, content quality, publishing pattern, and outbound links.
How can I identify a PBN?
Check for the same website design, authors appearing across multiple websites, the same IP address, unrelated topics, and websites linking to each other. If several of these appear together, the websites may be part of a PBN.
What is a link farm?
A link farm is a group of pages or websites created mainly to build links. These sites often have thin content, many unrelated links, and multiple websites linking to each other.
Should I reject a website with low traffic?
Not automatically. Check the website’s topic, content, and traffic before rejecting it. A small website with relevant content and real organic traffic can still be a good prospect.
Can a website have a high DR and still be low quality?
Yes. A high third-party metric doesn’t mean the website has good content, relevant traffic, or a natural backlink profile. Check the website before selecting it.