Link Quality Assessment¶
Donor quality evaluation criteria, outreach methodology, PBN (Private Blog Network) usage, drop domain strategies, and link audit procedures.
Outreach¶
Direct contact with sites to buy/negotiate article placement with a link.
Pros: actively pushes queries to TOP; improves whole site through authoritative links; good indexation.
Cons: expensive; time-consuming; hard to control; ~20% chance of being scammed.
Donor Selection Criteria¶
- Active link growth dynamics in Ahrefs
- Niche-relevant or adjacent + media
- DR >= 20, traffic >= 1000, index >= 100 pages
- No spam niches (adult, pharma) in index
- No labeled "sponsored content" / "advertising" posts
- Has queries from your niche in TOP
- Good design (not 90s style)
- Quality inbound links from content
- No spam words in source code
- Quality content, regular new articles
- Not created solely for selling links
Dynamic Sitewide Links¶
One donor places different links to your site from different pages with varying anchors.
Setup Rules¶
- 10-20 links to 1 of your pages (from different donor pages)
- Different anchors per query cluster
- 1 link per anchor/query
- ~30% dilution for Google (URL, brand, toponym)
- No duplicate links on 1 donor page
- Don't link from ALL donor pages
- Max 3-4 "neighbor" sites per donor page
- Donor must be authoritative: portals, news sites, regional sites
PBN (Private Blog Network)¶
Managed network of sites for boosting main domain.
When to Use¶
- Black/gray niches
- High-competition niches
- Point boosts for HF/ultra-HF queries in white niches
- Not profitable in RU market for most niches
Quality Requirements¶
- PBN: DR 5, TF 8, CF/TF > 1.8; web archive preferred
- Money site: DR 15, TF 15, CF/TF > 2
- Glue: similar to PBN, slightly lower if highly niche-specific
Rules¶
- PBN volume <= 10-30% of total link profile (point boost only)
- Links must organically fit the site
- No PBN on young sites without dilution, especially first 6 months
- Don't buy cheap networks from unverified webmasters
Drop Domain Strategies¶
What Drop Domains Are¶
Previously existing but abandoned domains with residual value: age, trust, backlinks, query index.
301 Redirect / Glue¶
Redirect from drop domain to your site. Transfers links, age, trust.
Purpose: boost entire host with link mass; attach domain age; boost promoted page; increase Google trust.
Selection criteria: - Strong domain with links from hard-to-get sources (.gov, niche sites, competitor sites) - Highly niche-relevant (or very authoritative adjacent) - Ideally auction domain (age preserved) - Domain in index and ranking
Testing Protocol Before Applying¶
- Buy domain
- Find competitor in TOP 20-30 for your queries
- Track competitor's positions
- Apply redirect to competitor (same way you'd apply to yourself)
- Monitor 2-4 weeks
- If growth -> redirect to your site
- If no reaction -> don't use
- If competitor drops -> remove redirect, discard domain
Redirect Setup¶
- Install antibot .htaccess on drop domain (block crawlers initially)
- 301: homepage -> homepage; other pages -> homepage OR by redirect map
- Manually redirect pages with strongest links
- Option: redirect topically relevant drop to relevant category
Where to Find¶
- mydrop.io, expired.ru, reg.ru, nic.ru, dropmonitor.ru
- Webarchive parsing via rush-analytics.ru
- Backlink parsing from authoritative sites
- SERP parsing (top 100 for keywords -> extract domains -> check WHOIS)
Drop Domain Evaluation¶
- Verify top 10-15 links still alive (manually)
- Links point directly (no chains)
- Dofollow >= 60%
- Check for Chinese characters (reuse indicator)
- Check for link explosions
- Pharma, gambling, essay, retail -> skip
- Many anchor links -> skip
- Web archive exists -> good; check topic change history
- Drop count: >2 resets -> bad
- Check IKS and query index via Keys.So
Link Audit¶
What to Check¶
- Quantity (links, hosts)
- Spam and SEO anchors (by hosts)
- Link growth dynamics (especially SEO links)
- Spam-filled donors actively trading on exchanges
- Broken sites, Xrumer links, hidden links
- Special attention to new links
Auto-Detection of Link Spam¶
- Export from Ahrefs + GSC: 1 link per domain
- Check in Screaming Frog (with browser emulation):
- Custom Search: regex for your domain links
- Custom Search: spam words (
viagra|payday|porn) - Reject via Google Disavow Links
Alternative: Rush-Analytics PBN section -> "Spam in links"
Donor Quality Checklist¶
Article Links (Yandex + Google)¶
- IKS >= 50 (check: be1.ru/yandex-iks/)
- Google traffic via Ahrefs >= 5,000
- Price <= 1,000-1,500 RUB
- TF >= 5 (Majestic.com)
- Niche: topic, adjacent, newspapers, media, portals
- Indexation > 1,000 pages (
site:operator) - Spam check:
site:site.com "spam words"- inspect results - Sort remaining by traffic or IKS; manually review:
- Site alive, fresh articles posted regularly
- Not all articles commercial
- Ahrefs: outbound links don't exceed indexed pages
- Ahrefs UR of paid articles != 0
Forum Links¶
- Google traffic via Ahrefs >= 100
- Indexation > 1,000 pages
- Spam check (same as article links)
- Forum alive with regular fresh topics
- Paid topics should not dominate
- Find forums:
inurl:forum OR inurl:showthread [keyword]
Link Exchange Platforms¶
Marketplaces for buying eternal (one-time) or rental links.
Rules: - Manual donor selection mandatory - Plan anchors and dynamics based on competitors - No point buying links > 1,500-2,000 RUB - Don't follow exchange recommendations - Don't use "link boosting" (exchange sends bots -> penalty risk)
Platforms (RU): Miralinks, GGL, pr.Sape
Link Analysis Tools¶
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Ahrefs | Full backlink database, anchor analysis, dynamics, metrics |
| MegaIndex | Free RU: SEO vs organic link ratio (>40-50% SEO = warning) |
| LinkPad | RU market backlink analysis |
| Majestic | Trust Flow / Citation Flow metrics |
Gotchas¶
- Always test drop domains on a competitor first - applying untested redirect to your site can tank rankings
- 20% scam rate in outreach - verify donor quality independently before paying
- PBN should never exceed 30% of link profile - use as point boost only
- Chinese characters in web archive = domain was reused - usually low quality
- More than 2 domain drops/resets = toxic - skip these domains
- Link exchange recommendations are unreliable - always select donors manually
See Also¶
- link building strategy - Overall link strategy and anchor composition
- filters and penalties - Minusinsk and Penguin penalties from bad links
- seo analytics reporting - Link tracking in monthly reports
- seo tools workflow - Ahrefs and link analysis tools