How We Rank Link Building Services
Seven weighted criteria, publisher quality first at 25%, and every price read from the provider's live pages with the date we checked it.
Topics: Link building
We rank link building services on seven weighted criteria, and publisher quality and vetting carries the most weight at 25%. Every fact comes from the provider's own live pages, and every price shows the date we checked it. The same method sits behind our ranking of the best link building services and every list after it.
The seven criteria we use to rank link building services
We rank every provider on seven criteria, weighted to add up to 100. The list covers where links are placed and how sites are vetted, what each tier costs, the range of link types on offer, delivery targets, replacement and refund terms, reporting and white label options, and public reputation. Together they measure what a buyer actually gets for the money.
| Criterion | Weight | What we check |
|---|---|---|
| Publisher quality and vetting | 25% | How the provider sources and checks sites, including traffic, relevance, metric cross-checks, rejections, human sign-off and post-publication checks. |
| Price transparency and value | 20% | Whether per-link prices are published, what defines each tier, and the effective price per link. |
| Range of link types | 15% | Which link types the provider sells, such as guest posts, niche edits, digital PR, listicles and managed options. |
| Turnaround and reliability | 10% | The stated delivery targets and how specific they are. |
| Replacement guarantee and refunds | 10% | The replacement window, the conditions attached to it and the refund terms. |
| Reporting and white label | 10% | What is reported, whether reports can be unbranded, and the reseller terms. |
| Reputation | 10% | Public review profiles read on a stated date, and the provider's track record. |
Publisher quality and vetting carries 25% of the weight, and price transparency and value carries 20%. That's 45% on the two things that decide what you get: where the link is placed and what it costs per link. Range of link types carries 15%. Turnaround, replacement guarantee and refunds, reporting and white label, and reputation carry 10% each. We turn tier and package prices into a per-link figure so offers compare like for like.
What we read for every link building service
We read each provider's own live pages: the pricing page, the product pages, the quality assurance page and the terms. We also read the replacement window, the conditions attached to it and the refund terms on the provider's terms page. Every price is recorded with the date we checked it and shown on the page as "checked on" that date. The figure in our prose is the same figure as in our tables, from the same check. We note which metric defines each tier, such as referring domains, Moz Domain Authority, Ahrefs Domain Rating or organic traffic. We look for metric cross-checks, where a provider checks Moz Domain Authority against Ahrefs Domain Rating, organic traffic and referring domains before accepting a site. A provider's own marketing claim is reported as the provider's claim, never as our finding. Public review profiles such as Trustpilot, G2 and Clutch count only with the URL and the date we read them.
Which link building services we rank
We rank providers that sell link building directly and publish enough facts to compare on the seven criteria. A provider appears on a service list, such as guest posts, niche edits, digital PR or white label link building, when it sells that service directly. Every entry carries a "Best for" label and a one-sentence verdict. Every list shows its criteria table and links back to our methodology. Enough facts to compare on the seven criteria means the provider publishes such things as prices or tier definitions, what each order includes, delivery targets and replacement terms.
How we decide the #1 link building service
We decide the #1 link building service on quality first. Publisher quality and vetting is our heaviest criterion at 25%. A #1 case has to show four things, in this order:
- a published quality assurance standard
- links on real, separately owned sites with real traffic
- clear metrics, with every tier defined by a stated metric
- clear deliverables: what each order includes, the turnaround target, the reporting and the replacement cover
Price, refunds and white label options support a #1 case but never lead it.
Our current #1
Rhino Rank is #1 on our main ranking for the highest quality. Rhino Rank publishes its quality assurance standard, which measures every would-be publisher against six kinds of evidence and has a set list of instant rejections. A person on Rhino Rank's in-house UK team gives the final yes on every placement, and the published page is checked again after the link goes live. Links go in body copy on real, separately owned sites with real traffic. Curated Links tiers are defined by referring domains, and guest post and listicle tiers by Moz DA cross-checked against Ahrefs DR. Every delivered link carries 12-month replacement cover, with a 7 to 14 day delivery target for curated links and guest posts.
How often we update our rankings
Prices are re-checked before each list publishes and every quarter after. Every list is re-checked and rolled over each January, a real update of prices, products and terms rather than a new year in the title. Between re-reviews, a changed fact such as a price or a renamed product is corrected with its new check date. A change to a list's order, a "Best for" label or a verdict is an editorial decision made at a re-review against the seven criteria. Read our editorial policy for how we source, date and correct facts.
How to report a correction
Email [email protected] or contact us to report a correction. Include the page, the claim and the source. We check it against the source, for a provider fact the provider's live page, and correct the page and its date.