How we review
This page explains the two kinds of review on the site, the editor's rating, the test protocol and the test score.
Two kinds of review
Desk review. Written from the vendor's public pages, its terms and third-party ratings, with the date we checked. A desk review has no test score, because we have not bought anything. It may carry an editor's rating.
Order-tested review. Written after real orders, placed without telling the vendor who we are. Only these carry a score out of 100.
The editor's rating
Some reviews show an editor's rating out of 10. It is the editor's own judgement of the vendor, based on public information and professional experience. It is an opinion, it is labelled as one wherever it appears, and it is not the result of test orders. When a vendor is order-tested, its test score out of 100 is shown alongside.
The editor weighs five things when setting it:
- how openly the vendor publishes its prices
- the guarantee or terms it commits to in writing
- ratings on independent review platforms, and how many reviews stand behind them
- the size and coverage of what it offers
- track record, and how much the company discloses about itself
Editor's picks are vendors the editor recommends from professional experience, and their rating reflects that.
The test protocol for link vendors
- We place five orders across different niches, languages and price points, using the same briefs for every vendor in a category.
- We record what was ordered and what was delivered: the site, its traffic, the placement and the price.
- We check each link at 14, 30, 60, 90 and 180 days for indexation, changes and removal.
- We re-test on a schedule, and the review shows the date of the latest test.
The test score
| Criterion | Points | What we measure |
|---|---|---|
| Publisher quality | 25 | Real organic traffic, topical fit and outbound link patterns of the sites delivered |
| Indexation and survival | 15 | Share of placements indexed, and still live at 180 days |
| Price | 15 | What we paid against the direct publisher price and market medians |
| Delivered vs promised | 10 | Whether the site, metrics and placement matched the order |
| Transparency | 10 | Site shown before purchase, clear terms, honest metrics |
| Content | 8 | Quality of any article the vendor wrote |
| Niche acceptance | 7 | Clear, accurate rules on gambling, adult, CBD and crypto |
| Turnaround | 5 | Days from order to live link |
| Support | 5 | Speed and usefulness of replies, including on problems |
Risk is shown separately from the score, on the R1 to R5 scale used across the site. A vendor can deliver exactly what it sells and still sell a risky method. On a review, the risk rating is the editor's judgement of that vendor. It starts from the rating of the tactic the vendor sells, which is R3 for paid placements, and can move one step for how the vendor works.
Money and independence
Some vendor links are affiliate links. Every review states whether we have a commercial relationship with the vendor. Vendors cannot pay for a review, a rating or a test score. Editor's picks and their order are an editorial choice, stated above every list. See the affiliate disclosure.
Corrections
Vendors can ask us to correct a factual error. We check the claim against a public source and update the page with a new date.