What landed
Seventeen of thirty-five domains showed up in Semrush's index, carrying twenty of the thirty-nine links. The best of them were real: a developer publication with an authority score of 40, a business blog at 26, a marketing site at 27. Those are worth what they cost. The weakest indexed placements sat at authority scores of two to five — technically live, practically inert. Indexed is necessary; it is not sufficient.
What didn't
Seven domains never appeared after up to ten months, including one article that was supposed to carry two separate links and both guest posts from the most recent order. Searching the guest-post articles by their exact titles returned nothing — the pages weren't discoverable at all. The vendor marked all of them complete. Under its written twelve-month guarantee, each became a replacement claim; most buyers never file those because they never audit.
The tier pattern
The cheap tier placements landed at a higher rate than the expensive ones. Three of the priciest placements — sold on higher authority and traffic — were among the missing. That inverts the pricing logic: paying more bought a higher chance of nothing. The lesson is not to buy cheap; it is to verify everything and to price the vendor's guarantee into the decision.
The target mistake
My first order pointed eight links at a blog subdomain I later moved. Six of those links indexed — including two of my strongest — and every one pointed at a page returning a 404 until I built redirects. Paid links to URLs you might abandon are the most common self-inflicted waste in link buying. Point them at pages that will exist in five years.
How to use any of this
Buy either product from vendors with written guarantees. Approve URLs before payment. Verify indexation at thirty and ninety days. File claims. Keep a redirect discipline for any target you retire. And weigh the whole exercise against the alternative — a real page that earns a link from a client, a supplier or a local publication costs less and never needs a claim filed.
