Short answer: read the site before you read its metrics. Twenty minutes of looking at what a site publishes tells you more about topical fit than any score. This guide gives a checklist you can use on a vendor's sample, on a guest post offer or on a site you found yourself.
Step 1: read the recent articles
Open the last twenty articles. Do they share a subject, or do they jump from health to casinos to cars? A genuine niche site has a shape. Its categories, titles and authors point the same way. If you have to squint to find the topic, the site is not a topical match for you, even if one category happens to fit.
Step 2: confirm the pages are indexed
Search Google for the domain with the site: operator. Check that results appear, that titles look normal and that recent posts are there. A site with few or no indexed pages will not give a link much chance to be seen. This check is rough, because the operator does not show everything, but a total absence is a clear warning.
Step 3: look at the outbound links
Open three articles and note where they link. A healthy article links out to sources, tools and related reading, and the links make sense for the subject. Be careful when many articles carry unrelated commercial links, or when every post pushes a different industry. That pattern suggests that the site sells links to anyone.
Step 4: look for a link-selling footprint
Search the site for pages such as write for us, sponsored posts or partner with us, especially ones that list every topic as accepted. One such page is normal. A site with a long list of topics, a price per post and no editorial standards is built for selling links, and relevance on paper means little there.
Step 5: check traffic as an estimate
Third-party tools estimate organic traffic. Treat the numbers as rough. What you want is a stable or rising shape over time and a spread of keywords that match the subject. A sudden cliff, or traffic coming from keywords unrelated to the site topic, deserves a question.
Step 6: ask who is behind it
Is there a real business, publication or community? Are there authors, an about page and contact details? A site that exists for readers will usually say who runs it. A site with no visible owner and an old domain recycled for a new subject deserves more caution.
What a private blog network looks like
This is an educational note, not an accusation. A private blog network is a group of sites controlled by one party to pass links to others. Common traits include recycled domains with an unrelated history, thin posts across many topics, no real authors and heavy outbound linking. Google's spam policies cover link schemes, and sites like these are the kind that policy is aimed at. If a vendor will not show real host examples, or the samples fit the pattern above, step away.
After the link is placed
Check the live page. The link should sit in the body, use the anchor and target you approved and carry the attribute you agreed. Check that the page is indexed after a reasonable wait. Save a record of the date and URL so that you can follow up if it changes, and look again after a few weeks, because pages are sometimes edited, moved or removed without notice.
If you are unsure about a host, ask for a second sample or ask us on WhatsApp. Our own criteria are listed on the link standards page.
A note on limits: search guidelines and tactics change, and links are one signal among many. No result is promised, and outcomes depend on your site, your competition and your category.