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May 19, 2026

Publisher Vetting Checklist: 12 Signals Before You Buy a Placement

The exact signals to check before spending a dollar on a sponsored article or brand mention.

From organic traffic shape to referring-domain quality to editorial transparency, here are the twelve checks every buyer should run before booking a placement.

  1. Organic traffic curve (steady or growing, not a sudden spike).
  2. Referring domain diversity.
  3. Anchor-text profile.
  4. Brand-search volume.
  5. Editorial team transparency.
  6. AI Authority Score above 65 for AI-citation goals.
  7. Indexation rate on Google.
  8. Schema coverage on article templates.
  9. Page experience and Core Web Vitals.
  10. Permanent vs. time-limited placement.
  11. Dofollow policy.
  12. Refund and revision policy.