Sellers usually offer three kinds of placement. The names are used loosely, so before you pay, ask exactly what you are getting: which page, how many other links will be on it, whether the link will carry a rel attribute, and how long it stays live.
Whatever the type, the same rule from Google applies. Links bought to pass ranking credit are link spam under Google’s spam policies unless they are qualified with rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow". Our guide to Google’s link policies explains what that means in practice. This guide compares the placements on value and risk, assuming you understand that baseline.
Guest post
What it is: a new article, written by you or the seller, published on the site with your link inside.
What you actually get: a brand-new page. It starts with no backlinks and no search traffic of its own. Whatever the domain’s DA, DR and traffic, your page has to earn its own visibility, and many guest posts never get any. Its value comes from the site’s internal linking to it, its relevance, and whether real readers ever see it.
Fits best when:
- the site has a real, relevant audience and features new posts where readers will see them;
- you can write something genuinely useful to that audience, not a thin article built around an anchor;
- you need a placement in a specific context that no existing page covers.
Risks: Google’s spam policies name links with optimized anchor text in guest posts as an example of link spam. Its site reputation policy covers third-party content published mainly to borrow a host site’s ranking signals. Sites that publish guest posts on any topic for anyone are exactly what both policies describe.
Link insertion
What it is: your link added to an article that already exists on the site, sometimes called a niche edit.
What you actually get: a link on a page that may already rank, have backlinks and get traffic. That is the main advantage over a guest post, but only if the specific page really has those things. A link inserted into an old page nobody visits is worth little, whatever the domain metrics say.
Fits best when:
- the target page already ranks and gets search traffic (check it, not just the domain);
- your link genuinely fits the paragraph, as a source, tool or example a reader would want;
- the page is on your topic, so the link makes editorial sense.
Risks: insertions into old articles are easy to spot when the link doesn’t fit the text, and the site owner can remove the link as easily as they added it. Ask how long the link is guaranteed to stay, and check it periodically.
Shared link
What it is: sellers use this term inconsistently. Most often it means a placement in an article that carries links for several buyers at once, such as a “best tools” roundup, a resources list or a sponsored post with several clients’ links. Some sellers use it for a link that sits on many pages or sitewide. Ask which one you are buying.
What you actually get: a cheaper placement whose value is split among everyone else linked from the same page, in a context you don’t control. Your link sits next to links you haven’t chosen, possibly for unrelated or low-quality sites.
Fits best when:
- the page is a genuine, well-maintained resource in your niche with real traffic;
- the other links on it are relevant and reputable;
- you want visibility or referral clicks from that page more than ranking impact.
Risks: pages that list many unrelated commercial links are a classic sign of link selling, for readers and for search engines. Sitewide or template links across many pages are named in Google’s link spam examples.
Side by side
| Guest post | Link insertion | Shared link | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Page your link sits on | New page, no links or traffic yet | Existing page, which may already rank | Existing or new page, shared with other buyers |
| Relevance control | High: you shape the article | Medium: depends on the page | Low: you don’t choose the neighbours |
| Main value | Context and audience, if the site has readers | The page’s existing traffic and links | Visibility on a genuine resource page |
| Main risk | Thin “made for links” content | Link doesn’t fit, or is removed later | Bad neighbourhood, diluted value |
| Check before paying | The site’s audience and how new posts are surfaced | The specific page’s traffic and backlinks | Every other link on the page |
How we judge the fit for each site
On every analysis page, the link-type table shows two things. Available says whether we have confirmed the site offers that placement; if not, it says “not confirmed”. Fit is our judgment from that site’s data. For example, a site whose traffic is spread across many existing articles favours link insertion, while a site with an engaged audience but few ranking pages favours a well-written guest post.
Questions about this guide
Is a link insertion better than a guest post?
Only when the existing page has something to pass on: search traffic, backlinks of its own and a topic close to yours. On a page with none of those, a well-written guest post on a site with real readers usually gives you more.
How many other links on a page are too many?
There is no fixed limit. What matters is whether the other links are relevant and chosen by an editor. A page listing dozens of unrelated businesses, with casino or loan sites among them, exists to sell links.
Do guest posts still work after Google’s site reputation update?
Yes, when the post is a real contribution. The policy rewritten in August 2026 is aimed at content placed on a strong site mainly to ride its ranking signals with little involvement from its editors. It does not forbid hosting outside writers, so choose sites whose editors review and shape what they publish.