Sponsored articles: how to buy them the right way

The sponsored article is the most widely used format in link building. You pay a website to publish an article that contains a link to your page. Bought well, it brings a useful, lasting link. Bought badly, it is wasted budget. Here is how to make the right choices.

What is a sponsored article?

It is an article published on a third-party website, with your agreement on the topic and the link. It can be written by you or by the site's publisher. The article stays online, gets indexed by Google and passes value to the page you are targeting.

Choosing the right site

Before looking at the price, look at the site itself:

• Its topic: it should be close to yours or consistent with it.
• Its traffic and ranking keywords: a site that gets visitors from Google is a site Google likes.
• Its metrics: Trust Flow, Citation Flow, Domain Authority, referring domains. They help you compare, but they do not tell the whole story.
• Its existing articles: if they are useful and well written, that is a good sign. If they cover unrelated topics with links everywhere, move on.

Our article on choosing a site for a backlink covers this check in detail.

What the article should contain

A good sponsored article looks like any other good article on the site:

• a topic that is useful to the site's readers and related to your business;
• a clear title and subheadings;
• original text, never copied from elsewhere;
• your link placed inside the text, where it helps the reader;
• a natural anchor: brand name, site address or a descriptive phrase. See how to vary your anchors.

There is no ideal length. An article should be long enough to cover its topic properly, without padding.

One link or several?

A single link to your site per article remains the cleanest practice: the link stands out and the article stays natural. If you add more links, keep them few and useful. At RankoPress, a sponsored article includes one dofollow link; extra links are possible for a surcharge, up to five in total.

Write it yourself or have it written?

• You supply the article: you keep control of the message. Make sure it is original and fits the site's tone.
• The site writes it: convenient and suited to the readers. Give a short brief: topic, target page, preferred anchor, points to mention.

After publication

1. Check that the article is live and that the link points to the right page.
2. Check that the page can be indexed (no noindex tag, no blocking).
3. Check from time to time that the link is still there. On RankoPress, every link is guaranteed for 3 years: if it disappears, it is put back.