Publisher Guidelines

Read this page before you submit a site. Most rejections come from the first section, and most payout problems come from the last one.

Two related pages: How to Get Started covers the application process, and Payment Terms covers commission and payout timing.

What We Accept

Every site is reviewed by hand. We check the metrics, then we open the site and read it. A site is accepted when all of the following are true.

• It has real organic search traffic from Google. Traffic that comes only from direct visits, bots or paid sources is not accepted.
• It is indexed. We check indexed page count and the index status of recent posts.
• It publishes original editorial content on a regular schedule, not only sponsored posts.
• It has its own audience and its own topic. It is not part of a private blog network.
• Outbound links on existing pages look natural. Sitewide footer links, link farms and link exchange pages get a site rejected.
• The design works. Broken layouts, expired themes, parked pages and heavy ad interstitials get rejected.
• You own the site, or you have written permission from the owner to sell placements on it.
• The domain has not been dropped and rebuilt on an old backlink profile.

A rejection is not permanent. We tell you what failed. Fix it, wait 30 days, and resubmit.

Minimum Metrics

These are the floor, not the target. Hitting them does not guarantee acceptance, because the manual review still applies.

Ahrefs is our reference tool. List your own numbers if they come from somewhere else, but expect our figure to be the one buyers see on the listing. Inflated numbers get caught fast and they hurt your seller rating.

Metrics refresh on a rolling basis. If a site drops below the minimum after listing, we pause new orders on it and tell you why. Orders you already accepted still have to be delivered.

Traffic Geography and Language

Buyers filter by country and language, so your traffic has to match what the listing claims.

• At least 50% of organic traffic must come from the country you list the site under.
• Sites listed under English must publish in English. Same rule for every other language on the platform.
• If traffic is spread across many countries with no clear leader, list the site as global instead of picking the biggest slice.
• A site whose traffic comes from one country while the content targets another gets relisted under the correct country, or removed.

Restricted and Prohibited Categories

Restricted, Extra Rules Apply

Linkscope runs niche directories for adult, gambling, cannabis and crypto. These categories are open, but they carry extra rules.

• Tag the site with the restricted niche yourself when you list it. Do not take a restricted order on a site that is not tagged for it.
• You can refuse any restricted order with no penalty. Set your acceptance in the dashboard so buyers see it before ordering.
• Restricted placements must follow the law where your site is hosted and where its audience is. Gambling and pharmaceutical content usually needs a licence. That is your responsibility, not ours.
• Adult placements must not appear on sites aimed at a general or family audience.

Never Accepted, on Any Site

Taking or publishing an order from this list closes your account permanently and voids any pending payout.

Content Rules

• Minimum length is 700 words. Maximum is 2,000 words unless you agree otherwise with the buyer.
• Publish the article as the buyer supplied it. You can fix formatting, add subheadings and adjust the title to match your site style. You cannot rewrite the body or cut sections without asking.
• Every article needs at least one image. Use a licensed or royalty free image. No stock photos carrying another company's logo or watermark.
• The article must be original and must not appear anywhere else, including on your own site under a different URL.
• Search engines must be able to read it. No content behind a login, no text inside an image, no noindex tag.
• Do not add your own affiliate links to a buyer's article.

AI Content

We do not ban AI assisted writing. Plenty of good editorial work now starts in a tool. We do ban unedited output. An article fails review if it reads as bulk generated: invented statistics, sources named but never quoted, filler paragraphs that repeat the heading, claims nobody can check.

If a buyer sends you an article like that, tell us before you publish. Do not publish it and then ask. Sites that fill up with unedited AI content lose their traffic, and once the traffic goes the listing goes with it.

Links, Anchors and Disclosure

• Buyer links are DoFollow by default. A NoFollow or sponsored attribute on a buyer link counts as a failed delivery.
• Up to 2 links to the buyer's domain per article.
• Up to 3 outbound links to external domains in total, including the buyer's.
• The buyer chooses the anchor text. Publish it exactly as given, including capitalisation.
• You can refuse an anchor that would harm your site. Refuse before you accept the order, not after.
• Add relevant internal links to your own site. It helps the article rank and it helps the buyer.

Sponsored and Paid Disclosure

Worth being straight about this one. Google's guidelines say paid links should carry a rel="sponsored" attribute, and advertising rules in the UK, the EU and the US say paid content should be labelled. Most publishers in this market do neither, and buyers on Linkscope pay for DoFollow links.

Where the Link Goes

• Publish on the main domain. Not a subdomain, not a separate blog platform, not a second site you also own.
• The article must be reachable from the site. Link it from the blog index, a category page or the navigation. A page that only exists at a direct URL is not accepted.
• The URL must be indexable. No noindex, no canonical pointing elsewhere, no robots.txt block.
• Put the buyer's link inside the body copy, in a paragraph that gives it context. Not in the author bio, not in a sidebar, not in a footer, not in a boxed advert.
• Do not file the article under a category called sponsored, guest post or partner content, unless the disclosure rules above require it on your site.

How Long the Link Stays Live

Every placement is sold as permanent. In practice we hold you to a guaranteed minimum of 12 months, with permanent intent after that.

• Do not delete, noindex, redirect or 404 the article inside the guarantee period.
• Do not strip the link out and leave the article up.
• Do not switch the link to NoFollow later.
• If the site is redesigned or migrated, keep the URL live or set a 301 to the new URL and tell us.
• If you sell the site, tell us before the transfer. Existing placements move with the domain.

We run automated checks on live placements. A removed link opens a violation automatically.

Link Insertions Work Differently

Link insertions, also called niche edits, have their own rules.

• The target page must already exist and already be indexed. Do not publish a new post and sell it as an insertion.
• The page must be at least 3 months old.
• Insert the link into existing body copy where it fits the topic. You may add one short sentence around it if the copy needs it.
• Do not bolt a paragraph of unrelated text onto the bottom of the page to hold the link.
• Maximum 1 new outbound link per insertion order.
• Do not remove or replace links already on the page to make room.
• Do not change the page URL afterwards. If you have to, set a 301 and tell us.
• Send the buyer the live URL with the link visible in the page source, not a screenshot.

Turnaround and Revisions

• Respond to a new order within 48 hours, accept or decline.
• Publish within 3 business days of accepting a guest post order.
• Publish within 2 business days of accepting a link insertion order.
• The turnaround time on your listing is a promise to the buyer. Set it to a number you can hit in a busy week, not your best case.
• Need longer on a specific order? Message the buyer through the platform before the deadline. Silence counts as a missed delivery.

Orders not delivered by the deadline are cancelled and refunded. Repeated late delivery lowers your position in marketplace search results.

Revisions

• Buyers get one free revision request within 7 days of publication.
• Revisions cover placement, anchor text, formatting, images and broken links. Complete them within 48 hours.
• Swapping the target URL or rewriting the article is a new order, not a revision.
• If a revision request breaks one of these rules, decline it and tell support. Do not publish something that puts your site at risk.

If a Rule Is Broken

Penalties depend on what happened, not on how it was reported.

Payout Holds

While a violation is open, the payout tied to that order is held. Payouts for your other completed orders keep running unless the account itself is suspended. A held payout is released as soon as the issue is fixed. Timing detail sits on the Payment Terms page.

Suspensions and Appeals

A suspended account cannot take new orders. You still have to deliver orders you already accepted, or they get refunded from your balance.

Suspensions are reviewed within 14 days. If you think a penalty was applied wrongly, reply to the notice with the live URL and a screenshot of the page source. We check the live page ourselves before deciding.

Frequently Asked Questions