Buy backlink package rows with a scorecard, not a feeling

Resellers lose money on rows they bought in a hurry. The scorecard slows you down by two minutes, which is cheap against a $90 row that turns out to sit on a site with no readers. Worth it.

Print it, tick it per row, and attach it to the client folder. When a client asks in March why you chose a certain donor in October, you hold the answer. One page. No memory required. The glossary of row terms explains each column used below, from Domain Rating to niche and language.

Scoring works best when the same person does it every time. Consistency counts. Pick one rule for ties and write it at the top of the sheet. If two rows score the same, take the one with the lower price, and spend the difference on a row for another target page rather than a second link to the first, and see the price bands for how to label the result in a quote.

Do the scoring before the basket exists. Once a row sits in the basket, the mind starts defending it. Keep a copy of the sheet for each client in the same folder as the Ahrefs export you used to choose the target page, so the reasoning travels with the account.

A worked example, invented for the page. Row one scores 2 on niche, 1 on traffic, 2 on article quality, 2 on price and 1 on target page, so it totals 8 and goes in. Row two shows Domain Rating 68 and almost no organic traffic, scores 0 on that line, and lands on 5. It stays out, however good the rating looks. Nothing dramatic happens, and that is the point.

After a quarter, read your own sheets. Which score ranges produced live links you were happy to show a client? Which rows made you wince later? Adjust the pass mark, perhaps to seven for a flagship account and six for a small one. A scorecard that never changes is a ritual, not a tool.