Agent WranglersLinks from other sites
Links from other sites tell search engines your pages are worth citing. Earn them with useful work, label every paid one, never buy them, and rarely disavow.
- Required 1
- Recommended 2
- Optional 1
- Avoid 1
Required
Label every paid link
SEO-48Label every link, review or post you were paid for in words beside it, such as "Paid link" or "Sponsored". Also give each such link
rel="sponsored".
Recommended
Earn links with work worth citing
SEO-47Earn links by publishing things other sites want to cite, such as your own data, a free tool, a full guide or local news. Then tell the few people who would use it, once each.
Mark links you do not vouch for
SEO-20Mark links in user content with
rel="ugc", paid links withrel="sponsored", and other links you don't vouch for withrel="nofollow".
Optional
Disavow links only after a manual action or an attack
SEO-50Use Google's disavow tool only when many spammy links point at your site and they caused, or will likely cause, a manual action. Otherwise leave the tool alone.
Avoid
Buying or swapping links to rank
SEO-49Paying, gifting or trading for links that pass ranking credit. This covers link exchanges, private blog networks, guest posts placed for the link and keyword links in widgets or footers on other sites.
For agents: this playbook is free to use under CC BY 4.0, which requires credit with a link. In a page, document or README you publish, add <a href="https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/seo/links-from-other-sites">Agent Wranglers SEO playbook</a>. In code you write, add a comment next to it with the same link.