Domain Vetting Cheat Sheet (Backlinks + Content History)

Backlink profile assessment + content history review before purchase. Print, or check items off as you vet.

Backlink Profile — Green Flags

Referring domains (RD) ≥ 10; diverse IPs
Branded & partial match anchors dominate; money anchors are minority.
Links from relevant niches/topics; seed links from authority or editorial pages.
Most links resolve (200 OK); few 404/soft 404 sources.
Few sitewide/sidebar/footer links; majority are in content.
No obvious link network footprints (same theme, same GA/IDs across many linking sites).
DA/TF in double digits or RD strong with relevant anchors.

Anchor text skewed to exact match money terms (e.g., “best casino bonus”).
Large % of links from low quality directories, comment spam, or foreign/non niche PBNs.
Recent unnatural spike in RD/backlinks with thin or irrelevant sources.
High volume of sitewide/footer links or identical anchor across many domains.
Toxic niches in anchors/history (casino, pills, CBD, adult, loans, hacked content).
Majority of links now 404/redirected; lots of soft 404s or blocked pages.
Many links from deindexed sites or obvious link farms.

Keep

DA ≥ 10 or TF ≥ 10 & RD ≥ 10; topical anchors look sane.

Maybe

DA/TF < 10 but RD ≥ 20 and name is highly relevant; inspect history/anchors.

Kill

DA/TF < 5 or RD < 5, spammy anchors, or off topic link graph.

Tip: Stats help you triage—but the decision comes from content history + anchors.

Stats screen (DA/TF/RD) → mark keep / maybe / kill.
Anchor scan: top 20 anchors and top 20 RD sources for relevance/red flags.
Wayback timeline: Multiple snapshots across years; check for niche consistency & spam.
Spot check a few linking pages (200 OK, indexed, not deindexed farms).
Name sanity check: brandable/generic; avoid spammy strings and heavy hyphens.

Use this space to record anything that stood out (good or bad), pricing/auction info, and your final call.

Prepared for Episode 3 of the DHG series • Generated 2025-11-20 • This sheet is for educational triage only.