Insights, Tutorials & Best Practices

Checklists

Backlink donor evaluation checklist: what to check before you pay

Browser-saved 22-item checklist for evaluating a backlink donor before you buy. DR/DA alone has burned through the operator consensus; this is the 2026 evaluation that survives SpamBrain.

Andrei

May 26, 2026 • 18 min

Checklists

Anchor text portfolio health checklist (what 2026 data actually shows)

Browser-saved 21-item checklist on anchor text portfolio health in 2026 — built on Ahrefs and Joy Hawkins' published data, not the <5% exact-match folk rule from 2018.

Andrei

May 26, 2026 • 17 min

Checklists

The disavow file checklist: when to use it (and when most sites shouldn't)

Browser-saved 22-item checklist on the Google disavow tool in 2026 — honest about when most sites don't need it, specific about the three cases when they do, and step-by-step on submitting it correctly.

Andrei

May 26, 2026 • 17 min

Checklists

Robots.txt for AI crawlers: the complete config checklist (2026)

A tier-coded, browser-saved 22-item checklist for configuring robots.txt for GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended, and CCBot — without accidentally taking yourself out of Google search.

Andrei

May 26, 2026 • 13 min

Technical SEO

Should you block GPTBot, ClaudeBot, and Google-Extended in robots.txt?

The honest decision guide on whether to block GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended, and CCBot — including the part most guides get wrong about Google-Extended.

Andrei

May 26, 2026 • 13 min

Link Building

Why I don't charge for the size of your backlink portfolio

Every backlink monitor I looked at charges by the number of links in your account. Add link 1,001, get bumped to a pricier tier — even for links you never check. I went the other way: you pay for checks performed, not links stored. Here's the reasoning, a worked month of token math, the real comparison against Linkwatcher and Linkody, and where a flat subscription still wins.

Andrei

May 20, 2026 • 9 min

Technical SEO

Why backlink monitors report false "link lost" alerts

Your monitor says a link is gone, you open the page, and it's sitting right there. That's a false positive, and on modern JavaScript-rendered sites it's common. Here's why backlink monitors cry "lost" when the link is fine, how to tell a real removal from a phantom one, and how to stop chasing ghosts.

Andrei

May 20, 2026 • 10 min

SEO Strategies

GEO vs SEO: why your content strategy needs both in 2026

Your rankings stayed the same but traffic dropped 34%. The culprit? AI Overviews answering queries before users click. Learn what GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is, how it differs from SEO, and which tactics actually work — backed by Princeton research data.

Andrei

Dec 10, 2025 • 8 min

Link Building

How to manage your backlinks (without losing your mind or money)

You're losing link equity right now. 66.5% of backlinks built over the last nine years have disappeared — roughly 7% per year. This guide covers the complete backlink management process: auditing, monitoring, toxic link identification, and recovery outreach. Based on real experience managing 2M+ links across 340 projects. Includes a case study with actual numbers (8 out of 23 recovered — not perfect, but enough to matter).

Andrei

Dec 10, 2025 • 11 min