Link insertion, guest post or a ranked spot: which one to buy, and when
Yorker Media Editorial · 26 October 2026 · 4 min read
When you buy visibility on someone else's site, you are usually choosing between three things: a sentence with your link inside an existing article, an article of your own, or a numbered place in a ranked list. They are often sold side by side, and they do quite different jobs.
The three options at a glance
| Link in an article | Guest post | Ranked place (#1 to #5) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you get | One natural sentence with a do-follow link, inside an article that already has readers | Your own article, edited to the site's standards, with a link to you | Your product as a numbered entry in a "best X" list, with a short write-up |
| Best for | SEO authority and steady referral traffic | Explaining something complex in your own words; topical authority | Buyers who are choosing right now; AI assistants that read ranked lists |
| Typical price on Yorker Media | $149/month, $1,499/year or $3,699 once | $149/month or $1,499/year | #1 from $149/month; #5 from $59/month; yearly and one-time available |
| Live in | Within 2 business days | After editing, usually within a week | Within 2 business days |
Link in an article
A link inside an article that already ranks and already has readers is the quickest way to borrow that page's standing. It works best when the article is closely related to what you sell and the sentence is genuinely useful to the reader.
Choose it when you want referral traffic from a specific, well-read guide, or you want a relevant do-follow link from a site in your niche.
Watch for articles with no real readers, and anchors that read like an advert. One natural sentence beats a paragraph of keywords; editors who care about their readers will insist on it anyway.
Guest post
A guest post gives you the most room: your argument, your examples, your data. It is the right choice when your product needs explaining, or when you want to be associated with a topic rather than a single keyword.
Choose it when you have something genuinely useful to say: a benchmark, a how-to, a comparison readers would search for. Expect the site's editors to edit it; on a good site that is a feature, not a problem.
Watch for thin, promotional drafts. They take longer to approve, and readers ignore them. A guest post on a site we run is reviewed by our editors, and we prefer a longer commitment (a year is usual), because publishing a new article is real work on both sides; a one-month start is possible.
Ranked place
A numbered place in a "best X" list puts you in front of readers at the moment they are choosing. It is also the page type that AI assistants cite most when they recommend software (summary of six 2026 studies), so a high place on an independent list feeds both the human shortlist and the AI one.
Choose it when buyers in your category compare tools before they buy, which is most B2B software.
Watch for lists that nobody reads or that are years out of date. Check the site's monthly readers and whether the list covers the products you actually compete with.
How to choose
- You need sign-ups this quarter: ranked places on the two or three lists closest to what you sell, at #1 or #2.
- You want AI assistants to mention you: ranked places on several independent sites, plus a guest post that explains your category well.
- You want SEO authority in a niche: links inside the articles that already rank for your topics.
- You have a story or data to share: a guest post.
Most brands that do this well combine them: a few ranked places for buyers who are choosing, a few links for authority, and one strong guest post a quarter.
Buying them in one place
On the Yorker Media marketplace you can search every ranked list and every well-read article on 35 independent sites, add any mix of places and links to one cart, choose monthly, yearly or once, and pay for all of it in one checkout. Guest posts are arranged with our editors; tell us what you have in mind.
Keep reading
Why ChatGPT recommends some brands and not others: the lists AI reads
AI assistants build their software recommendations from independent best-of lists and third-party pages far more than from your own site. Here is what the 2026 research shows, and a five-step plan to get into the lists they read.
What a #1 spot on a 'best software' list costs in 2026, and how to tell if it pays
Real prices for #1 to #5 on independent best-of lists, monthly, yearly and once, and a simple way to work out whether a placement will pay for itself before you buy it.