Homepage vs inner-page backlinks: point at the URL that should rank

Point at the homepage when that URL is the one that should rank: a new domain, a company-name query, or a site that truly has one commercial page. Brand SERPs and “what is this company” intent live on home. A homepage link is not a default. It is a choice you make when the destination is actually the homepage.

New sites sometimes need early brand graph before the category IA exists. That is a short window. The moment you ship a money page, start splitting. Leaving every guest post on “https://example.com/” because the brief was lazy is how category URLs starve. We will ask which URL should rank. “The site” is not an answer.

English guest posts are $125 (DR20+), $175 (DR30+), $250 (DR40+, most popular), $275 (DR50+), and $450 (DR70+). The fee does not change because the target is home. You are still buying a host-shaped article and a contextual href. Waste happens when that href hits the wrong path, not when the DR band is “too low for homepage.”

Link to a money or category URL when that page is the SERP you care about: a product, a service, a city landing, a comparison. Most commercial intent is not the homepage. The referring sentence should point at the page that answers the query.

Inner-page targets also make the article easier to write. A contributor piece can cite a specific resource instead of waving at a brand. Editors prefer that. Readers prefer that. The report should list the target URL you approved, not a surprise homepage redirect. If your money page 302s to home, fix the site before we pitch.

Local businesses should almost never spend a city article on a nationwide homepage. That split is local SEO backlinks plus the citation lecture on citations vs backlinks. International money pages need the in-language URL, not the global English home. Language of the destination first. Then the host.

The typical mistake is pointing every placement at home because it “spreads authority.” You then wonder why the category still cannot compete. Homepage links help the brand URL. They do not automatically lift every inner page. Internal linking is your job. Bought homepage hrefs are a poor substitute for a crawlable IA.

The second mistake is a homepage that is a thin brochure while the ranking battle is three clicks down. Links on thin content waste money — see link building vs content marketing. A beautiful host pointing at an empty home is still a wasted fee. Ship the inner page. Then buy the inner-page link.

The third mistake is hard-niche homepages. A casino lobby, an adult storefront, a CBD shop, a token site — those destinations have their own desks. iGaming from $180. Adult, CBD, and crypto Enquire Now. Stuffing a homepage lobby URL into English GP $125 is how you land on a farm. The path is not a loophole. The vertical still applies.

List the destinations that should rank, then assign a mechanic and a share. Brand queries get some homepage hrefs. Money and category URLs get the rest — usually most of the budget. Write that split in the brief. “Just get us links” is how every row defaults to home because it is the shortest URL in the form.

A typical mixed month might be a handful of homepage placements for the brand graph and a larger set of inner-page guest posts for the commercial SERPs. Niche edits from $99 fit when an already-indexed article can cite a specific inner URL. Digital PR mentions often land on home by the journalist’s choice. Log that as coverage, not as your inner-page plan.

Agencies should keep the split visible on the white-label PDF. The monthly $1,500 desk (SKU 2R60XR) is scoped work, not a pile of homepage rows to look busy. Replacements use a comparable host and the same target class. We will not “make up” a dropped category link with a homepage URL you did not approve.

Write the split as a list: homepage — N placements for brand queries; category A — N; city URL — N. That is a brief. “Authority to the root and it will trickle” is not a brief. We will push back on a homepage-only sheet when the SERPs you named are inner pages. Pushback is cheaper than a wasted quarter.

No. DR is how we price the public card. It is not a rule that DR70 must point at home. A $450 DR70+ post is wasted on homepage if the SERP you care about is a category. Match host relevance to the destination, not ego to the root.

A DR20+ post at $125 can be the right spend on a new inner URL that needs its first few referring domains. Ahrefs DR is not Google’s ranking factor. Moz Domain Authority is a third-party score we do not sell against. We still QC organic traffic and outbound profile in DataForSEO before a host is approved. A high-DR site that will only take a homepage advertorial is a different product — disclose it, quote it, do not hide it inside the grid.

Followed versus sponsored is the publisher’s mark, not a reason to change the target URL. We report the attribute. We do not move the href to home to “make the sponsored link safer.” The destination is a strategy choice. The attribute is HTML. Keep them separate.

Yes, if the brief lists each target URL. One guest post, one destination. Do not ask us to drop three hrefs into one article. Editors reject link lists. If you need three URLs supported, you need three placements — or a page of yours that already internally links.

Typical TAT remains about two weeks, 20-day maximum on standard DR work, replacement if the live link drops. Indexing is submitted on the host URL. Your inner page still has to be indexable. A noindexed money page with a bought link is another way to waste the fee. Check robots and canonicals before you pay.

If you already know the inner URL and want a packaged English guest post, DR40+ at $250 is the band most buyers pick. Order it or quote a mix that includes homepage brand rows. Dual path stays open. Send the destination list. We will not invent a “homepage authority package” SKU.

Founded 2022. 10,000+ backlinks placed. Niche edits from $99 when the inner page already has a relevant indexed article waiting for an insert. iGaming from $180 when the destination is gambling. Adult, CBD, and crypto Enquire Now. The path in the href still has to be the URL that should rank. Homepage is a choice, not a default. Write the destination list on the brief before we pitch a single host. We will not invent a homepage-authority SKU on this desk.