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Recipe

A host-editor brief for anchor SEO, in nine lines

Most placements go wrong before the article exists, in an instruction that said "write about marketing and link to us". Here is the brief we would hand over instead.

ArticlesLander editorial team ·

Who will actually read your brief

On this marketplace the article is written automatically. In your own prompt mode, the text you type is the brief.

So write for a careful reader that follows instructions literally and has never seen your site. Say what you mean. Skip the adjectives, and never rely on it guessing the angle from a domain name.

If you upload your own finished article, the brief becomes your own checklist, and the same nine lines still catch most of the mistakes.

The template

Copy it into the instructions field and fill every line.

text
1. Reader: who reads this article and what do they want to do next
2. Topic: one sentence, same subject as the host site's niche
3. Angle: the point the article argues, in plain words
4. Target URL: the one page the link points to
5. Anchor: the exact clickable words, or 'host's choice from the list below'
6. Sentence: what the sentence around the link should say
7. Do not claim: numbers, awards, customers or guarantees we cannot prove
8. Length and tone: for example 900 words, plain and practical
9. One link only, no other promotional links or calls to action

Why each line is there

None of them is decoration. Each one removes a failure we have seen in thin briefs.

Reader and topic

Lines 1 and 2 keep the piece on a subject the host's audience cares about. A brand-first article reads as an ad and gets no clicks.

Angle

Without it you get a generic overview, the same as a hundred others on the web. A stated argument gives your anchor something to attach to.

Anchor and sentence

Lines 5 and 6 are the ones people skip. Spell out both, because the anchor only works when the sentence supports it.

Do not claim

Line 7 protects your reputation. An invented statistic with your link beside it is worse than no placement at all.

Three weak briefs, taken apart

The first says: "Write a blog post about SEO and link to my site." It has no reader, no angle and no anchor. You will get a generic article that could sit on any of 50,000+ hosts, and a sentence that reads like it.

The second is greedy. It packs in forty keywords and a demand for 2,000 words. The writer, human or automatic, tries to use them all, and the result reads as the kind of mass-produced page Google's March 2024 spam policies call scaled content abuse. Fewer instructions that are clear beat many that collide. Simple wins.

The third forgets line 7. It leaves the writer free to invent a statistic, and you then have your link next to a figure you cannot source. Price is not the cost here. Reputation is.

All three fixes cost the same: ten minutes at the keyboard before the order, rather than a long email after it. Budget for $1 to $500 per link only after you have the brief, because a $300 slot with a bad brief wastes more than a $5 slot with a good one.

A fourth failure is quieter: a brief that names the target URL but never says what is on it. The writer then guesses, and your anchor promises a pricing table that the page does not have.

Example, not a real order

Imagine a payroll tool for freelancers. Reader: a designer billing three clients. Topic: late invoices. Target URL: the invoice-reminder guide. Anchor: "invoice reminder schedule". Do not claim: any figure about how fast clients pay. Every line fits in a single screen.

Before you press pay

  • The target URL opens, loads fast and answers the anchor's promise
  • The brief names one link and bans every other promotional link
  • Banned claims are listed, not hinted at
  • You have read the placement tree and know which paragraph should carry the link
  • The basket shows the right target URL on every row