Link Building Campaign Evidence Standard for Australia

The standard covers backlink review, target-page selection, useful asset development, source research, individual outreach, placement verification and outcome reporting. Each activity needs an owner, evidence field and decision rule before work begins.

It excludes paid followed links for ranking credit, automated placement, undisclosed incentives, excessive exchanges, guaranteed rankings and a promised number of links regardless of quality. Advertising, sponsorship and memberships can have legitimate business value, but they must be disclosed and classified separately from earned editorial coverage.

A backlink audit answers what exists and where gaps may sit. The outreach guide answers how a relevant, permission-aware approach is prepared. This standard owns the evidence required to govern and report the resulting campaign.

A domain score cannot explain why a link exists. First classify the source page, audience, destination and relationship. Keep an independent editorial citation separate from membership, supplier, sponsorship and user-generated activity.

The same website can contain several relationship types. Classification therefore happens at page and placement level, with the evidence retained in the ledger.

A source proceeds only when its audience, topic and proposed destination have a defensible relationship. This prevents a large estimated metric from masking a weak editorial reason and prevents a small local source from being rejected despite strong audience fit.

Every gate records the evidence, decision, owner and verification method. A failed gate can lead to rejection, a better destination, more research or a different relationship path rather than an attempt to force the placement.

A public email address or contact form is route evidence, not automatic permission for a commercial message. Before contact, record the proposed recipient role, relevance of the message, consent basis, real sender, current contact route and any restrictions published beside it.

The operational record should also check organisation-level declines and suppression before sending. The message must identify the sender, use accurate contact details and provide a functional opt-out where required. Unsubscribe and suppression requests take priority over another campaign opportunity.

The Spam Act, ACMA guidance and privacy obligations can apply differently to a specific message or organisation. This standard is a control framework, not legal advice. Obtain qualified advice where the basis for contact or personal-information use is uncertain.

A row in Search Console or another backlink index is a discovery record, not final proof. Google's Links report is sampled, grouped by canonical URL and can retain links that have changed or disappeared. It also does not show whether a link uses nofollow.

Open the rendered source and check the exact destination, redirect path, visible link text, surrounding context and relationship disclosure. Inspect the link attribute where it affects classification. Save the evidence URL and verification date so another reviewer can reproduce the decision.

Prospects reviewed, messages approved, messages sent and replies received are operating measures. Live editorial references, repaired destinations and qualified sponsorships are verified outputs. Referral visits, qualified enquiries, branded discovery and search movement are different outcome evidence.

Do not add Search Console clicks to analytics sessions or claim that one link caused a ranking or enquiry. Record the source, date range, filters and limitations for each measure. Search and business outcomes can be reviewed beside placement dates without turning correlation into proof of causation.

Public case studies should use the same discipline. The current SEO Guys case studies describe the supplied Search Console evidence and do not attribute the movement to link building when the source cannot prove that relationship.

The downloadable CSV contains five fictional rows. Reserved example domains, generic organisation names and an explicit is_fictional field prevent the examples from being mistaken for real publishers, contacts, clients or campaign results.

The examples show different decisions: retaining an association reference, repairing a supplier destination, holding an editorial prospect before permission review, rejecting an unqualified paid ranking offer and rejecting an irrelevant user-generated discovery. Illustrative referral and enquiry fields are not performance claims.

Copy the header into a controlled working file and replace every example value with verified campaign evidence. Personal contact details and suppression records belong in an access-controlled operational system, not the public ledger.

SEO Guys includes link building in its published SEO packages. The actual mix can include backlink diagnosis, destination improvement, source assets, relationship research, outreach and live verification according to the website, market and authority gap.

The package fee does not buy a fixed number of followed links. A quota can reward easy low-value placements while hiding the work needed to build a useful destination or genuine relationship. The agreed campaign plan should instead state the activities, owners, approval points, evidence fields and review period.

Pricing, setup fees and complete package inclusions remain owned by the packages page. This resource explains the evidence standard applied to the link work, not a separate price or guarantee.

This method is published by SEO Guys, an Australian SEO agency that sells managed SEO and link building services. It is therefore a commercial source, not an independent industry standard or Google certification.

Matt, SEO Guys co-founder, is the accountable review owner for this methodology. The About page describes his 15 years of real-world SEO experience. Founder review and publication approval remain pending for version 1.0.0, so this draft does not claim his signoff. Experience does not replace source evidence, legal review or independent editorial judgment.

Any client example, testimonial, placement count or performance claim added later must have permission, a dated source and clear limitations. The public method can be reused as a comparison framework without implying that SEO Guys, Google or an Australian regulator endorses another provider.

Version 1.0.0 takes effect on 2026-08-30. Recheck every cited policy before a material campaign decision because search guidance, legislation, regulator guidance and publisher rules can change.

The method cannot determine whether Google values a particular link, guarantee ranking movement, prove that one placement caused an outcome or make a third-party backlink index complete. It also cannot replace legal advice, client approval, publisher judgment or live page verification.

The five CSV rows are fictional teaching examples. Real campaign results should be published only with permission and enough evidence for a reader to distinguish the source, period, action, result and limitation.