If you’re an SEO agency buying places in Asia for a client, you’re not just buying a link — you’re buying a result you have to report on. The publisher that hands you a bare URL and walks away is the source of most agency headaches. Here’s the checklist to run before you commit.

Scope it before you brief

  • Niche fit. Does the publisher’s audience actually match the client’s market? A careers-site link for a B2B SaaS client is a weaker signal than one on an editorial site the client’s buyers read.
  • Language. If the client targets Asia, bilingual (EN/ZH) matters. One placement covering two languages is worth more than two single-language placements at the same price.
  • Volume & diversity. Three placements across different audiences (careers, tech, marketing) beat five on one site. Diversity is what looks organic.

Verify before you pay

Run the publisher through the same due diligence you’d run on any supplier:

  • Authority. Ask for the DR/DA figure and check it — Ahrefs DR 55 and a DA of 35 are different things, and both matter.
  • Live samples. Demand links to actual published placements on that exact domain. Click them. Check the rel attribute on the target link — it must be do-follow.
  • Permanence. “Will stay up” in writing. Some publishers remove or no-follow after a set period.
  • Indexing. “Submitted to Google within 1 business day” — get it in the order, because a placement that never gets indexed is a placement you can’t report.

The reporting that saves your account

The best suppliers hand you more than a URL:

  • Live indexed URL — proof it’s published and real.
  • Index confirmation — proof it’s been picked up by Google.
  • Editorial quality — the article reads like native content, not a link in a paragraph.

That last one is what protects you from a client who reads the article back. A thin, obviously-spun post around a link undermines the entire placement no matter how high the DR is.

The agency-grade supplier

A supplier worth keeping is one that treats your client’s name as its own: publishes native-quality bilingual editorial, confirms every link type, and reports with live URL and index status.

PressInAsia partners with agencies on exactly this basis — permanent do-follow guest posts across six established bilingual publishers (hkese.net at DR 55 among them), delivered with live URLs and index confirmation within 1 business day. Ask for our agency rate sheet.