How to check inbound links after a swap: a WordPress runbook
A swap is not finished when the post goes live. This runbook takes thirty minutes, once, then five minutes a month.
The runbook
- 1
Make the log before the swap
A sheet with: date, partner, live URL, anchor, link type, price or swap, and a recheck date 30 days later.
- 2
Open the live post
View source and find your link. Look for rel="nofollow", rel="sponsored" or rel="ugc". A swap you expected to be dofollow may not be.
- 3
Test indexing
Search the exact post URL in Google. If it is not there after a couple of weeks, the link has not been seen yet.
- 4
Look in Search Console
Under Links, find the top linking sites. New referring domains appear with a delay, so be patient.
- 5
Cross-check in Ahrefs or Majestic
Their crawlers are independent of Google. A link visible there but not in Search Console is simply early.
- 6
Review the anchors
List the anchors you received. If four of ten say the same money phrase, vary the next ones.
Where each tool is useful
| Tool | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Search Console | The links Google reports for your property | Sampled and delayed |
| Ahrefs | Fast discovery of new and lost links | Paid; its numbers differ from other tools |
| Majestic | Trust and citation views, history | Different scales from Ahrefs |
| Your own server logs | Real clicks from the referring post | Needs access to logs |
Notes for WordPress owners
Your own site can hide links too.
A caching plugin may serve an old copy of a post for hours after an edit, so check the live URL in a private window, and remember that an SEO plugin can add nofollow to outbound links without telling the editor.
If your partner uses a page builder, the link may sit inside a widget that Google reads later than normal text. It still counts once it is crawled.
Read our notes on swap red flags for the other side of the table.
What to do with the numbers
Do not average them.
A single month of referring-domain growth says little, and even a trend over a quarter is noisy because tools discover links at different speeds and some drop pages that rarely change.
Use the log to answer practical questions instead: which partner replied fast, which anchor looked natural, which price felt fair. Over a year those answers shape the next swap or purchase.
A note on nofollow and sponsored
Not every live link counts the same.
Since September 2019 Google has treated rel="nofollow", "sponsored" and "ugc" as hints rather than strict instructions, so a tagged link may still be used in some way, though you should not plan around it.
For a swap, ask the partner in advance how they mark outbound links, and write the answer in the log. Paid placements on this marketplace are permanent dofollow, and the order page shows each status.
When a link disappears
Links vanish for dull reasons. A theme change, a plugin cleaning old posts, or an editor tidying the page.
Email once, politely, with the URL and the date. If the partner agreed in writing to keep it, ask them to restore it; if you paid through a marketplace, check the order status in your account first.
Do not chase more than twice. Time spent on a lost link is better spent on the next budget plan.
Monthly five-minute check
- Open the log and sort by recheck date
- Visit three live links to confirm they still load
- Compare referring domains in Search Console with last month
- Note any anchor that has appeared more than twice
- Remove partners who failed twice from your future list
Our view
Count less, look more
A short, boring log beats a long dashboard. If you can show a link, its page and its reason, you know where you stand.
- Log first, swap second
- Recheck at 30 days
- Read the anchors