A supplier’s “backlink delivered” label says little about what was placed, why it exists or how it is qualified. For an authorised paid placement, record the relationship and actual link attributes rather than demanding an unqualified ranking link. A preparation file is not a submitted or publicly visible backlink.
Who should use this acceptance brief
Businesses reviewing directory and sponsorship proposals. Use this as a scoped website handover task. Where real system evidence is required, teaching examples are not a substitute.
Source-bound platform fact
Google recommends rel=sponsored for paid placements and accepts nofollow for qualifying them; ugc identifies user-generated content. Attributes do not guarantee ranking benefit. Google: qualify outbound links · Checked 16 October 2026.
Filled teaching example
Synthetic example, not a client case. Finite inputs, expected decisions and counterexamples follow; no live integration is claimed.
On narrow screens, scroll to read the complete table.
| Input / case | Check basis | Expected decision |
|---|---|---|
| paid + sponsored | relationship qualified | recorded candidate |
| paid + nofollow | accepted qualification | recorded candidate |
| paid + ugc only | does not identify payment | review |
Run the acceptance exercise
- Verify direct publication authority, current platform rules and the commercial relationship first.
- Inspect the actual rendered href and rel on a permitted public placement.
- Log source URL, target, date, visibility, unique domain and any observed traffic separately.
Interpret the result and retain evidence
The checker evaluates a supplied paid-link relation under the stated limited rule. It does not visit a placement, buy links or decide platform eligibility. A qualification pass is not an endorsement, indexing proof or SEO gain. Keep prepared, submitted, pending review and publicly verified states separate in the supplier report.
Limits before implementation
No external submissions or purchases are authorised by this article. Excludes a complete spam-policy audit or contractual advice.
Replay the finite example
Save both files in one folder and run with Node22.13 or newer. The example sends no network requests and changes no account or site. Filled inputs and expected outputs · Inspectable functions
node decision-check.mjs paid-link-qualification-record.json