How do you judge if a backlink is actually worth getting?

[Zephyroo]

@Hetneo is right about the brand search test, thats a quick way to filter out the garbage. Another thing to check is the site history on wayback machine. Lots of these "high traffic" sites are just expired domains that got rebuilt six months ago to sell guest posts. If it was a local dentist site for 5 years and now it is a general blog posting about tech and cbd, skip it. Google catches up to those sooner or later. Also take a quick look at who else they are linking to... if the outbound links are all sketchy casino or essay sites, your link is going to get dragged down with them.

 

[Hetneo]

If it was a local dentist site for 5 years and now it is a general blog posting about tech and cbd, skip it

Wayback is the check most people skip because it is not a metric, and it is the only one a seller cannot fake. One refinement: a rebuild in the same niche can be fine, half the legit aged domain plays start exactly that way. The identity swap is what kills it, and the archive shows you that in 30 seconds.