shubhamxseo
Newbie
- Jun 3, 2026
- 16
- 5
This is something I started tracking after noticing too many of my paid placements either dropping out of Google's index or never getting indexed in the first place. Wanted to share the numbers and see what others are seeing.
Over the last six months I bought 47 placements across different platforms and tracked each one at three checkpoints. Day 7 after publication, day 30, and day 60. Here's what the data looked like.
Day 7 after publication
Of 47 placements, 39 were indexed. About 83 percent. The 8 that weren't indexed yet were mostly on newer or lower authority sites. Not necessarily a problem at this stage since Google takes time to crawl and index new content.
Day 30
41 of 47 were indexed. About 87 percent. Two more got picked up during the month. Six were still not indexed. Of those six, three were on sites that had clear crawl issues based on a quick technical check. The other three were on sites that had decent metrics on paper but were producing too much content too fast for Google to keep up with.
Day 60
This is where it got interesting. 38 of 47 were still indexed. About 81 percent. Three placements that were indexed at day 30 had dropped out of the index by day 60. All three were on sites with aggressive sponsored content patterns. Lots of guest posts, lots of outbound links, lots of similar looking placements stacked on top of each other.
So the real number is not 87 percent. It's closer to 81 percent if you count placements that disappeared from the index between day 30 and day 60.
What the dropped ones had in common:
Looking at the 9 placements that either never indexed or dropped out within 60 days, a few patterns showed up.
Sites with more than 10 outbound links per post had a much higher drop rate. About 5 of the 9 fell into this category.
Sites that published more than 3 sponsored or guest posts per day had a higher drop rate. Google seems to discount content from sites that are clearly operating as link factories.
Two of the dropped placements were on sites that got hit by an algorithm update partway through the test period. The whole site lost most of its rankings. The link technically still existed but was passing nothing.
What this means in practical terms:
If you buy 100 placements, expect about 80 to be working links 60 days later. The other 20 are some combination of never indexed, dropped from the index, or technically alive but on sites that have lost their authority.
That's a 20 percent loss rate that buyers should be pricing into their link building budget. A $200 placement isn't really $200 if there's a 1 in 5 chance the link won't be functional in two months. The effective cost is higher.
The other takeaway is that index check at day 7 or day 14 is not enough. Some platforms guarantee indexing within 7 days and treat that as the end of their obligation. By their definition the placement is "successful." But if it drops out at day 45 you're out of luck because the guarantee window already passed.
I now check every paid placement at 7 days, 30 days, and 90 days. If a link drops within that window I either request a replacement or write it off and don't buy from that platform again.
Questions for the group:
Are others tracking index status over time on bought placements? Curious whether 80 percent is roughly what you're seeing too, or whether you've found platforms with materially better retention rates. And how are you handling the 20 percent that disappear, replacement requests or just absorbing the loss?
Over the last six months I bought 47 placements across different platforms and tracked each one at three checkpoints. Day 7 after publication, day 30, and day 60. Here's what the data looked like.
Day 7 after publication
Of 47 placements, 39 were indexed. About 83 percent. The 8 that weren't indexed yet were mostly on newer or lower authority sites. Not necessarily a problem at this stage since Google takes time to crawl and index new content.
Day 30
41 of 47 were indexed. About 87 percent. Two more got picked up during the month. Six were still not indexed. Of those six, three were on sites that had clear crawl issues based on a quick technical check. The other three were on sites that had decent metrics on paper but were producing too much content too fast for Google to keep up with.
Day 60
This is where it got interesting. 38 of 47 were still indexed. About 81 percent. Three placements that were indexed at day 30 had dropped out of the index by day 60. All three were on sites with aggressive sponsored content patterns. Lots of guest posts, lots of outbound links, lots of similar looking placements stacked on top of each other.
So the real number is not 87 percent. It's closer to 81 percent if you count placements that disappeared from the index between day 30 and day 60.
What the dropped ones had in common:
Looking at the 9 placements that either never indexed or dropped out within 60 days, a few patterns showed up.
Sites with more than 10 outbound links per post had a much higher drop rate. About 5 of the 9 fell into this category.
Sites that published more than 3 sponsored or guest posts per day had a higher drop rate. Google seems to discount content from sites that are clearly operating as link factories.
Two of the dropped placements were on sites that got hit by an algorithm update partway through the test period. The whole site lost most of its rankings. The link technically still existed but was passing nothing.
What this means in practical terms:
If you buy 100 placements, expect about 80 to be working links 60 days later. The other 20 are some combination of never indexed, dropped from the index, or technically alive but on sites that have lost their authority.
That's a 20 percent loss rate that buyers should be pricing into their link building budget. A $200 placement isn't really $200 if there's a 1 in 5 chance the link won't be functional in two months. The effective cost is higher.
The other takeaway is that index check at day 7 or day 14 is not enough. Some platforms guarantee indexing within 7 days and treat that as the end of their obligation. By their definition the placement is "successful." But if it drops out at day 45 you're out of luck because the guarantee window already passed.
I now check every paid placement at 7 days, 30 days, and 90 days. If a link drops within that window I either request a replacement or write it off and don't buy from that platform again.
Questions for the group:
Are others tracking index status over time on bought placements? Curious whether 80 percent is roughly what you're seeing too, or whether you've found platforms with materially better retention rates. And how are you handling the 20 percent that disappear, replacement requests or just absorbing the loss?