How we research and compare providers

1. Primary sources, dated

For each provider we read its own service pages, pricing tables and FAQs, and for policy questions Google's published documentation. Each fact is recorded with the source URL, the date we checked it, and — where the page shows one — its own “last updated” date. We cite those sources at the foot of every article.

2. Evidence labels

Every claim about a provider carries one of these labels:

• Published term A concrete price, policy or process step stated on the provider's page.
• Vendor claim Marketing or self-description — “#1”, “safe”, “guaranteed”, ratings, customer counts. We report it as their claim, not as fact.
• Our view Our interpretation, clearly worded as such.
• Not publicly confirmed The pages we checked don't say. This is never written as “no”.
• Tested Reserved for findings from real, documented testing. No current page uses it, because we haven't tested these services.

3. Like-for-like comparisons

We compare guest posts with guest posts and monthly retainers with monthly retainers. Price comparisons include the currency (or that it wasn't stated), the unit, and whether a figure is a “from” price. A “from” price is never presented as a campaign cost, and promotions are flagged.

4. No invented scores

We don't give star ratings or numeric scores, and we don't mark up our pages as customer reviews. Without testing, a score would suggest precision we don't have. Third-party ratings a provider displays are reported as that provider's claim.

5. Our own commercial interest

DotMirror publishes this site. We disclose that at the top of every article and next to every enquiry form. We don't force DotMirror into comparisons or let it “win” them; where it's mentioned, its claims are labelled first-party. Every review includes when a competitor may be the better fit.

6. Writing

We write original explanations and examples rather than reworking competitors' articles. We don't pad to a word count, and we don't publish statistics without a traceable source and date. Drafts stay unpublished until they meet these rules.

7. Updates and corrections

Prices and policies change. Every article shows when its facts were last checked; we only change that date after actually re-checking. Material changes to prices, policies or comparisons are reviewed by a person before publication. If you spot an error — including providers correcting facts about themselves — please use our corrections page.