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In practice
The mechanics: a link that passes through one redirect still works — the engine follows it — but it loses a little speed, a little clarity, and a lot of control; chains (two, three hops) compound the loss and add a fragility: every hop is a URL that can die, and the link’s value now depends on infrastructure the buyer doesn’t own.
The placement-level rules: the target agreed in the approval pack is the final URL — the one that serves content today — and the publisher’s editor places that exact string; the verification at go-live (and monthly thereafter) reads the link’s href, not the browser’s behaviour, because a redirect can be introduced silently at any point after go-live — by a site migration on the client’s side, a publisher’s CMS “helpfully” normalising the URL, or a plugin.
The client-side obligation is the mirror: the target pages’ URLs stay stable for the life of the placements — a site redesign that changes URL structures without a complete redirect map strands every link the campaign bought, converting an asset into a recovery project. The international layer adds the sharpest version: a German placement pointing at the English homepage because someone pasted the wrong link is worse than a chain — it sends the market’s readers to the wrong experience and tells the engine the local page isn’t the destination.
The summary: the target is part of the placement’s spec, verified like the anchor — and re-verified monthly, because URLs drift and only monitoring notices.
See also: Monthly reporting and go-live tracking, Target URL readiness, Backlink monitoring and link tracking.
Checklist: Link Insertion Campaign.
Related service: International links.
