Start by requesting a sample of 10–15 recent placements the agency secured for clients in similar industries. Check each link's domain authority (Ahrefs DR or Moz DA), whether it's editorial or sponsored, and if the linking site actually gets traffic. A placement on a DR 70 news site means nothing if it's a pay-to-play content farm that Google ignores. Look for links from sites your target audience actually reads. Ask for case study data showing referral traffic and ranking movement tied to specific campaigns. Good digital PR agencies track which placements moved the needle on target keywords within 30–90 days. If they only show you a list of logos or domain names without traffic proof, that's a red flag. Request access to their reporting dashboard or sample reports to see how they attribute results. Evaluate their outreach quality by asking how they build journalist relationships. Agencies that spam press releases to purchased lists get worse placement rates and lower editorial standards than those with dedicated PR managers who pitch real story angles. Ask what percentage of their pitches result in coverage and whether they guarantee a minimum number of placements per month or work on a best-effort model. Check their niche expertise and media contacts in your industry. An agency with strong tech media connections won't have the same access to home services or legal publications. Ask for examples of campaigns that didn't just get links but generated actual leads or brand awareness you can measure. At Ottawa SEO Inc., we cross-reference digital PR work with our own link audits because we've seen agencies count nofollow links, syndicated duplicates, and removed placements in their deliverable counts. We also verify that placements stay live long-term since some sites purge old content within months. Price should align with placement quality, typically $800–$3,000 per high-authority editorial link in Canada, but bulk packages on lower-tier sites run $200–$600 per link.