There’s no magic number and anyone who gives you one is guessing. What looks unnatural is the pattern, not the count. 30 links in a month from a mix of sites after a piece of content got shared is fine. 30 links in a month all with exact match anchors from sites with no traffic is not.
That said, for a new affiliate site I usually do something like 4-8 in month one and ramp up slowly, mostly because budget and good prospects run out anyway.
Journalist request platforms work but the hit rate is low, think 1 link per 15-20 answers if your answers are good. The trick is answering fast and giving an actual quote they can paste, not a pitch.
1. Traffic graph over 2 years, not just the current number. Sudden spikes and drops = bought or manipulated.
2. Which countries the traffic comes from. A US blog with 80% traffic from random countries is a red flag.
3. Scroll the last 20 posts. If most have outbound links to casinos, CBD, loans etc it’s a link farm.
4. Does the site have its own content that isn’t sponsored? If everything is a “guest post” skip it.
Still worth it IMO but only if the niche matches. The “ranks fast then dies” thing is usually topical mismatch. Google gives the old authority a honeymoon and then re-evaluates when it sees the new site has nothing to do with the old one.
Hardware store blog -> DIY site is actually a pretty good match, I’d go for it.
