So you bought GSA Search Engine Ranker (our tutorial and honest review), but you are still looking at a low 3.3 VpM. This can be the result of many things, but the biggest suspect is a weak set of GSA SER verified site lists. You need powerful and most of all fresh link lists if you want to see GSA Search Engine Ranker in its full power. I have always said and keep on saying that the best thing you can do when it comes to getting GSA SER link lists is to build them yourself – you can learn how you can do that by clicking here and/or here.

But not everyone has the time to scrape their own target URLs and then import them into GSA SER for identification, submission and verification. And so, GSA SER site lists providers were born. Basically, these online marketing services provide you with a fresh set of link lists which you can quickly import (or real-time sync) into/with your own GSA SER instance. Since this type of service emerged, there have been a number of site lists providers appear on the GSA stage and today, we will perform a case study on the top four. By the end of this test you will know which site lists provider will work best for your specific needs. Here we go.

The Structure of this GSA SER Site Lists Providers Case Study

• Preparing the stage – we will introduce the GSA SER site lists providers we will test and also, the way we will test their services.
• Testing the link lists providers – we will go through each and every one of these top 4 contenders and show the results of each individual test. We will also list the unique features of each of these online marketing services.
• The rankings table – when we are done with the testing, we will rank these GSA SER link lists providers accordingly and by different parameters.
• Pricing comparison – we will compare site lists costs of all of their different packages, so you can choose the one that best fits your budget.
• Conclusion – bottom line is…

Preparing the Stage

In order to make the tests 100% equal, I have come up with a strategy which will employ the same environment and the same project configurations for each of the link lists. But first, let me introduce you to the GSA SER site lists providers who will participate in this case study:

• SeRocket
• SER Lists
• GSA Auto Approve Marketplace
• SER Verified Targets

The contenders’ site lists will be tested in the absolute same way which will be executed in the following manner:

• Test 1: Testing with all GSA SER engines activated except for the Video, Video-Adult, and Web 2.0 engine groups.
• Test 2: Testing only contextual GSA SER engines – both profiles and articles.

Each of the tests will run for exactly 60 minutes. Other relevant information about the test projects includes:

• Content – generated by Kontent Machine (our tutorial and honest review), and spun by WordAI.
• Proxies – each test will be given 10 unique private proxies from BuyProxies.
• Threads – each test will run entirely on its own without any other active projects and will be set to 100 threads – 10 per proxy.
• VPS – QEMU Virtual CPU version (cpu64-rhel6) 2 cores at 3.50 GHz, courtesy of Power Up Hosting.
• Captcha solving – we will use only GSA Captcha Breaker (our tutorial and honest review) to solve captchas (3 retries) since most GSA SER users only utilize that for captcha solving.
• Emails – 3 completely fresh and unused Yahoo accounts will be used for each test.
• Only unique domains – there will be no posting on the same site.
• No filters – PR limitation, OBL checks or any other GSA SER filters will not be used for the tests.

At the end of each test we will show statistics such as VpM, submitted links, verified links, number of unique domains, percentage of captchas solved, etc. But before we go on to testing, we will list all of the features each of these GSA SER link lists providers offer. They all have their own unique functionalities and perks which you need to be aware of.

Testing the Top GSA SER Link Lists Providers

Now that we have setup the environment for this case study, it’s time to put it into action – starting with SeRocket.

Testing SeRocket

SeRocket has more recently come to the stage of GSA SER site lists services. However, since their launch they have progressed nicely which is a clear indicator of their great offers.

SeRocket Features

• The site lists are updated constantly.
• Separated into contextual and non-contextual link lists for more efficiency.
• Special only EDU and GOV verified link lists.
• Further split into verified and identified lists – the verified lists are perfect for people using only GSA Captcha Breaker for captcha solving while the identified lists can be utilized by people who have a secondary captcha solving service set up.
• A special Search Engine feature – this allows people to create projects which use a custom search engine to get the verified target URLs. So you can basically skip all of the importing and updating of GSA SER verified site lists and directly use SeRocket’s database. Keep in mind that this functionality comes for free with the “Premium” package of SeRocket. The Search Engine feature has 4 different options:
  • Main (Random Verified List) – which will make use of of a randomized set of verified site lists. This basically will pull a user-defined number of verified target URLs at a time from SeRocket’s database and then GSA SER will try and create backlinks on these target URLs.
  • Identified list – this pulls URLs from the identified site lists of SeRocket.
  • Verified Platforms List – this pulls target URLs only for specific platforms (engines) such as WordPress. This is a great option for GSA SER projects which have enabled only a certain set of engines, for example WordPress and Joomla only. This list, when used, will return target URLs only for WordPress and Joomla.
  • Identified Random List – does the same as the Random Verified List, but for identified URLs.
• High success rate – each platform is verified and page load times are checked for every site.
• No duplicates – the site lists are de-duped to ensure only unique target domains and higher VpM.
• Free bonus – the guys have also written a comprehensive guide to the best GSA SER practices which basically teaches you how you can run effective GSA SER campaigns.

That’s pretty much all the features of SeRocket. Now let’s test their site lists.

SeRocket Test 1

Again, for Test 1, we have all engines enabled except for the Video, Video-Adult, and Web 2.0 engine groups. I used the “Random Verified Lists” from the “Search Engine” feature and here are the overall results from Test 1 for SeRocket:

Here’s a breakdown of the verified backlinks:

And here’s a look at GSA Captcha Breaker stats after Test 1 was finished:

SeRocket Test 2

I will not use the contextuals only site lists of SeRocket since they do not include profiles. Instead, I will use all verified site lists. Overall result from SeRocket Test 2:

Breakdown of the verified backlinks:

And a look at GSA Captcha Breaker:

Keep in mind that GSA CB is set to 3 retries so the failed captchas do not necessarily mean a failed submission.

Testing SER Lists

SER Lists has been around for a long while now and they always sell out on each of their releases. I will be testing their “Blue” site lists since this month, they only released that one, because they are in the middle of applying major improvements to their services – info I got from the owner of SER Lists.

SER Lists Features

• Unique domains – the site lists are deduped to ensure only unique domains link building.
• Separated into two packages:
  • Blue – site lists which offer 50k+ unique verified URLs with a lot of contextuals.
  • Red – site lists which provide 90k+ unique verified target URLs and a lot more contextuals than the “Blue” link lists.
• Lists are released 1 to 3 or more times per month – each release only allows a certain number of purchases to ensure that the site lists don’t get abused too much.
• GSA Captcha Breaker only – the lists are built using only GSA CB which makes them perfect for any GSA SER user.
• Comes with GSA SER power tips – this will basically teach you how to optimize your GSA SER instance and its projects.
• Site lists stats shown on the official website – you can check out what and how many verified links you will get prior to purchasing them.
• Import – you simply import the site lists file into your GSA SER instance and you are good to go.

SER Lists Test 1

Again, I will be testing the “Blue” site lists of SER Lists – 1 hour on the clock just like the SeRocket test. Here are the overall results of Test 1 for SER Lists:

The backlinks breakdown:

And the stats from GSA Captcha Breaker:

SER Lists Test 2

SER Lists emphasize strongly on contextual links so let’s see how this goes. Overall stats from Test 2:

Backlinks breakdown:

And GSA CB numbers:

The “Blue” site lists of SER Lists are the smaller package so just bear that in mind. But it still has more than enough verified links to cover for an hour of link building so I don’t think this was a factor.

Testing GSA Auto Approve Marketplace

GSA Auto Approve Marketplace (AAM) is brought to you by the creator of SER Lists. However, unlike the latter which is a one time purchase, AAM is subscription based.

GSA Auto Approve Marketplace Features

• The link lists are constantly updated.
• Split into “Identified”, “Verified”, and “reCAPTCHA and Text Captcha Verified”:
  • Identified – these list are perfect for people who have set up a second captcha solving service which takes care of hard-to-solve captchas such as reCAPTCHA.
  • Verified – the “Verified” site lists include backlinks built using only GSA Captcha Breaker.
  • reCAPTCHA and Text Captcha Verified – these are site lists which also include verified target URLs added by solving reCAPTCHA and Text Captchas. To use these lists, you will need to set up a second captcha solving service aside from GSA CB which has a high success rate dealing with both reCAPTCHA and Text Captchas.
• Real-time auto syncing – GSA AAM uses “Blue Box” which will basically sync your GSA SER site lists with those of Auto Approve Marketplace. So when a new verified URL is added by the AAM system, it will instantly be added to your GSA SER site lists as well. “Blue Box” needs to be set up once and that’s it. After that, you can forget about dealing with site lists.
• Manual download – members can also manually download the latest site lists via the member area – these are updated every 10 days.
• Automatic removal of broken links – AAM’s system makes sure to provide only fresh site lists.
• Free bonus – a proven-to-work link building strategy that is both Panda and Penguin safe.

GSA Auto Approve Marketplace Test 1

SER Lists did great in the tests so there was no doubt in my mind that AAM site lists were going to perform great as well. Overall results from Test 1:

Backlinks breakdown:

And a look at GSA Captcha Breaker:

GSA Auto Approve Marketplace Test 2

Overall results from AAM Test 2:

Backlinks breakdown:

And a look at GSA CB stats:

Testing SER Verified Targets

If you are looking for site lists that are focused mostly on quality, SER Verified Targets are the perfect solution.

SER Verified Targets Features

• Constant updates – the link lists are refreshed 24/7.
• Real-time sync – the site lists can be auto-synced with your GSA SER lists so that when SER Verified Targets get updated, your lists get updated as well.
• Site lists split into the following groups:
  • Completed Solo Lists – full lists of verified target URLs from the latest scraping sessions.
  • Contextual Pool – a real-time source of contextual backlinks only.
  • Low OBL, PA, and DA – a real-time source of verified target backlinks which have been filtered by these metrics. OBL limit is 70 meaning that if a page has more than 70 outgoing backlinks, it will not be added to these lists. These lists are perfect for users looking to build a more high quality GSA SER Tier 1 projects. However, keep in mind that you will most certainly need a second captcha solving service which takes care of hard-to-solve captchas such as reCAPTCHA.
  • Only GSA CB Verified Targets – the site lists are perfect for GSA SER users utilizing only GSA CB for captcha solving.
  • Real-time All Verified Targets – a real-time source of verified target URLs for all of GSA SER’s engines.
  • Double Verified – site lists which contain twice verified target URLs for higher success rates.
• Removal of bad target URLs – SER Verified Targets looks for bad and/or spammed URLs and removes them on the fly.

SER Verified Targets Test 1

Now let’s see how these lists will perform – overall results from Test 1 for SER Verified Targets:

Backlinks breakdown:

And GSA CB:

SER Verified Targets Test 2

Overall results:

Backlinks breakdown:

And GSA Captcha Breaker stats:

The Grand Final Rankings

Now that we are done with the tests, let’s summarize them and compare the results in a few graphics with different parameters:

• VpM rankings
• Verification success rate rankings
• DoFollow percentage rankings
• Unique domains rankings
• Recognized captchas percentage rankings

Test 1 Comparison Graphics

First, let’s summarize how the GSA SER site lists performed in Test 1 – all engines enabled except for Video, Video-Adult, and Web 2.0 and without any filters applied.

VpM Rankings

I want to note here that the VpM shown in the screenshots I attached above is not 100% accurate. This has happened because the damn clock on the VPS switched a couple of minutes throughout the test which slightly influenced the end VpM statistic. However, it doesn’t matter because we will show, in the graphics, the real VpM by simply dividing the verified URLs by 60 – I used a chronometer to time these tests so all of them got their 60 minutes and not a second more. Here are is the Test 1 VpM comparison graphic:

Verification Success Rate Rankings

Now let’s compare the success rate at which these site lists performed i.e. the percentage of submitted links which actually got verified. Keep in mind that GSA SER does not count account creation as a submission- only when a backlink is actually placed, does the software increase the submitted links counter. Also, the verification rate for all of these is actually higher, because at the 60 minute mark when we stopped the tests, there were still a number of submitted links which have not yet been verified.

DoFollow Percentage Rankings

Next we will take a look at the DoFollow/NoFollow ratio of the verified backlinks for Test 1 for each of the site lists providers:

Unique Domains Rankings

As we said in the beginning when we were setting up the stage for this case study, no scheduled posting was used for the tests – only unique domains. If you are wondering why there are not 100% unique domains only for the verified backlinks, it is because GSA SER creates more than one backlink for some of its engines – for example, a profile and an article.

Recognized Captchas Percentage Rankings

The final comparison graphic for Test 1 takes a look at the recognized captchas percentage of GSA CB for each of the site lists:

Test 2 Comparison Graphics

After comparing the data from Test 1, let’s see how the site lists compare to one another in terms of contextual links only i.e. Test 2. Again, the same parameters will be used for the graphics with the addition of a sixth one – number of articles. As you probably remember, we enabled both profile and article contextual engines, however, we also want to see how many articles alone each of the site lists generated in their 60 minutes of glory.

VpM Rankings

Verification Success Rate Rankings

DoFollow Percentage Rankings

Unique Domains Ranking

Recognized Captchas Percentage Rankings

Number of Articles Rankings

For Test 2, we will add an additional graphic which compares how many articles each of the site lists build for those 60 minutes.

The Pricing Table

We tested, we reviewed, and we compared. At this point, you should have a pretty good idea as to which of these great GSA SER site lists providers will work the best for your specific needs. But, there’s one more thing you need to consider and that is the price. Each of the link lists services have their own unique pricing models – some have one-time purchase options, some have lifetime licenses, etc. To save you some trouble, I have summarized all of them within the table below:

Summary

First of all, I want to note that the data from this case study applies to the time when it was created, so just keep this in mind. I gave each of the site lists an equal environment and projects configuration and they all performed great.

SeRocket has its brand new Search Engine feature which achieved amazing results for Test 1 and it also created the most articles in Test 2 with a good standing in percentages for success rate, captchas recognized, and DoFollow backlinks.

SER Lists did not perform so good in Test 1, but when we used contextuals only, the site lists showed their true power. And also, keep in mind that we tested the “Blue” link lists which are the smaller package of the two offered by SER Lists.

GSA Auto Approve Marketplace did great in both Test 1 and Test 2 – very stable site lists with a balanced ratio of contextual to non-contextual links and an amazing percentage of DoFollow backlinks.

And finally, we had SER Verified Targets – the only provider which has a set of site lists filtered by OBL and Moz metrics. They did good in Test 1 and smoked everyone in Test 2 in terms of VpM and unique domains.

Bottom line is, I cannot really say one of these site lists providers is better than the other because it is just too contextual. One person might need only high quality link lists, or to do a churn and burn campaign, or to use GSA CB only verified target URLs, etc, the solution will always be different. Plus, there’s always the factor of costs. However, thanks to the date presented here, you can now make an informed decision.