Toolradar Ranked Buyer Guide Placements

What it is and where it appears

A guide placement is a pick in an expert guide at /guides/<slug>. The pick is marked as sponsored and carries the product's partner link, and it drops out on the end date stored for it. The reader sees it as a numbered card and as a row in the guide's top-pick table.

A list placement is a campaign that holds one numbered slot, from 1 to 20, for a category. The same slot applies to the /best/<category> page and to the category's /best/free/<category> page. It is active between its start and end dates. Organic tools fill the other slots in their own order.

Table: where a paid position appears and how its number is set.

A paid row can sit above a product that ranks higher on the organic order. That is the purpose of the placement, and it is the reason the disclosure below matters.

How readers are told a position is paid

Every list and guide page ends with the same line: "Some offers on this page may be paid placements or contain affiliate links." That line does not name which rows are paid.

A "Sponsored" pill is switched on per row, not per page. On a guide pick it shows only when that pick is set to show it, and the team switches it on when the agreement asks for it. On a /best row it shows only for campaigns on a short allow list, which was empty on 5 November 2026, and on separately contracted paid mentions.

On a /best/<category> row, a placement that carries promotion text also shows an "Exclusive offer" box with that text inside the row. The /best/free/<category> page does not show that box.

A paid position takes the number it was sold, and a reader cannot tell a paid row from the number alone: the pill and the offer box appear only where they are switched on.

Toolradar does not label every paid position as Sponsored.

What a placement does not do

• It does not change the ranking score. The score is computed from public review volume and rating and from media mentions, and advertising and placement fees are not inputs to it.
• It does not change the pros and cons or the editor's take. Toolradar does not take money to change a tool's pros, cons or Editor's Take.
• It does not feed Toolradar Data. Advertising and placement fees are not inputs to those figures.
• It does not add the product to a guide's ItemList structured data. On a /best list, a paid row keeps its place in the ItemList as a plain entry.
• It does not guarantee approval. Toolradar's media-kit copy says each product entry gets editorial review before approval.
• It does not come with performance figures. This page gives no clicks, leads or sales for any placement, and the dashboard below reports clicks, not leads or sales.
• It is never a condition of being listed. Toolradar sells advertising separately from listings, and creating and claiming a listing costs nothing.

Which format fits

A ranked placement fits a vendor that wants an agreed position inside a named guide or /best list, and is ready to sit beside organic rows with its number. It is the wrong choice for a vendor that wants a guaranteed rank whatever the fit, or for a product that does not answer the question the list asks.

A sponsored box fits a vendor that wants one labelled box above a page's ranked list and does not want a number. The box sits outside the numbered list, the table, the score and the ranked-list structured data, and its link is marked as sponsored. A /best category that already has a sold list placement is not offered a sponsored box.

An organic listing fits a vendor whose goal is to be judged on its own record. A paid position adds visibility inside an agreed context and does not replace that record.

How to request one

1. Write to contact with the guide or /best page URL, the product name, the position you want and the start date. The team then confirms whether a position is available, how it is labelled and what the page already shows.
2. Toolradar's media-kit copy says each product entry gets editorial review before approval. Without approval, nothing is placed.
3. Agree the position, the start and end dates and the term. Toolradar's media-kit copy describes a monthly, recurring placement with a three-month minimum.
4. Toolradar sets the entry. A guide placement is a pick with its sponsored flag, partner link and end date. A list placement is a campaign with its slot number and dates, and it shows only while the product is published. The row appears at the agreed number.
5. The placement ends on its own once an end date is stored for it, and keeps running until Toolradar removes it if none is. A guide pick drops out on its end date, and a list placement drops out at its end date. The list then runs in organic order.

What Toolradar reports back

Clicks on a list placement row are counted by Toolradar's click counter. The advertiser sees the counts in a campaign dashboard reached through a private link that Toolradar shares with the advertiser.

Table: the figures the campaign dashboard shows.

When a vendor compares a placement with another channel, it should count the same event in both, such as an outbound click, and record the attribution window it uses. The dashboard's click count and the vendor's own analytics can differ for that reason.

The dashboard also lets the advertiser change the click destination and lists the campaign's invoices.

A guide pick is counted only when an active campaign exists for that tool. Without one, the pick is a plain link and Toolradar does not count its clicks. The dashboard has no impression figure and no conversion figure, so a vendor who wants those must measure them on its own site.

The formats compared

Table: Toolradar's formats and the newsletter formats, with where each appears. The table carries no prices.

Worked example (fictional company)

Example (fictional company): Lumen Forms, a made-up form builder, wants position 4 on a /best list of form builders for one quarter.

• Request: Lumen Forms writes to /contact with the list URL, its product name, position 4, a start date and a destination link on its own site.
• Review: the product entry goes through the editorial review that the media-kit copy describes, as in step 2, before anything is approved.
• Agreement: position 4, the start date and the term are agreed.
• Setup: a list campaign holds slot 4 between the agreed dates. The product is published, so it shows.
• Result: row 4 shows the product's own record copy and its link. If the placement has promotion text, an "Exclusive offer" box appears under the row. Each click is counted, and the dashboard shows the counts. The comparison table, the key takeaways and the ItemList read the same final order, so they show Lumen Forms at 4. The separate pricing table leaves paid rows out.
• End: when the term ends, the slot returns to organic order.

Lumen Forms does not get a changed ranking score, changed pros and cons or a guaranteed number of clicks from this example.

Frequently asked questions