Link building services: what should a transparent project brief include?

For a worked link-building brief, I would start with the audience and the resources worth referring to. Then describe prospect research, editorial outreach, reporting and the commercial arrangements that may be considered.

The scope should make link qualification and disclosure part of the review. Google's outbound-link guidance is the reference for sponsored and other qualified links.

This thread invites discussion of clear deliverables, not an order for ranking links. What evidence would show that the proposed references are relevant and that the reported work actually happened? Providers can explain their process with their connection clearly identified.