A Definitive Guide to Buying Backlinks Before Google announced the death of all backlinks back in June 2013, it was a rough and tumble industry. Websites were getting penalized left and right for having “spammy” backlinks. So what’s a business to do when they’re trying to buy backlinks to help their website pass an audit or get themselves removed from a trust and ranking purgatory? It used to be a simple answer: Pay for backlinks. But as Google has become more and more aggressive about taking down websites that have been found to have unnatural links, businesses have turned to other strategies to buy backlinks. And it’s not just small businesses that are buying backlinks now, the big players are getting in on the game as well. But what’s the best way to buy backlinks? What are the best practices? And are any of these strategies still effective in 2022? Let’s take a look at the state of buying backlinks in this definitive guide. What is a Backlink? A backlink is a link that directs people to your website from another website. It’s what SEOs call a “relevancy link,” and it can be either a natural or unnatural link. When Google announced in June 2013 that it was removing links in an effort to clean up spam in the search results, it sent shockwaves through the entire industry. The immediate reaction was that backlinks were suddenly a “bad thing,” and that Google was coming after them specifically. As we now know, this was not the case (at least not initially), but the damage had already been done. The public perception was that backlinks were a “black hat” practice, and that Google wasn’t going to make an exception for any of them. All of this chaos led to a massive reduction in the number of backlinks that are being purchased. Is Buying Backlinks Still Effective? This is a tricky question. The short answer is yes, but only to an extent. The way that buying backlinks used to work was that you’d commission someone to build you a bunch of backlinks. You’d then wait for the links to “pay for themselves,” meaning that the links would take you to Page 1 of Google and you’d start seeing organic traffic roll in. Unfortunately, we now know that Google has deemed this strategy to be ineffective and they’ve updated their algorithms to punish websites that buy backlinks. So, how can we still buy backlinks? Why Buy Backlinks? Buying backlinks is not a popular practice these days, and that’s because there are other, more effective ways to get your name out there and attract links. That said, there are still valid reasons to buy backlinks, particularly if you’re a business in a niche where the links still do deliver value. For example, let’s say that you run a law firm and you want to be sure that potential clients are finding you online. You could commission a law-related website to add a link to their page about your services. This is a classic example of a link that “delivers the goods,” so to speak. The problem, of course, is that buying backlinks is not a scalable strategy, and it’s not efficient. So you’re probably wondering: Where can I buy backlinks that are effective, but not so expensive that I’m breaking the bank? The Different Types of Backlinks Backlinks come in two basic forms: “Internal” and “External.” Internal links are links that are placed on your own website. They are “deep links” that direct people to pages within your site, and they are the most trustworthy type of backlink. On the other hand, external backlinks are links that point to your site from outside. These are like a way for people to choose your site or use it as a trusted reference for whatever content they are writing. External backlink, when they are natural and organic, can be still today, a good push on your SEO efforts. How to Buy Backlinks (for those who want to endure) There are a number of ways to go about buying backlinks, but the general idea is that you find a website that has a domain that is relevant to your niche, and you buy a link from them. You then try to get that link approved and add it to your website. It’s that simple. It should be noted that while buying links from other websites might seem like a quick and dirty method to get backlinks, you should be careful about the ethics of the situation. There are a number of bad actors in the backlink-selling community, and it’s easy for them to twist the process and make a quick buck off of you. That’s why it’s important to do your due diligence before buying any links. You want to make sure that you’re buying links from reputable websites that have good general reputation and are not already in any blacklists from either Google or any other search engines so that they are likely to deliver value to your SEO. How Much Does a Backlink Cost? The price that you’ll pay for a backlink varies, but on average it will cost you somewhere between $50 and $500 depending on a few factors. These factors include the type of backlink (unnatural vs. natural) and the authority of the website that you’re buying the link from. The more authoritative the website, the more expensive the backlink is likely to be. But you should be able to get a backlink from a site with a DA of 70 and below for around $100. If you want to bump up against the $500 mark, you’ll need to look towards sites with a greater authority. Keep in mind that the price isn’t just based on the authority of the domain. It also takes into account other variables such as the age of the backlink, the number of pages linking to the backlink, and the amount of competition that the link is living on. The Downside of Buying Backlinks Like almost any other business tactic, there are downsides to buying backlinks. The main one is that you have no idea if the links that you’re buying are actually helping your SEO. You’re taking a risk by investing money into something that might or might not work. There’s no way for you to tell if the links will help your SEO or not. And besides the fact that it’s a risk that’s being inherent in your SEO strategy, there’s also the issue of ethics. Buying backlinks is not an ideal scenario from an ethical standpoint. There are a lot of bad actors in this industry, and they will do whatever it takes to make a quick buck. So even though it’s a paid backlink, it’s still a backlink that could be considered unsavory. And that’s not something that you want on your website. The Bottom Line In the end, the best advice that we can give about buying backlinks is this: Do your research, and don’t be afraid to ask the tough questions. You want to make sure that you’re investing your money into strategies that have a good chance of helping your SEO, and that’s not something that you can figure out just by looking at a website. So before you decide to buy backlinks for your website, make sure that you’ve given the idea careful consideration. You want to make sure that it’s something that you’re willing to put effort into, and not just a lazy technique that you can breeze through on a whim.
