It wasn’t long from the time when search engine optimizers first realized the important role that backlinks played in search rankings until some enterprising soul came up with the idea of selling links.
Of course, it wasn’t long before bad actors started abusing it, like almost every other ranking hack in SEO. And Google, doing what Google does, started cracking down on the process.
There isn’t much in the way of gray area regarding Google’s stance on the matter.
The first point in Google’s Webmaster’s Guide on link schemes states that buying or selling links that pass PageRank will have a negative impact on your site’s ranking. This includes “…exchanging money for links, or posts containing links, exchanging goods or services for links, or sending someone a ‘free’ product in exchange for them writing about it and including a link.”
And as good SEOs, white hats, of course, none of us would ever dream of doing such a thing. Except many sites still do. It is not openly discussed in our field, but the practice is still alive.
This, of course, raises some questions. I mean, what is the benefit of paying for links? And is it worth the risk?
In this piece, we’ll answer these questions and take a closer look at buying and selling links.
Disclaimer: The author and Search Engine Journal in no way promote, endorse, and/or condone the purchase of links. This post is for informational purposes only, and if you choose to do so, you do so at your own risk.
What Is & Isn’t A Paid Link?
Before we begin, let’s address the elephant in the room: What exactly is a paid link?
When I start talking about paid link building, this is the most common question I get asked.
Google’s definition is clear. Any exchange of money, goods, and/or services for a link is verboten.
In other words, sponsored guest posts and paid reviews are paid links. These are standard practices, but Google is disrupting them every day.
As you read this article, you should be aware that even “safer” paid link building strategies run the risk of being considered part of a link scheme and violating Google’s terms and conditions.
Why Do Some Professionals Still Buy Links?
Right now, you may ask, why do websites still do this if paying for links is so frowned upon? For the same reason people speed in their cars – it’s faster, and some consider it worth the risk.
It reduces the amount of work that building links requires (eg, creating quality content, searching for link opportunities, and building relationships) and reduces significantly the time it takes to start seeing results.
With this in mind, many SEO professionals do not hesitate to take a chance. And believe it or not, paying for links wasn’t always frowned upon.
In the early 2000s, buying and selling links was not only in fashion – it was considered good business. Directories that let you pay for reviews and service companies that allowed you to buy or “rent” links sprung up like dandelions on a lawn.
Then Google released the weed whacker – which allows users to report paid links – which forced link buyers and sellers to get sneakier or change tactics.
Over the last two decades, buying links has become increasingly risky because Google’s ability to search and destroy the SEO value of paid links has become incredibly accurate. That is the critical risk.
If you pay for a link, there’s a good chance the algorithms will quietly ignore it. You will have no idea if you just threw money into a pit.
That said, Google is not foolproof. Some companies still turn to paid link building because it’s easier, it’s all they know, or it’s standard practice in their industry.
Today, the rise of organic link building and content marketing has more or less nullified the need for buying links in the SEO industry in general. But this does not mean that the practice has disappeared.
The Reality Of Buying Links
So, here’s the rub: You 100% definitely shouldn’t be paying a website owner $500 to link to your site. This is a shady practice and you are likely to get burned. But there is a correct way to buy links.
One way is outsourcing to connect with a reputable agency that can earn you links (keyword: EARN). When done correctly, this is not paying for links as defined by Google.
Paying for the work of creating resources, conducting outreach, and building relationships is not against Google’s guidelines.
There is a big difference between paying someone to build links for you and participating in a link scheme. If you choose to do the latter, be careful. There are many low quality link sellers out there. And Google usually knows about them.
That said, there are links worth buying for everything. For example, if you are looking to increase awareness (independent of your SEO efforts), you should pay to appear on reputable websites with well-attributed and nofollow links. These can be a great addition to your public relations strategy – don’t expect them to help you climb the search engine rankings.
Bad link buying practices include anything that Google has been working diligently to eliminate over the past few decades.
These include link farms and PBNs (private blog networks). If your paid links give a large volume of low quality links, be careful, you are at serious risk of receiving a penalty.
Just like organic link building, it is always essential to monitor the health of your backlink profile. Use link tracking software to measure the impact of your links and weed out low quality links that may have a negative effect on your site.
You should be incredibly diligent if you have bought links in the past – double check your link profile and consider disavowing any risky links. Yes, even if you paid for them. It is unlikely that you will have a manual action for a few paid links, but if you have used these tactics massively, it is a real risk.
Do Paid Links Work?
The fact is, yes, paying for backlinks can increase your search engine ranking – as long as you don’t get caught. If it wasn’t worth the risk, no one would do it.
But it is becoming more and more difficult to hide paid links.
Backlinks are valuable in helping to establish a site’s reputation and relevance in the eyes of Google.
But it is not strictly a numbers game. Earning a few links from relevant websites where the links provide a good user experience will beat dozens of inbound links from low quality sites.
It is most accurate to say that paid links work until they don’t. Some people are okay with business models that rely on temporary tactics with high guild.
Should You Buy Links?
Now that you understand buying and selling backlinks better, it’s time for the $10,000 question: Should you do it?
If you ask me or anyone from SEJ, we will tell you firmly: No. At least, not for SEO.
But you are an adult and make your own decisions. It is entirely up to you to determine whether you think the potential benefits outweigh the risk.
Are you willing to accept the risks? Are you okay with being a “churn and burn” website and losing a significant amount of your traffic overnight? If so, you may determine it’s worth taking a chance.
Be aware that paying for long links is a waste of money.
The time and resources you devote to buying links would be much better served doing SEO work across the board.
Bought links can give you a quick boost, but at some point, probably much sooner than you hope, Google will start ignoring those links you paid for.
But maybe that’s your business model.
If you’re good at being an SEO comet that shines brightly for a short time and then burns spectacularly, don’t say we didn’t warn you. Be prepared to lose your investment when Google catches what you are doing.
You are much better off paying for an SEO agency to legitimately boost your rankings than buying links. In other words, you pay for work, not links. Make sure you do your research and hire a reputable agency or professional who will not just buy links on your behalf.
Featured Image: Photoroyalty/Shutterstock
Backlinks offer better website SEO because they boost your website’s authority and can help you rank higher for target keywords in search engine results pages (SERPs).
How do I get quality backlinks in 2022?
How to Get High Quality Backlinks in 2022 (7 New Strategies)
- Become a Source For Reporters and Bloggers.
- Publish “Skyscraper” Content.
- Build Links From Outdated Resources.
- Use Proven Content Formats To Generate Links.
- Publish Ultimate Guides.
- Use Brand Strategies and Techniques.
- Authority Resource Pages.
Are backlinks worth it in 2022? The short answer is yes, but they should not be your only strategy. While backlinks are not the only ranking factor, they are still very important. The main difference is in the way you have to go about getting sites to link to your content.
Do Backlinks help SEO 2022?
Backlink building can be a success factor, but it is not more important for SEO from 2022. As always in SEO, there are so many other factors that can lead to a successful SEO campaign. My personal rule of thumb: If it’s a process rather than a tailored measure, it can’t be good.
Is SEO worth it in 2022?
Yes, SEO is worth it in 2022, in the future, in the past, and always. As long as websites and search engines have existed, SEO has been necessary. SEO 10 years from now will probably be very different from SEO today, but you always have to make sure that your website is sending search engines the right signals so that it can be found.
Do backlinks still work for SEO?
Backlinks are still important for SEO performance because they are the foundation of Google’s original PageRank algorithm. A number of independent studies in the SEO industry have shown the impact of backlinks on organic search performance.
Is SEO a dying industry?
SEO budgets and spending If the SEO industry is dying, business owners haven’t gotten the news yet. SEO spending has historically increased, year after year, for as long as SEO has been around. The past few years have been no different, and surveys of business owners suggest that their optimism for SEO has not waned.
Does SEO have a future? Some of the prominent ways in which AI tools have proven their effectiveness are SEO keyword research, content creation, traffic analysis and site growth, it -voice search, and SEO workflows. These applications have made it evident that the future of SEO is in Artificial Intelligence.
Is SEO dead in 2022?
No SEO is not dead in 2022. SEO is still a very powerful digital marketing strategy. SEO will continue to change as Google updates its algorithm but that is to be expected.
Is SEO still relevant in 2022?
The fact that SEO works perfectly even in 2022 as a method to deliver improved business results for business websites and their owners, together with the need for continuous research on what works, makes it still relevant as a method of ‘ digital marketing, but more and more. as a valuable and rewarding service…
Will SEO exist in 5 years?
SEO will not be eliminated in the next five years because social media and search engines will probably merge. Facebook has already started doing this: an average of more than 1.5 billion searches per day. Twitter did the same; joined in partnership with Google.
How SEO will change in 2022?
By 2022, expect SEO ranking to be more competitive by providing high-quality content that is helpful to internet users. Content that only tries to fish for their audience by linking unnecessary sources will not be as effective as it is today.
Is SEO is a dying career?
SEO is a promising career in 2022 because it gives you access to diverse opportunities. You can work in-house, take on clients, and even start and grow your own websites. In addition, the three most popular websites, Google.com, YouTube.com, and Amazon.com, are the largest search engines.
Is SEO worth it in 2022?
Yes, SEO is worth it in 2022, in the future, in the past, and always. As long as websites and search engines have existed, SEO has been necessary. SEO 10 years from now will probably be very different from SEO today, but you always have to make sure that your website is sending search engines the right signals so that it can be found.
Will SEO exist in 5 years?
SEO will not be eliminated in the next five years because social media and search engines will probably merge. Facebook has already started doing this: an average of more than 1.5 billion searches per day. Twitter did the same; joined in partnership with Google.
How much does SEO cost in 2022?
Average SEO costs are $100-$250 per hour for US SEO agencies. SEO costs often range from $2,500 to $10,000 per month for US agencies. The average SEO plan costs $2819 per month (per Ahrefs) Overseas SEO Companies can charge $10-$50 per hour.
Is SEO a good career in 2022?
‘Yes. SEO is a good career choice as it is among the most sought after careers in the field of Digital Marketing. There are various organizations around the world, which hire SEO professionals to generate better content and thus produce more business results.
What is the future of SEO in 2022?
By 2022, expect SEO ranking to be more competitive by providing high-quality content that is helpful to internet users. Content that only tries to fish for their audience by linking unnecessary sources will not be as effective as it is today.
What makes a high-quality backlink?
So, in short, a high quality backlink is one that is natural, highly reputable and highly relevant. While high-quality backlinks convey the most value, you can still gain good momentum through average-quality links, and you must avoid low-quality/spammy links at all costs.
What are the 3 main characteristics of a quality backlink? Many factors go into making a good backlink, but many quality backlinks share these three characteristics: The text of the link occurs naturally in the context of the page. The referring domain is reputable. The referring page is topically relevant to the link destination.
What is a good quality backlink?
Quality Backlinks A quality backlink is a link that comes from a high domain authority website that is well trusted by search engines and searchers alike. In other words, not only robots trust the website, but actual people also trust the website.
Why are high quality backlinks important?
Backlinks are important because they help build trust and authority for many search engines. Quality backlinks also bring you new customers, readers, and leads, because they come from topically relevant sources such as major media, trade publications, and niche blogs.
Are high content or great quality backlinks more important?
Conclusion: Content Is Better for Your Website Backlinks are important and help you rank. But content works across all channels from PPC to SEO, media coverage, and referral traffic. Good content can also lead to backlinks. If you have to choose between the two, I’d go with content.
What makes a high-quality link?
Conclusion. So, in short, a high quality backlink is one that is natural, highly reputable and highly relevant. While high-quality backlinks convey the most value, you can still gain good momentum through average-quality links, and you must avoid low-quality/spammy links at all costs.
How much should you spend on backlinks?
You should never spend less than $500 on a single backlink. The average top quality backlink from an exclusive domain, high DR, high traffic, high authority will cost you $1000. Anything less and you are paying for bad quality domains, poor quality content, and poor services.
How many backlinks are enough? Generally, a rating of 60 to 100 is phenomenal, 40 to 50 is good, and below 40 is not great. If you want to build high quality backlinks, then start by building links from high domain authority websites that are also relevant to your niche and trusted by searchers all over the Internet.
How many backlinks should I create per day?
25â30 backlinks per day is safe for a new website on average. However, even 500 links per day are safe if they are built naturally through organic exposure such as a piece of content that goes viral, a post on a trending topic, or celebrating a special event for your business.
How many backlinks is considered good?
A website should have 40 to 50 backlinks for the homepage and 0 to 100 backlinks for each individual web page to be SEO competitive. However, the PageRank scores of those backlinks are important because the higher their value, the fewer links are needed to boost the overall rankings.
How many backlinks is too many?
10 backlinks per month is safe for a new website on average. However, even 40 to 50 links per month is safe if built organically and within the guidelines of the search engine webmaster. A good strategy is to start with a low number of links and increase the quantity every month.
Can you have too many backlinks?
Too much… there really is no such thing as too many backlinks, in general. But you can certainly have too many backlinks of one type: Negative backlinks. From this check, you will at least have a sense of what to do next.