Before you buy link building
What link-building pricing actually covers.
Link-building quotes are hard to compare because very different work is sold under the same name. This guide separates what goes into the price, shows how to judge the quality of a placement and explains when a paid link becomes a risk for your website.
Pricing
What you are actually paying for.
We do not publish a price list or a market average. Published per-link figures refer to very different publishers, markets and placement types, so one number does not describe your project. It is more useful to ask for a quote that separates four parts of the work.
01
Publisher fee
Some publishers charge for a placement, others publish for free when the content is useful to their readers. When there is a fee, it should be listed separately, with the publisher named or at least the criteria used to select it.
02
Content
Research, writing, editing and meeting the publisher guidelines. An article that gives readers something new takes more work than text written only to carry a link.
03
Research and outreach
Finding relevant publishers, reviewing their sites and agreeing the placement. This is often the largest part of the work, because some conversations end without a placement.
04
Verification and reporting
Confirming that the placement is live, that the link points to the agreed page and how it is marked up. The report should list the placement URL, date, target page and link attribute.
Quality
Judge the placement, not just the metric.
Metrics such as DR or DA are estimates from third-party tools, not Google scores. They can help with a first filter, but a high value on its own does not tell you whether a placement is useful. Look at several things together:
- Topic and audience: does the publisher regularly cover subjects close to your business, for people who could become your customers?
- Editorial decisions: does the publisher produce its own content, or does almost every article carry links to shops and agencies?
- Surrounding content: does the text around the link make sense to a reader, and does the link lead to a page that continues the topic?
- Traffic figures: if a seller quotes visits, ask where the number comes from and which period it covers.
Before adding new links, review the ones you already have: a backlink audit shows which links help, which do nothing and which deserve a closer look.
Risks
When a paid link becomes a problem.
Google spam policies list buying or selling links for ranking purposes as an example of link spam. A paid placement is not forbidden in itself. Google asks for the link to be qualified with rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow".
When Google detects a pattern of unqualified paid links, it can ignore them or take manual action against the site. An offer that promises paid links “without the tag” moves that risk to you.
Warning signs:
- guaranteed rankings or a guaranteed increase in a metric
- packages with many links and no list of publishers
- networks of sites with the same owner or design that publish almost anything submitted
- placements without an author, a date or a connection to the rest of the site
- refusing to say in advance how the link will be marked up
Want help applying this to your website? See White-label link building or tell us about your project ↗
Two kinds of placement
A paid placement and an editorial mention are not the same.
01
Paid placement
It can bring visibility and visits from a relevant audience. The link is marked as sponsored, and readers should be able to see that the content is paid.
02
Editorial mention
The publisher decides to cite your content because it is useful to its readers. These links are harder to earn, but they carry no risk of an undisclosed purchase and build reputation over time.
A good plan can include both, but every placement in the report should be marked as paid or editorial.
Checklist
Questions to ask before you pay.
- Which parts of the price are separated: publisher fee, content, outreach and reporting?
- Who proposes publishers, and who approves them before anything goes live?
- How will the link be marked up, and will paid content be labelled for readers?
- Which pages on your site will the links point to, and why those pages?
- What happens if a publisher declines or later removes a placement?
- Will you receive a list of placements with URL, date, target page and link attribute?
- Does the offer promise rankings or metrics? If so, ask how anyone could guarantee that.
If you buy links for client sites, White-label link building: what to expect covers what a client-ready report should contain.
Limits
What a link cannot promise.
No link guarantees a position in search results. Rankings depend on your content and the technical state of your site, on competitors and on Google assessments that change over time. Publisher decisions and later removals are also outside the control of whoever arranged the placement.
If the page a link points to does not answer the reader question, the placement rarely helps. Sometimes it is better to improve the content first. Our SEO service starts with that review.
Need a clear plan for links?
Our link building starts with a review of your site and content, and the report separates paid and editorial placements. Agencies can use our white-label link building. Tell us about your site and market.
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Related services: White-label link building · Link building · SEO