Buy Backlinks in 2024 the Smart Way

There are always two ways to do anything: the regular way and the smart way.

Every business that’s looking to sell services or products online will quickly realize that traffic is crucial to online sales. The higher they rank on Google, the more traffic they get.

This is where quality backlinks come in.

Backlinks are links located on third-party sites that point to a page on your site.

The more high-quality and high authority sites link to pages on your site, the more Google organic traffic you get.

To get top ranks on Google, you are faced with two choices: do things the hard way or get backlinks the smart way.

The hard way is simple to understand but takes forever to pull off: you have to publish high-quality and niche-relevant content. Eventually, enough high-value pages located on third-party sites will link to your high quality content.

Talk about posting and hoping for the best!

Thankfully, there is a smart way to get high quality traffic boosting backlinks without waiting forever: buy them!

 

 Are Backlinks Still Important in 2023?

While it’s true that Google by some estimates uses over 200 ranking factors, backlinks still maintain their ranking importance.

Each backlink is essentially a vote of confidence and authority, especially if the link source is itself a high-quality and high authority site. If the backlinks come from pages that are closely related to your site in terms of niche and content themes, the higher you will rank.

Why Should You Buy Backlinks?

Reason #1: Get More Sales

While ranking high on relevant Google searches and getting more traffic are definitely important, you have to focus on the end result. Buying quality backlinks can help increase the amount of sales or leads your website gets.

Reason #2: Rank Higher on Google’s Search Results

While sales should be your number one concern, getting a high sales volume is impossible without a high ranking. These go hand in hand.

While your top rankings on Google can get you a lot of traffic, your website still has to convert that traffic into sales. But if you get very little traffic because of low search ranking, you can kiss higher sales goodbye.

Getting ranked higher should be your top priority, and buying backlinks helps get you there.

Reason #3: Beat Your Competition

When you buy backlinks, you get a competitive advantage because you increase your chances of getting top ranks for your target keywords. This puts your website in a position where you will get more of the available monthly search volume for your monthly search volume. The more traffic you get, the less traffic is left over for your competition.

Reason #4: Save Time and Money

Get faster results by buying backlinks and save a tremendous amount of time and money. Not only can you generate sales faster, but you can use this competitive advantage to rank high for even more keywords and earn more money with your website. Your results will scale over time, and it all boils down to ranking quickly and effectively at an affordable price.

Reason #5: Save Money on Expensive Link Outreach

If you’re looking to build backlinks organically, get ready to spend a lot of time sending tons of emails, reaching out to high-quality, third-party sites and practically begging them to link back to your site for free.

This is an effective way of getting backlinks, but it takes a lot of time and you’re not in control.

When you buy backlinks, you get results faster because skip out on all the outreach and link placement negotation.

 How Do Websites Get Quality Backlinks?

Backlink quality all boils down to how relevant the pages linking to your site are to your niche. If the sites linking to your pages are in the same niche as your site, the “link juice” they are sending to your pages has a stronger effect on your ranking.

It is also important to understand that the higher the overall quality of the websites and pages linking to you, the higher the chance you will get more traffic from Google. It all boils down to page authority, link relevance, and niche specificity.

When you buy quality backlinks, you don’t have to worry about finding such quality links because the backlink provider would make sure that the right websites with high-quality SEO metrics are linking to your target pages.

 Be Mindful of the Types of Backlinks You Can Buy

Google understands that many websites use money, products, or services to exchange for backlinks. Google considers any link created through such exchanges as a “paid link.”

The following are the most common forms of paid links. They can cost quite a bit of money.

• Paid link insertions

• Paid guest posts

• Paid directory listings

• Press release distribution services for link building

• Private blog networks or PBNs

How Does Google View Link Buying?

Google is on the record as discouraging paid backlinks. Google doesn’t want businesses such as yours to buy backlinks and boost your search engine results.

Back in the day, businesses were able to use a wide number of methods like the skyscraper technique to attract a lot of links very quickly. Back then, these methods worked very well because not a lot of websites knew about this linkbuilding technique.

Google is perfectly okay when websites earn or attract backlinks naturally without paying for such links.

Anything else, according to Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, involves manipulation of PageRank through the use of paid or purchased links. Google labels these processes as link buying and link building schemes and violates Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.

 What Happens When You Buy Links to Boost Your Rankings?

When Google became aware that many websites were abusing the skyscraper technique, many sites that bought backlinks to implement their skyscraper strategy got penalized.

Google simply reduced the SEO value of purchased backlinks. This had the effect of reducing these websites’ rankings.

 How Much Do Backlinks Typically Cost?

The simple rule of thumb here is the higher the quality of the backlink, the more you should expect to pay. There are lots of websites out there selling backlinks. But it turns out that many of the websites that they’ve set up to sell links from are actually very spammy or have a previous history of selling links to low-quality sites.

Even worse, a lot of these link sources actually have backlinks from low-quality sites. Google considers these websites low quality and any link you get from them might put your website at risk.

It’s much better to do your research and put in the time to buy high-quality links from high authority websites featuring content that was manually created.

Link pricing depends on the domain rating or domain authority of the websites where the links come from. According to a study by Ahrefs, websites typically charge anywhere from $50 on the low end to as much as $2,500 on the high end for each backlink bought. The general rule here is that the higher the domain rating of a backlink source, the higher the price you would expect to pay for such links.

 What Are the Factors That Affect Backlink Pricing?

The amount of money you have to fork over for backlinks depends on following factors:

Factor #1 – The type of website the link comes from

When it comes to buying backlinks, there are generally two types of websites: 1) websites specifically set up for the purpose of selling links and 2) actual websites that get organic traffic.

Know the difference between these two sites. Avoid the first type of site like the plague.

As much as possible, buy only backlinks from organic sites. These sites have actual communities of users who visit them regularly. They get organic traffic from real flesh-and-blood human beings who might actually click on an ad or buy some from your site. The more organic the source is, the higher the chance the backlinks you buy from that source would actually help your ranking.

Factor #2 – How strong is the backlink source’s brand?

Different sites over time establish different brands. If you’re buying cheap backlinks, chances are, the website that you’re getting links from didn’t even bother to build much of an organic brand.

It’s crucial to look into the domain history of the sites selling you a backlink because the longer it has been around and the more established its reader community is, the stronger its brand will be. This helps boost the quality of the link juice you get from that site.

Also, buying links from a well-known brand in your niche helps ensure that the quality of your backlinks remains high over the long haul. Chances are good that other sites will continue to link to that site because it is such an authority in your niche. This fact can only help you over time.

Factor #3 – High editorial control

If you buy a link from a website that doesn’t really care about the content that they use to link back to your site, you should think twice. What this tells you is that they’re just after your money, and they don’t really care about the content that they use to link to your site. This reflects badly on the overall content strategy and quality of their site.

It’s only a matter of time until your backlink source gets penalized by Google. At the very least, the SEO value of the links you’re buying from such a source will probably go down over time.

Pay close attention to the quality of the content that your link will appear in. The more professional and the tighter the creative control of the link source, the more confident you should be that you are buying a backlink that will actually improve your website’s rankings.

Think about these before you buy backlinks

Thanks to AI and Machine Learning, Google’s algorithm is getting better at telling high and low-quality backlinks apart. If you make the mistake of buying low-quality links, your search rankings will get penalized.

Be on the lookout for backlink types that violate Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, such as:

• Do Follow links produced in exchange for cash, services, or products
• Software-generated links automatically created to point to your pages or site
• Anchor text link-heavy guest posting
• Excessive and conspicuous exchanges of links between two sites
• Links created by websites complying with another site’s Terms of Service or due to a contract

 How to Identify Safe Links

Google does allow websites to buy links as long as they are clearly tagged as paid links.

Google requires all paid links to use either of the following:

rel=nofollow
rel=sponsored

Links tagged with nofollow do not pass link juice to the page they are linking to. This tag serves only as a reference since the site linking doesn’t endorse or approve of the page it is linking to.

“Rel=sponsored” refers to links that were created as part of an ad or sponsorship campaign.

You should not buy links with either of the tags above since they don’t pass along Pagerank and your pages’ organic search engine rankings won’t improve.

Even links from websites with solid brands like Entrepreneur and Forbes won’t help you because all their outbound links are tagged “no-follow” by default. Such links won’t improve your rankings because they don’t pass Pagerank to your target pages.

Buy backlinks only from bloggers who have high content standards

The good news is Google can’t tell paid links from unpaid or earned links. Take advantage of this fact by making sure to only buy backlinks from sites with high content quality standards.

Be on the lookout for the following:

• High quality, niche relevant, authoritative information.
• The source site is an established brand in its niche.
• Paid outbound links are mixed with editorial links to high-authority pages.
• Links are mentioned in the content in such a way that you can’t tell which links are non-paid and paid.
• The source site does not have a page saying it sells links in guest posts or other types of content.
• The source site only sells links to other sites that are within its niche, so it maintains a completely natural pattern of outbound links. For example, if the site focuses on finance topics, it only offers to sell links to other sites in the finance niche.
• All outbound links look natural since they don’t use the same anchor tag

The Best Quality Links take time to get

Building a high quality link network requires outreach, quality writing, working with a lot of editors and site publishers, as well as other sources.

A completely natural-looking backlink footprint needs a lot of time to develop. The industry average time for quality link building is around three weeks. Beware of agencies who promise to give you tons of links immediately. They are probably trying to scam you.

Study your competitors’ backlinks and learn from them

Always step a step ahead of your competitors by keeping tabs on both the types and number of links they have. You should also pay close attention to sites who link to them that may also want to link to your site. For example, if your competitors are listed on a high quality site’s ‘resource links” page, you might want to reach out and get your site listed on the page as well.

Set up a Google Alert so you will be notified whenever your competition publishes new content. Once you’re aware of their new content, you can check on the new pages’ backlink footprint. This information will let you know if you need to buy backlinks to boost your pages.

 Step by step guide to buying high quality backlinks

Set up a link quality checklist to quickly determine the quality of links you’re thinking of buying.

Check for the amount of choice you’re given among link packages

Truly professional and effective SEO agencies will always give you a choice when it comes to the quality of links they offer. They will offer you several packages based on source site quality. Stay away from agencies who offer only low authority or non-niche relevant link packages.

Step 1: Ask questions that expose link service quality

Don’t be shy, and make sure to ask the following questions. After all, we’re talking about your hard-earned money:

Will the links produce actual traffic? Will you get a refund if your site doesn’t get any traffic from the link?
Is the link source a solid and established brand that is closely related to the content that will link out to your pages?
Is the content linking to your site closely relevant to the content on your page?
How long will it take them to post up your backlinks?
Can the agency guarantee your backlinks will stay up?
Can the agency show recent clients search rankings?
Will the agency share their list of backlink source domains?

Step 2: Test the quality of the backlinks you want to buy

Check the domains of the sites the backlinks will come from. Do they contain adult or non-English content? Avoid domains that contain hyphens.

Check the Domain Name Servers (DNS) of the backlink domains and see if the DNS carries shady or spammy domains.

Check the Top Level Domain of the backlinking domains and figure out if these TLDs have historically been used for link spam (for example: .info domains)

Step 3: Pay attention to where the links will be placed

Don’t buy sitewide links

Buy only links that are placed in high-visibility locations. Don’t buy links that appear on footers, sidebars, or navigation elements.

Step 4: Pay close attention to content quality

Always read the content of the sites you buy links from. Get a feel for the level of editorial quality of the site. Don’t buy links from sites that have poorly written content or software-generated posts.

Study how the site links out from its pages. Do the links’ naturally flow’ from the content, or do they look forced? Is the link text grammatically correct when read with surrounding page text? Do the article or blog post authors have names? Do they have realistic-looking profiles?

 The 4 Main Ways To Buy Links

If you’re ready to spend your hard-earned money to purchase backlinks, it pays to be mindful of the four main ways site publishers buy these links.

Buy links through a link marketplace

If you’re a link sale newbie and would rather reduce your risks by relying on a specialist, this is the backlink buying method for you. Link marketplaces act as middlemen buyers since they have expertise in finding, analyzing, and buying backlinks. These marketplaces act as agents between link builders and backlink buyers.

Link marketplaces help lower the risk of link buyers getting ripped off by vetting the quality of the links offered by link builders.

Link marketplaces list out link packages from sites with different SEO metrics like Domain Authority. Buyers message or email the marketplace’s account managers, who then place link orders on the buyers’ behalf.

Usually, marketplaces arrange for backlinks by providing website owners free content in exchange for linking out to the marketplaces’ customers.

Link marketplaces typically charge between $100 and $250 for a quality link coming from a high DA site. Linkbuilding using marketplaces can get costly quickly. The good news is these platforms do all the heavy lifting for you.

Buy links through an agency

If you’re busy and are looking only for a low number of backlinks, your best bet may be to buy links through an SEO agency such as 42 Networks. Agencies help customers get backlinks faster since agencies already know the ins and outs of both creating and buying quality backlinks.

The big advantage of going the SEO agency route is you avoid the hassle of having to learn SEO. Agencies charge a monthly retainer and continously work producing content and doing link outreach to get you the backlinks you need for your site to get to Google’s first page.

Credible SEO agencies charge anywhere from $2,000 to $25,000 per month for ongoing link building and search ranking monitoring services.

Hire someone to buy links for your company

Some companies prefer to do in-house link purchasing. They hire, train, and monitor an employee whose sole job is to do SEO backlink outreach, content generation, and link monitoring. This way of buying backlinks is probably the most expensive.

Not only do you have to hire employees, your company also has to invest in SEO tools like Ahrefs or SEMRush as well as email software like Mailshake.

The upside of an in-house link buying team is the high amount of control you have over your team. Your company also will enjoy the added benefit of an incredibly responsive team.

The downside is obvious. Hiring, training, monitoring, and, if needed, replacing team members is expensive both in terms of money and time.

Buy links through private sales

There are many high-profile brand sites that sell do-follow links. The problem is you can’t tell from the outside looking in.

All link sales are made exclusively through direct solicitation. They usually will not reach out to potential link sales customers. You must make the first move and do extensive email outreach to find these private link sellers.

Based on an Ahrefs survey, private link sellers typically charge anywhere between $100 to $2000 per link.

To buy links through private sales, you must pay a private link sales agency to do outreach on your behalf to high-quality sites and arrange a backlink sale. You are charged for the cost of outreach and content on top of the amount charged by the site linking to you. For instance, if the backlink source charges $300 per link, the outreach agency will charge you a total of $600 to cover the $100 cost of the content and the agency’s $200 outreach fee to get your backlink.

The main advantage of buying links through private sellers is that you are more likely to get high-quality backlinks since these are more niche-specific and likely come from branded sites. This way of getting links is cheaper than outsourcing to an SEO agency since you save on retainer fees. This method is also much more affordable than hiring in-house staff.

The downside to direct private link sales is the risk your backlink sources may be selling links to spammy sites. If those websites get busted by Google and their link seller network is exposed, your site might get penalized.

 The Final Word on buying backlinks

Ranking on Google has become more challenging over time. Buying backlinks gives businesses a massive competitive advantage in getting their offers in front of the right eyeballs. Not only do you stand to save a lot of time, you can start generating income from your site sooner rather than later.

Still, you need to buy backlinks correctly, or you’re just wasting your time. Follow the guidelines above to quickly determine which links to buy, the types of sites you should buy backlinks from, and the backlink.