Buying Backlinks: Do Paid Links Work?

Let’s cut to the chase—we'd all be doing it if buying links could guarantee top search rankings. But here's the thing—there are no guarantees.

In fact, buying backlinks can backfire. Instead of boosting your site, Google might penalize you for breaking their rules.

So, why would anyone buy backlinks?

Maybe it's not all doom and gloom. We’ve done our homework, talked to top SEO experts, and drawn from our own link-building experience to give you the full scoop.

In this article, you’ll find out:

• Whether buying links is a risky move.
• Why SEO pros still buy links despite the risks.
• How much backlinks cost and why.
• Where to buy links if you’re set on it.
• If paid links actually work.
• How to buy links safely.

Is Purchasing Backlinks Risky?

Yes, buying links is risky.

Google's crystal clear—buying links goes against their policies.

If you’re caught, a few things could happen:

• Rankings tank: Your site could be penalized, causing a sudden drop in search rankings.
• Money wasted: Google might ignore the paid links altogether, meaning no boost for your site.

Buying backlinks can be a risky investment and against Google's guidelines. Even without penalties, ignored links mean wasted cash.

It's not a long-term strategy.

The best way to build backlinks?

Create linkable assets, do digital PR, claim unlinked mentions, and build relationships with bloggers in your niche.

Still thinking about it? According to Antonis Dimitriou, "sponsored" links (rel=sponsored) might be a safer bet, but it’s not sustainable.

Buying backlinks is risky and I’d personally recommend not buying backlinks.

Buying links goes against Google’s guidelines and even if you don’t get penalized, Google may ignore such links, which means a wasted budget.

Buying links is not a long-term strategy though.

Much to say here, to be honest. But, in general, I believe that the best way to build backlinks is via other ways such as creating linkable assets, doing digital PR, claiming unlinked mentions, relationship link building, etc.

If I were to buy backlinks, I’d probably buy “sponsored” links (rel=sponsored) for parasite SEO reasons.

Buying links is not a long-term strategy though.

Do site owners always get penalized for buying backlinks? Not really. Paying for a relevant link from a reputable source, like through guest posting, can be undetectable by Google.

This means that if done correctly, your site is unlikely to suffer penalties. Instead, it’s important to ensure these links are high-quality and naturally integrated to avoid any potential issues.

Usually, Google flags shady practices when they see a sudden surge in backlinks, especially for new sites. That said, let’s dive into these and other red flags to watch out for when buying links.

Pay for backlinks: a risky bet

We've done some serious digging, especially after Google's March updates, and the results are eye-opening.

Imagine tracking over 40,000 websites selling links and watching them take a nosedive. It's like a car crash in slow motion.

Here's the reality check:

Paid Sites in June 2023: 44,276

Paid Sites with 200 Server Responses (April 2024): 31,388

Paid Sites with 3XX, 4XX, 5XX Server Responses: 12,888

That's right, about 29% of paid sites are dead.

For the 31,388 sites still hanging on, it's not exactly sunshine and rainbows. A whopping 11,000 of them have less than 100 pages indexed by Google. So much for getting seen!

Traffic-wise, the picture isn't any rosier. In June 2023, there were 7,560 sites with traffic over 1,000. Fast forward to April 2024, and that number shrinks to 6,361. Only 6.6% of sites saw a positive traffic trend.

So, what's the takeaway?

Sure, you can buy links, but don't expect them to work miracles. The chances of seeing good outcomes are slim to none. Instead, Google's updates are more likely to chop those paid links down, leaving you with zero benefits—or worse, hurting your site's performance.

Red Flags for Paid Link Building

Planning to buy links? Well, it’s often inevitable.

Watch out for these major red flags below.

Massive link acquisition in a short time

Snagging thousands of links overnight is a big no-no. Such a sudden spike in backlinks screams manipulation and will attract Google's attention, potentially resulting in penalties and a significant drop in search engine rankings. Instead, focus on organic and gradual link building to maintain a natural growth pattern that aligns with Google's guidelines.

Fiverr link builders

Freelancers can be great, but be wary of Fiverr. Many sellers on Fiverr peddle black hat practices disguised as white hat SEO. This can result in low-quality backlinks that might harm your site's SEO. It's crucial to choose wisely, ensuring you vet freelancers thoroughly and opt for those with proven, ethical practices.

*The pricing package of a Fiverr link builder is the biggest red flag 🚩 to beware of.

Low-quality or irrelevant websites

Links from low-quality or off-topic sites won’t boost your SEO and might flag you to Google for suspicious activities. It's essential to seek backlinks from reputable and relevant websites to enhance your site's authority and avoid potential penalties from search engines.

Cheap backlinks

Quality comes at a price. Those too-good-to-be-true offers for cheap links are exactly that. Cheap links can lead to bigger headaches and wasted money as they are often from low-quality sources that provide no real SEO benefit and may even harm your site’s reputation.

🔗 Related article: Link Building Pricing: How Much Does One Link Cost in 2024?

PBNs (Private Blog Networks)

PBNs are a network of websites created solely to generate backlinks. While they might offer a quick boost in links, search engines hate PBNs and can penalize sites associated with them. Using PBNs can destroy your rankings and should be avoided in favor of more ethical and sustainable link-building strategies.

When buying links, remember that quality and relevance matter most. Stick to reputable and trusted sources and avoid shortcuts.

Why Do SEO Experts Still Acquire Links?

Buying links often gets a bad rap, yet many SEO pros continue to invest in them.

Here's why.

It can give fast results

Going the organic route for link building can take months before you see any real improvement in rankings. For example, according to our recent survey of 113 SEO experts, 54% of them build 5-20 high-quality backlinks per month.

These SEO experts know that backlinks are crucial for ranking. A study by Backlinko revealed that top-ranking pages have significantly more backlinks than lower-ranking ones.

This means, to outrank competitors, you need more links—often a lot more.

Like a human being, in order to survive, you need food, right? In order to rank, in 99% of cases you need links.

Want to rank for a competitive keyword like "how to set up Instagram ads"? You'll need more than 151 links from unique domains to beat the top page. Without paying for links, acquiring this many backlinks can take an eternity.

Control over placements

Earning links organically, like we do at Editorial.Link, is time-consuming and labor-intensive. Buying links, however, gives you control.

You can choose where your links appear, what anchor text to use, and ensure the surrounding content is relevant. This level of control lets you fine-tune your link profile and boost rankings faster.

SEOs buy backlinks as doing link building the “white-hat” way requires a considerable amount of time and effort. 

Buying backlinks also lets you control link juice (PageRank) better, by targeting the pages you want.

So, combine these two and now you know why people buy links.

Exclusive placements

Some high-authority sites are almost impossible to secure links from without paying. Paying for sponsored content can open doors to these hard-to-reach places.

It might be expensive, but it’s often the only way to get links from top-tier sites.

Quick boost for new sites

New websites need more domain authority (DA) to earn backlinks. I’ve recently run a live experiment that clearly showed that DA and DR metrics are often manipulated.

Yet many webmasters still rely on them.

After all. buying high-authority links can quickly boost a site's DA, making it appear more credible and attractive for future partnerships.

Here’s one more interesting fact from our recent survey:

About 31% of SEO experts spend less than $300 per high-quality link, 23% spend between $400 and $600, and only 14.1% spend over $600.

That said, while buying links is fraught with risks, it offers immediate results, control over link placements, and access to exclusive sites. So before you buy, make sure you’re making informed, strategic decisions to avoid potential pitfalls.

How Much Does a Backlink Cost?

The cost of a paid link depends on how and where you get it. Here’s a breakdown of prices based on the type and source of a link.

Tiered backlinks

Tiered backlinks are a strategy in link building where multiple layers (or tiers) of backlinks are created to support and strengthen each other, mimicking a natural and diversified link profile.

In this approach, the first tier is usually high-authority backlinks acquired through guest posts or sponsored content. As you move down the pyramid, the criteria for link quality become more relaxed.

The cost of tiered backlinks can vary based on the complexity of the link-building structure. Prices for tiered backlinks often range from $50 to a few hundred dollars, depending on the number of tiers and the quality of the sources.

🚩 This is one of the riskiest link acquisition methods, and we at Editorial.Link don’t recommend it.

Editorial links

Editorial links are one of the safest approaches to building paid links. The approach involves strategically placing links within existing, relevant content on established websites.

It’s like earning editorial links (organic inbound links from large publications) but through outreach. To gain niche links, you need to proactively reach out to site owners and journalists, asking them to make changes to their articles, reviews, or news features.

Being contextually integrated into high-quality content and looking natural, they are also often among the priciest link acquisition methods.

But why?

The thing is, people are hardly ever eager to add links to their content, and for good reason. Alongside excellent communication skills, you also need to have a significant budget to succeed at niche edits link building.

Prices for niche edits can range from $200 to well over $1000 per link. The more credible and authentic the source of the link, the higher the cost.

🚨 The Editorial.Link team will get highly relevant editorial links for your website. We only practice proven relationship-based link-building techniques to gain backlinks from sites like podium.com, monday.com, envato.com, cloudways.com, wordstream.com, and others.

Sponsored content links

When you collaborate with a website to publish a sponsored article that either explicitly or implicitly promotes your brand, you naturally receive a link to your site, or even a bunch of links, with it.

Depending on the authority of the sponsored site and the specs of your sponsored content, prices may range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars per article.

Why Do Links Cost So Much?

Quality links are expensive because they take time, effort, and resources to get. 

Back in the day, you could create unique content and attract organic links. Now, competition is fierce, and quality content alone rarely gets you tons of referring domains without an established brand.

When we think about the quality of a backlink, we need to understand what and who is behind it. 

For instance, imagine a team of top-tier marketing experts who have crafted an article. They share their unique experiences and insights, placing their work on the reputable blog of a company valued at over 1 billion dollars. In contrast, elsewhere there is an AI-generated article published on a website that was created just yesterday. 

What’s common between these two examples? They both can be perceived as forms of link-building. However, consider the amount of resources required to make each of these events happen. This is why quality backlinks can cost a lot. And remember, one high-quality backlink can have a greater impact than 100 average ones. Quality matters and it often comes at a higher cost, but it is worth it.

Is It Safe to Purchase Links?

Yes, you can buy quality links safely if you avoid shady practices like link farms and PBNs. Do your homework on websites and outreach.

“Safe” is a strong word, but not buying links is usually not an option.

Doing your own due diligence on websites AND your own outreach is by far the safest way to buy a link.

As safe as it can be, at least.

Paid guest posts are the safest, in my opinion, but paid link insertions are the most effective when done right.

Someone should also consider the sum of their links – you have to maintain your link profile as natural as possible

Here’s a quick checklist to validate potential placements:

• Check site legitimacy: Make sure the website is a real business or reputable media source.
• Check IP address and neighbors: Avoid sites that share IPs with shady domains.
• Review the number of links: Too many low-quality links are a red flag.
• Use our Link Type Classifier: See if the site sells links or builds them naturally.
• Look at anchor texts: Diverse, contextually relevant anchor texts are ideal.
• Monitor traffic trends: Consistent or growing traffic indicates credibility.

There are so-called foundation links that are very powerful and important nowadays, such as citations, press releases, and social profiles. Google values these a lot.

There’s digital PR, where you pitch stories to journalists, and it’s definitely the best way to acquire links, although not the easiest.

Build Links Risk-Free With a Reliable Partner

When you are involved in link buying, nobody can guarantee you positive results. The good news is that there’s a way to enjoy the benefits of paid backlinks without the risks. Partner up with Editorial.Link, and our experts will gain high-quality contextual links for your website from our wide network of vetted sources.