Buying backlinks? Now that’s a controversial topic within search engine optimization. For some it might seem an effective way to boost their SEO rankings but the risk involved can prove to be more costly than the reward. This article will discuss what paid backlinks are, why users buy them, what are the advantages, and how to do link building in a relatively safer way.
The Risks of Buying Backlinks
One thing that needs to be understood is the fact that purchasing backlinks is highly dangerous and carries extreme risk for the overall SEO health of your business. There are a couple of factors that need to be kept in mind:
Risk 1: Google Zenith 4.0 and 2016 update
Since the inception on the Penguin 4.0 update by Google, the algorithm has evolved to include features that enable it to detect paid or spammy backlinks and completely ignore them. These ignored links only prove to be a waste of money as they do not assist in delivering any SEO advantages making your investment in it worthless.
Risk 2: Paid Links and Google
TSLT94 ? Wrong. Try again. Or perhaps you spent too much on those paid links. If search engine reviewers discover any links in your backlink profile that are marked paid, voilla, you will be penalized.
- Pro Tip: You can check for manual actions in the “Manual Actions” report in Google Search Console.
Why Do People Still Buy Backlinks?
As strange as it may seem, people are still purchasing and selling Backlinks. Some of such people insightful people say that as long as it works why mess with a winning strategy, Others provide more logical reasons which include:
Reason 1: Buying is Effective and Less Cumbersome
When establishing a business, gaining backlinks through the natural growth of your website should be a paramount goal this however is understood to be one of the hardest things to do for a website. Alas, the quality of your content doesn’t seem to matter since many website owners want monetary compensation for linking even when the content is of high quality.
Reason 2: Buying Backlinks is not always easy to track.
It is expected from a lot of professionals that it it easier to rely on paid backlinks and not get caught by google’s algorithms. This is how alternate forms of backlinks come into the picture, deceptive paid links or unpaid links. It is for this reason that there are lots of professionals and Ethos of solidifying a brand in competitors niches, through strategies that involve backlinks.
- Example: While searching through a specific casino website for available links, A lot of people came across a high ranking anchor text that was unnatural and suspicious. This temporarily might have had an effect on the rankings, and may or may not have now been ignored or even severely punished by google.
How Much Do Paid Backlinks Cost?
When considering purchasing paid backlinks, do keep in mind all possible sources of strategies and tools with how to acquire them as the prices may differ.
Average Price
On an Average an paid link would cost around $83 when surveyed by Authority Hacker. Although this does depend on what niche you are looking for link in what website authority it has, what type of link, and many other factors.
Affordable Links
Fiverr has packages for backlink ranging from as low as three dollars. But, spam back links would come with a price tag of low back links and would do nothing for your rankings.
- Conclusion: Back links coming off low end sites and built for cheap will simply just sit idle and eventually would leave damage onto your site.
How to Purchase Back Links
These are used by most people looking to buy back links Through:
Niche Edits
Inserting a link to a web page that already exists through a link on the website.
In an experiment conducted on 450 sites across 9 niches, the average rate was $361.44.
Paid for Guest Posts
In articles containing links to your page, the author pays them to put critical articles in their websites.
The price averaged around $77.80
PBNs (Private Blog Networks )
Viral sites with affiliate links boosting one central site.
Important Notice: These are on the decline because of Google’s ability to counter and the risk that comes with them.
Why Paying For Links Is So Expensive?
The expensive price of links is linked to the great returns they carry. It is obvious that if a website grows to rank high for very competitive phrases, revenues would pour in. To illustrate, a casino website could commission many affiliate accounts making a backlink very much valuable.
Unfortunately, the majority of website owners and link sellers don’t understand the working of SEO. This has inflated the market since even substandard websites can charge outlandish prices for crappy links.
Full Proof Ways of Linking
Moreover, when creating backlinks, employ ethical strategies instead of seeking to purchase them, which has proven to be cost effective. When seeking to build links consider the following two approaches:
- Create Link-Worthy Content
Bring in original quality content so that link building becomes a cinch. This could include:
a. Outdating new ideas
b. Breakthrough studies on certain topics
c. Intensive and relaxing tutorials
d. Videos, images and other assets that can be shared interplayfully.
- Outreach for Earned Links
Be proactive in locating suitable sourced websites regarding your content, by reaching out or emailing them. Ensure you:
a. Approach trustworthy and authoritative sites
b. Provide informative content that they do not have which fit perfectly into their articles or blogs.
How to Vet a Website for Link Building
It is when you are either acquiring links or purchasing links or even staring up your sites, making sure that your website has prospects are essentials. Remember these notes when interrogating such prospects and future partners:
- Is the Site Legitimate?
To buy such domains or websites, your utmost attention should be on the design elements, content, and credibility of the site. Move away from purchasing websites that have been identified to be under a PBN and have for example, poor construction, amateurish images, or lack appropriate author bios.
- Does It Get Consistent Traffic?
A website that is characteristically resilient when it comes to organic traffic will have a good backlink. Ahrefs’ Site Explorer can be used for the purposes of looking at the sites traffic activity. Steer away from websites that experience irregularities in traffic because of one month, as they have been sanctioned by Google.
- Are There Any Links That Are Offered For Sale?
There are also indications of link selling such as the unnatural positioning of links and placing too many links directing to pages with the same anchor texts. These are warning signs that the site may face future penalties.
- Is There A History Of Buying Links?
Website owners that have a tendency to purchase backlinks are likely to be penalized. To detect unnatural software links that are extremely conspicuous utilize ahrefs.
- Is It Relevant To The Content?
Consider whether the information contained in the link you are providing is important for the content. For instance, in the hopes of increasing outreach effectiveness, pitch out links to unique data sets or comprehensive guides on how to complete certain tasks.
Should We Purchase Backlinks?
Employing internet links is a gamble and inviting penalties makes it a gamble for real businesses. Even though it’s not a crime, it has the potential to ruin the internet space as well as interfere with your future SEO work.
In the event that you decided to buy links, know what you are putting yourself into and take the necessary steps needed. Though, concentrating on creating valuable content and partnerships via outreach is still the most secure and effective means of collaborating.
Conclusion
It is true that backlinks are a ranking component but creating them still has a certain order of relevance. Links can be purchased, but such a method is not only more expensive, but oftentimes gives a higher penalty risk from Google than profit.
This means that you can try purchasing links, but at the end you are striking a good deal with high quality content and good outreach, however, it does take time. Look at it from a long term perspective and let the well-designed content do the work for you.