Is Buying Backlinks a Good Idea? : Here’s What Experts Say! (Updated 2024)

If you have some idea about SEO, you know this is a long waiting game. You usually have to run your campaign for months and sometimes years to see any noticeable results. Over time, search engines like Google and Bing keep updating their algorithms and you find yourself adjusting your SEO tactics to keep up with the changes.

Sometimes you see your rankings improve and after some time they drop when your competition takes over those keywords. Then you do it all over again to recover from lost rankings and feel like you will never get out of this never-ending loophole.

However, there are some SEO strategies whose effectiveness has not changed for a long time. Link building is one great example but it takes time, patience, and effort to leverage its benefits. That’s when website owners and SEO experts want to buy backlinks to save time and get quick results.

But should you buy backlinks for SEO? If yes, what kind of backlinks to buy? What are the short-and long-term impacts of buying backlinks?

Is Buying Backlinks Really a Good Idea?

Not really. Google considers this as a violation of their webmaster guidelines. This is because their goal is simply to provide users with the most relevant and useful search results possible. Buying backlinks undermines this goal by artificially improving a website’s ranking and making it more difficult for users to find high-quality content.

Google has a number of algorithms in place that are designed to detect and penalize websites that engage in link buying. If your website is caught buying backlinks, you could be subjected to a manual penalty or a drop in your search engine ranking.

How Does Google Know if You Have Bought Backlinks?

Google uses some methods to detect backlinks that have been bought or sold, such as:

• Analyzing the anchor text

The anchor text is the text used to link to another website. If an anchor text is too spammy or unnatural, it is a red flag that the backlink has not been acquired naturally.

• Looking at the linking website

Google looks at the linking website to see if it is a high-quality website or not. Sites that have sold links to you must have done the same for everyone else. So, it is not hard for Google to find out what’s really going on without having to check out the transactions.

• Tracking the link velocity

Google tracks how many backlinks a website gets over a period of time. If a website suddenly receives a large number of backlinks, they will know you are trying to artificially manipulate their system.

• Using machine learning

Google also uses machine learning to analyze backlinks and identify patterns that suggest if backlinks have been bought or sold or exchanged.

What Risks Do You Face if You Buy Backlinks?

Even if your other SEO tactics are white hat but Google identifies that your backlinking strategy is against their guidelines, this may have the following consequences:

• Your website could be penalized by Google

If your website is caught buying backlinks, you could be subjected to a manual penalty or a drop in your ranking.

What is a manual penalty? This type of penalty is applied to a website by a human reviewer at Google. This is usually applied when a website is found to be violating Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.

If your website is affected by a manual penalty, you will receive a notification in Google Search Console like this:

The notification will provide you with information about the reason for the penalty and what you need to do to fix the problem.

The spam links will also be shown:

Once you have fixed the problem, you can submit a reconsideration request to Google. If Google is satisfied that you have taken the necessary steps, they will remove the penalty soon.

• Your website could be seen as spammy

If that happens, you will be notified with a similar notification:

Be ready to see a decrease in traffic to your website and a loss of trust from potential customers.

• You could waste your money

There is no guarantee that buying backlinks will improve your ranking. In fact, there is a risk that you could waste your money on backlinks that have no effect or even harm your rankings, especially if you end up with toxic backlinks because of poor link-building practices.

For example, some may engage in black hat SEO techniques, such as buying links or participating in link schemes to artificially boost their rankings. Others may unknowingly acquire toxic backlinks through spammy comments, link exchanges with irrelevant sites, or by hiring low-quality SEO services.

Why Do People Still Buy Backlinks?

Google Search Essentials – previously known as Webmaster Guidelines – are there to help improve the quality of their search results, and then there is the reality where you cannot adhere to all of their guidelines religiously.

Link building is a perfect example of this. In this context, even if you prepare high-quality content following the editorial guidelines of the website that you want a link from, they will still ask for money.

The higher the Domain Authority (DA) of the website, the more they will charge.

So, there is no doubt that you will have to fix a link building budget as part of your SEO campaign if you want to buy high quality backlinks and gain benefits like:

• Improved rankings

When reputable websites link to your site, Google sees it as a signal that your content is valuable and trustworthy. This means your rankings will improve and you will get to enjoy increased organic traffic.

• Increased website visibility

With increased traffic, you will be exposed to a wider audience that will engage with your business. You can be sure that there will be more leads and sales from the higher number of visitors.

• Faster indexing

If you buy quality backlinks, this might help Google discover and index your website more quickly. This means you will get quicker results. But you have to be concerned about link velocity that we talked about earlier. Too many links given to your website in a little time period will look suspicious for sure.

• Establishing authority

If you get a good number of links from authoritative websites, this will make your website a reliable source of information. This will boost your reputation and credibility in your industry or niche.

• Referral traffic

Referral traffic is a valuable source of new visitors for your website. When someone clicks on a link to your site from another website, they are likely to be interested in the content that you have to offer. This means that referral traffic is more engaging and more likely to convert into leads or customers.

How Much Does Link Building Cost?

According to Startup Bonsai, the average cost of paid backlink is around $360.

The cost varies depending on a number of factors, including:

• The quality of the links
• The industry you are in
• The size of your budget
• The type of link building you choose

In general, you can expect to pay anywhere from $50 to over $2,000 per do-follow link. The higher the popularity and authority, the more you have to pay.

Note: Domain Authority can be easily manipulated these days. Don’t just jump at high-DA links without looking into other factors like monthly traffic and traffic source, domain trust flow, spam score, relevant niches, and external links.

If you decide to work with a reputable SEO agency or a digital marketing service provider, they may offer link building services as part of a broader SEO package. If you buy backlink packages, the price range will be anywhere from a few hundred dollars per month to several thousand dollars, depending on the scope and scale of your campaign.

What Type of Backlinks to Buy?

Here are the best types of backlinks you should have because they are seen by search engines as the most valuable types:

• Editorial backlinks

Editorial backlinks are created when your content, like an article or infographic, is referenced as the source of information when someone quotes a representative from your business, or when your site is featured in a collection of links about a specific topic.

These are the best types of backlinks you can think about. To get these editorial backlinks, you should create content that is always relevant and establishes you as an expert in your field. This will make people want to interview you or feature your brand on their websites. You should also create content that is easy to share and grabs people’s attention with the potential to become popular.

Although technically these are organic backlinks that cannot be purchased, Google does not care if they are totally natural, paid, or obtained for free after a request as long as they are not spammy.

• Guest blogging

The process is simple – you write a blog post for another website and include a link back to your own website. This common link building practice is seen in almost any SEO strategy. Always look for credible sources to build a strong backlink profile.

• Business profiles

When you create a business profile on websites like Yelp, Clutch, Google My Business, or LinkedIn, you can usually add a link to your website. Google sees these links as evidence that your website is legitimate and has been around for a while.

• Resource page backlinks

Resource pages are pages that list helpful resources, tools, apps, products, services, media, or websites on a particular topic. If you manage to buy high PR dofollow backlink from a resource page, you will see the benefits soon for sure.

• Guest post bio links

Guest post bio links are links that you can include in the author biography section when you write a guest post for another website. When you contribute a guest post, you have the opportunity to share a little about yourself in the author bio at the end of the post. This bio usually includes a brief description of who you are and what you specialize in, along with a link to your own website or social media profiles.

• PR Backlinks

PR backlinks are links from news articles or other high-authority websites to your website. They are called PR backlinks because they are often obtained through public relations (PR) efforts. You need to engage in effective public relations strategies to get PR backlinks, such as crafting compelling press releases, pitching story ideas to journalists or bloggers, and building relationships with influencers in your industry.

• .edu or .gov backlinks

These top-level domains (TLDs) are associated with educational institutions and government agencies that are highly authoritative and trustworthy sources of information. This means if you can buy edu backlinks, you may even see your page ranks soaring overnight!

What Type of Backlinks to Avoid?

If you have run a link building campaign before or are doing it now, you know how much time and effort it takes. You do not want your money and hard work to go wasted because of a bad SEO decision.

Check out these toxic backlinks that you should avoid at all costs:

• Spammy links

Backlinks from irrelevant or low-authority websites can hurt your rankings. These websites are often created just to generate backlinks, and they don’t provide any real value to users.

One example of this is a private blog network (PBN). A PBN is a network of websites that are created or purchased for the sole purpose of manipulating search engine rankings. The owner of a PBN will set up multiple websites and use them to link back to their main website, also known as the “money site.” The goal is to artificially boost the rankings of the money site by creating a network of backlinks.

• Irrelevant links

Irrelevant backlinks are links from websites that are not related to your industry, niche, or content. These backlinks come from a variety of sources, such as link farms, spam websites, and even your competitors.

When search engines notice too many irrelevant backlinks pointing to your website, they might interpret it as an attempt to manipulate their system. This can lead to your website being penalized, which means it will rank lower in search results.

• Comment spam

Spam comments are when people or bots leave comments on websites with the only purpose of adding a link to their own website. These comments are often irrelevant or generic, and they do not add any value to the discussion. You should remove them as soon as you find them.

• Forum backlinks

Forum backlinks are often created by automated software or people who are trying to game the system. This means that they are often irrelevant to your website and do not provide any real value.

If you have a lot of spammy forum backlinks, they can hurt the reputation of your platform. If your SEO agency adds it to your link building tactics, cancel your contract and look for a better one.

• Foreign language websites

Backlinks from reputed foreign language websites can be valuable if you are targeting an international audience. But that’s not always the case.

For example, if your website is in English, then backlinks from a foreign language site are not going to be relevant to the majority of your visitors. This means they will not help you rank for English keywords.

• Non-indexed websites

When a website is indexed, it means that search engines have analyzed its content and stored information about it in their databases. A non-indexed website is a website that has not been crawled by Google. Since they are not visible to search engines, getting links from them won’t help with your SEO.

When to Buy Backlinks?

If you are just starting out with a new website, it’s not a good idea to buy backlinks right now. You will get more out of your time and money by focusing on creating high-quality content and building relationships with other website owners.

Once you have a well-established website with a good amount of content, it is time to kick off your link building endeavor. But be careful! Not all backlinks carry the same weight as said before. You want to make sure that you are buying backlinks from high-quality websites that are also relevant to your niche.

How to Analyze Backlinks?

Here we will show you how to analyze backlinks of a website with Semrush

Step 1: Go to Semrush.com and create a new account (or log in if you already have an account).

Step 2: Type in the URL of the website you want to search and click the “Search” button.

Step 3:  You will be shown the number of backlinks the site currently has. Just click here and you will see the whole profile, including the source websites and their authority scores, anchor texts, indexing dates, and more.

Before you run your link building campaign, you have to ensure that the links you are trying to acquire will be valued by Google. This means they should be “do-follow links” with proper anchor texts from high DA sites.

• Choose the sites you want to analyze

This could be your own website, your competitors’ websites, or a combination of both.

•  Select an auditing tool

There are many free and paid tools available, such as Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Moz.

• Get a quick overview

Once you select an auditing tool, enter your domain name or the domain name of your competitor into the search bar and look at the results. You’ll start with a ton of data, so focus on these metrics:

• The total number of backlinks
• Referring domains
• Domain Rating (DR)
• Anchor text
• Link type (dofollow/nofollow)

• Analyze the details

Once you have a general overview of your backlink profile, you can start to analyze the details. This includes looking at the following:

• The quality of the referring domains
• The relevance of the anchor text
• The numb