Getting the best links can sometimes seem like quite an ordeal. Your competitors are using every trick available, so you can't afford to fall behind.
And that, unfortunately, means costs. Sometimes quite large ones. Just where do all these costs come from? Why link building can't be cheap!
Well, the simple truth is that investing in quality comes with a higher price. As is usually the case, working with professionals increases the cost of getting the desired results. Want to find out what makes up the cost of a backlink campaign? Read on!
It is worth knowing that:
- Link building is one of the key components of effective SEO strategies - it is essential for improving your website's visibility and position in search engine rankings.
- The costs associated with link building range from about PLN 500 to over PLN 50,000 per month. They depend mainly on the quality of the links and who and how much is involved in the link building process.
- Building links in-house can give you full control over the process, but it requires a significant amount of work, expertise and additional expenses. Hiring a professional team can be more efficient, but it is important to pay attention to their pricing structure and the quality and transparency of their work.
How much does link building cost in 2024?
Monthly expenditures on link building (link building) can be roughly equal to the amount needed to rent a hotel room for one night. So it depends very much on the quality expected.
In general, link-building costs can range from £500 to more than £50,000 per month.
That's it in a nutshell. The exact amount depends on how much attention you pay to the quality of your links.
Moreover, you need to decide whether you want to try to improve your site's visibility on your own or hire a team of professionals to do it on your behalf.
Each approach to link building has its pros and cons, so the choice is primarily yours!
Building links on your own, or working with an agency?
The first option gives you full control over the entire process. For example, you don't have to spend money on content writing or blogger outreach services. Instead, you spend your time and energy doing these tasks at your own pace.
This, of course, requires some level of expertise or an internal SEO team within your company.
Working with an agency is much more convenient and cost-effective. You take care of your tasks, while the experts do their best to increase the visibility of your site.
It is natural that you may want to choose the most cost-effective agency. Keep in mind, however, that taking shortcuts on backlinks can be counterproductive!
Low-quality links can damage your reputation, as well as your marketing budget, in many ways - if only through toxic links blocked by search engines.
Of course, some agencies offer cheaper services compared to their competitors, but it is worth using common sense. If an offer seems too good to be true, it often is.
Acquiring quality links takes a bit more time and effort - and therefore money. Here's a more detailed breakdown of link building costs.
Cost of link building
According to Ahrefs, the average cost of getting a backlink in 2023 was $361.44. As for guest posting - that is, a situation in which you already have a text ready to publish - the price was much more affordable, at an average of $77.80. Today, these amounts may be slightly higher, if only through inflation.
Nevertheless, these are prices for one link only! They do not include other expenses that need to be taken into account when creating a new link building campaign.
If you decide to set up an in-house SEO team, and actually link building, your costs will include:
- Link manager: If you are not an experienced link builder, you will need to hire someone to provide you with expert assistance. This role can be filled by a link building manager. In the Polish market, the average salary for this position ranges between PLN 5,000 and PLN 10,000 depending on experience.
- Content Writer/Copywriter: Another potential expense to consider is the cost of creating engaging and well-researched content.
- The salary of an experienced copywriter is in a similar range to that of a link manager. You can also consider freelancers - with a small amount of effort, it can be more profitable.
- Link building software: This seemingly innocuous component can drive up costs significantly. Analytics, keyword research, tools to find potential backlinks... All of this can add up to $500 per month!
- Outreach Assistant: Contacting webmasters, looking for potential partners and similar tasks can be very time-consuming. You probably want someone to take care of this for you. The market rates for outreach assistants are similar to the others on this list.
Generally speaking, having an in-house outreach team and building links on your own will cost more than £300,000 per year. It's pretty easy to tell why hiring an in-house link building team is not something site owners do often.
Then how do you get the links cheaper?
An alternative is to work with an SEO agency that offers link building services. The main reason why outsourcing these tasks is a more cost-effective approach is its scalability.
The SEO agency already has the required resources and experience to build links for you. Operating costs are spread over multiple clients, which significantly reduces the price.
Our agency is committed to ensuring that the services we provide are best suited to the needs of your business. For this reason, we decided to create modular SEO services.
Imagine blocks from which you build an airplane, a crane, or even a simple house. Every block in this puzzle is needed, and the ones that are not, stay in the box. Or on a shelf in a store.
Likewise, each module of our SEO services can be combined and transformed into a well-structured strategy that increases visibility brick by brick - without unnecessary add-ons.
What are the costs? It all comes down to strategy, or lack thereof.
- If you have the right SEO strategy and you're just looking for someone to build links for you, you can expect prices starting at around $100 for a low DR link.
- If you don't have an SEO or link building strategy, many agencies (including ours!) offer more elaborate packages with at least a few links per phase of a project or given strategy.
The monthly cost of running a link-building strategy with the help of an agency starts at around $250 for low-volume services to more than $20,000 for strategies spanning a multi-month campaign.
Why should you consider buying backlinks?
The answer to this question is quite simple:
More links = more website traffic
Of course, this is quite an oversimplification, but link building in the long run increases the chances of a continuous increase in site traffic.
This works in two ways.
In the first place, links generate direct traffic, that is, traffic in which users of the site linking to you come to your site directly through those links.
However, what you care more about when it comes to SEO is organic traffic - a good link portfolio increases your site's position in search engines, and thus it has a better chance of attracting visitors.
As data from one of our recent case studies, organic traffic can account for more than 75% of a site's total traffic!
What factors affect the cost of links?
The cost of resources needed for link building is relatively easy to calculate because it is fairly predictable.
Less predictable, however, is the website to which links are created.
Solutions that work on one site may not work on another.
While general SEO tactics are more or less the same for most projects, applying the exact same approach to all websites is very often counterproductive.
Here are some key aspects that can drastically change the approach to any site:
Niche
What niche does the site operate in?
The difficulty of linking is not only affected by the question of what kind of content it needs or who your competitors are.
Difficult niches such as gambling, adult industries, or cryptocurrencies usually require more work. This is due to two (somewhat related) reasons:
- Many sites try to avoid sensitive topics related to these niches. Getting a link to a gardening site from a lifestyle blog is much easier than a link to an online casino. The more sensitive the topic, the more limited the options.
- Websites dedicated to niche topics such as gambling, CBD or cryptocurrencies are notorious for black-hat SEO practices. At one time, many websites based their visibility on such shady practices, making Google still much more sensitive to them. Take extra precautions when building links for such sites!
Content
Does the site offer valuable content? If so, it will be much easier to convince others to link to it.
If the content isn't the best, it's worth reviewing and improving it before starting a link building campaign.
What's more, link building often involves publishing blog posts - and to have any success at that, you also need decent content.
This is especially important after the release of Google's Helpful Content Update, which has set the bar for high-quality content even higher than before.
Creative flexibility
How flexible is the brand in relation to content marketing and how is it perceived online?
Some brands and websites develop their online presence in ways that affect the ease or difficulty of link building.
For example, a brand with a corporate tone and strict content marketing policies may find it difficult to create engaging content that attracts backlinks, compared to a brand with a more laid-back, user-engaging approach.
This creativity can also be reflected in the type of content produced.
If you can create unique and engaging content, such as infographics, videos or research, it will probably be easier for you to build links than just by creating blog posts.
Brand power
Everyone loves to work with well-known brands.
When your brand is very popular, it is easier to build links. This is because people tend to link to brands that are well known and trusted, recognizing their authority and credibility.
Lesser-known brands, on the other hand, usually have to put in more effort and resources to convince others to link to their content. However, this does not mean that it is impossible!
Link quality
Not all links are created equal is a saying that is the mantra of many link builders. Despite how cliched it is, there is still a grain of truth in it.
After all, it should come as no surprise to anyone that a link from a trusted and authoritative site will have much more value than a link from a lesser-known site.
Hence comes the question of whether to choose a few high-quality links from top-ranking sites, or more links from lower-ranking sites.
Both tactics are as correct as possible, and both can be profitable if done correctly - so the choice largely depends on the overall goals of the SEO campaign.
The value of links for company visibility
You already know what goes into the cost of link building and how it can be approached, so there is still one important issue left.
What value do they bring to your online business?
This is a question we get quite often. Links remain one of the most important SEO ranking factors. They have a significant impact on search engines - they are proof of the authoritativeness and credibility of the content you share.
No matter what you're trying to accomplish online, links can help you achieve that goal.
Do you want to promote an event, share your passion with others or make money by selling products or services?
Acquiring backlinks from credible and relevant sources is an excellent first step!
Of course, building random links where the opportunity arises will not yield good results without more strategy. You need to plan and strategize. Only then will you be able to unleash their true potential.
Other significant benefits of link acquisition:
- Increasing brand awareness,
- An increase in the authoritativeness of creators associated with the brand,
- increasing credibility,
- Driving traffic to the site.
What to consider before buying or creating links
Finding a fair deal when it comes to link building prices depends on a thorough understanding of your business.
Without knowing the site's development potential, its needs and emerging risks, it may be impossible to determine which offerings are best suited to a given situation.
Even if you use a fairly typical pricing scale for overall link-building costs as a benchmark, this may not be sufficient to determine the most appropriate approach in the future.
Should you focus on publishing guest posts or work on internal linking? Perhaps your site needs to be re-evaluated from a technical standpoint or needs some simple tweaks to increase traffic.
Andreea Saveluc, Outreach Team Leader at NON.agency:
Exactly! There's no point in starting link building without a decent website.
Take some time to look at your site from multiple angles to find the answers to all your burning questions.
And if you need help, getting an SEO agency to audit your site is a great place to start.
Consider different types of links
This is a bit more technical, but if you want to build links yourself, you should know the main types of links.
In general, creating a broad link profile is the most optimal practice.
Here are some types of links to consider when designing your SEO strategy:
- Guest posting: as we have already mentioned, guest posting is the cornerstone of most link building efforts. Guest blogging is one of the most common and generally accepted ways to acquire backlinks, and as countless examples prove, it simply works.
- Editorial links: these types of links are about creating excellent content that others will want to link to in their content. The more people mention your site as a source of valuable information, the more credible it becomes in the eyes of Google. The skyscraper technique can be a great way to achieve this goal.
- Resource links: resource links come from sites that list helpful tools, among other things. Getting on such a list can bring in a high-quality backlink if you offer a tool or service worth sharing there.
- Links on social media: As social media has become a powerful force in online marketing, it is wise to take advantage of its potential. The power of such links is a matter of debate, but their impact on traffic is undeniable.
Link building pricing models
There are many ways to price link building in the SEO market. Let's take a look at the most common ones.
Price per link
This is the simplest method of pricing link building activities. You pay for each link acquired by the agency (or link building expert), regardless of its quality, source or method of acquisition.
This model is now becoming increasingly rare, as vendors have now moved to a DR/DA-dependent model.
Moreover, link prices very often indicate that the person offering such links does not care about their quality or cannot guarantee it.
Prices dependent on DR/DA
Today's standard for individual link offerings.
DR (Domain Rating) and DA (Domain Authority) dependent pricing is a variation of the link pricing model in which links from sites with high rankings are valued higher than others those with lower rankings.
In this way, you can approximate the results of acquiring specific links and scale your link building strategy.
However, relying on one indicator does not give the full picture, so always look for other ways to measure link quality.
It's also worth noting that many link farms use a variety of techniques to boost these metrics and trick other site owners into paying them money for link placement.
Instead, you should work with professional link builders who conduct research to determine the best link building opportunities for your site.
Prices dependent on project/results
The most popular model among link building agencies.
When working on a project, the focus shifts from the number of links to the overall impact of link building on online visibility.
Although this pricing model often involves a larger initial contribution, it usually provides a better return on investment if the agency is able to deliver on its promises.
Typically, links built in this way are part of a larger SEO strategy.
And, as above, be mindful of the metrics you use to determine your campaign goals. These can be anything from improved organic traffic, better search engine rankings, increased referral traffic and even improved conversion rates.
Cooperation for an indefinite period
An ongoing pricing model is usually associated with a long-term approach to SEO and link building.
At the core of this model is SEO maintenance. You hire the services of a link building agency for an extended period of time, usually months or even years.
Providers of these services guarantee a certain number of quality backlinks at regular intervals and usually provide additional services such as content creation, optimization and monitoring.
Recommendations and recommendations for buying backlinks
Backlinks are a powerful tool to promote a site, increase profits and improve brand awareness.
But just as the links you acquire can take your site to new heights, they can also make it disappear from search engines.
Following the unwritten rules of link buying is essential to stay on the safe side and enjoy the long-term benefits of link building.
Here are some rules and prohibitions for buying backlinks that you should keep in mind:
Do:
- Work with professionals and experts. They know what they are doing and can provide you with invaluable information. While this may increase the cost per link, it is a worthwhile investment because quality backlinks bring a lot of value.
- Focus on creating amazing content. Content marketing is one of the pillars of SEO. No matter what kind of links you want to build, good content will help you achieve your goals.
- Get links from relevant and credible sources. The most valuable links come from the most valuable sources. Therefore, when looking for business partners, you should do nothing by force and aim only for the best of the best.
Avoid that:
- Overestimating the possibilities. Link building and SEO is capable of generating a huge increase in traffic to your site. However, it takes time - sometimes even several months - to see the first results!
- Buying suspicious links. Even if these links can bring positive short-term results, they put your site at risk and can damage your reputation. Don't look for quick wins!
- Using black hat SEO tactics. At first glance, tactics such as cloaking, content hoovering and the use of hidden text may seem like an easy way to increase traffic. In reality, they can only hurt rankings - Google already knows about them!
Frequently asked questions
1. what exactly is link building and what is its importance for SEO?
Link building involves increasing your website's visibility and authority by gaining links from other websites.
Despite changes in Google's algorithms and an increasing emphasis on the value of content, links are still one of the key indicators of your website's importance. Along with quality content, a well-structured link acquisition strategy plays a key role in improving your site's position in search results.
2. how much does link building cost and what factors affect it?
Link-building costs can definitely vary, from $100 to $20,000 per month, depending on your needs, the quality of the links required and how you order them.
It is worth noting that this cost takes into account all the tasks necessary to create a link.
For example, creating content, acquiring guest post placements and evaluating potential links all affect cost.
3. what practices make up an effective link building strategy and why should I refrain from buying links?
Building quality backlinks is a task that can be accomplished through content marketing, improving the content on your site, and building relationships with owners of relevant external sites.
While some site owners may be tempted to sell links, this is considered a disingenuous course of action by Google that can damage your site's ranking and reputation.
4. what types of links can I build and why is link building beneficial?
In terms of types of links, these can be inbound links (backlinks from other sites), outbound links (links from your site to others) and internal links (links within your site).
By focusing on effective link building, you can accelerate your website's online visibility, increase brand awareness, expand your customer base and increase revenue.
5. how can I increase the authority of my domain and determine the optimal number of backlinks for my site?
Domain authority can be increased by gaining valuable backlinks from high authority sites, creating relevant, interesting and shareable content, and optimizing the structure of your site.
It is also worth mentioning that when looking at backlinks, the key should not be to focus on the quantity, but on the quality of the backlinks and how they relate to your site.
That doesn't mean you should aim to get the highest quality links. Sometimes gaining a few extra - but lower quality - links can be more profitable.
Summary
Link building can be a cost-effective method of increasing a site's visibility and rankings.
Depending on your needs and pricing model, link building costs can range from a few hundred zlotys for a single link to tens of thousands per month for huge sites.
It's also important to remember that link building is more than just numbers. The quality of links matters more than the quantity of links - and furthermore, buying links of questionable quality can potentially hurt your ranking and credibility. Instead, aim for high-quality links from trusted sources and always work with professionals to get the best results.
Although link building requires a significant amount of work and the results are often not visible for some time,
the long-term benefits in terms of increased traffic, improved search engine visibility and greater brand awareness make it worthwhile.
It's like, you already know all about the cost of link building?
