A Step-By-Step Guide to Buying Links: Improve Your SEO Safely & Responsibly

A Step-By-Step Guide to Buying Links Improve Your SEO Safely & Responsibly

Acquiring backlinks is one of the most time-consuming yet rewarding sections of SEO. Backlinks are like gold and indicate to search engines that your website has relevance, and is credible.

Buying backlinks is a risky approach, which most consider unethical, but may enable you to achieve your desired ranking quickly. Buying backlinks can provide the boost your website requires, but may lead to penalties if done incorrectly.

This guide aims to provide you with information on how to buy backlinks while maintaining the safety of your website’s rankings.


Inbound links, more commonly known as backlinks, are links from other websites that lead to a specific website. Backlinks are one of the most crucial ranking aspects to Google’s algorithms. You can refer to our Backlink Quality Check: How to Evaluate Links for Best SEO Results and enabling visibility & growth for your business.

These are the primary reasons why backlinks hold value:

  • Authority: High-quality backlinks indicate to search engines that your website value and trust your content which aids in improving the rankings.
  • Traffic: Having backlinks from popular websites enables the traffic from those sites to be redirected to your website.

At a glance, it seems like the stronger the backlink profile of a website, the better the website ranks in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) of different search engines.


Buying links refers to getting backlinks from another website for a fee. Payment can be made directly, through sponsored posts, or some other creative means.

Link buying has its benefits, however, one must remember not to go against Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. While not unethical, paid links require great transparency and can be claimed as SEO strategy links.


Prior to link buying, consider these discussed dangers:

  1. Google Penalties: Buying links to artificially rank higher may result in penalties from Google and the de-indexation of your site.
  2. Wasted Money: Spammy links from websites with little traffic can provide no value to your SEO and budget.
  3. Reputation Damage: Associating with such websites can severely damage your brand’s reputation.

If you are considering buying links, keep in mind the following practices that minimize risk while maximizing results: You can also refer to our blog post on 10 Exceptional Expert Tips on Outsourcing Link Building and Getting it Right

1. Focus on Quality Over Quantity

Not all backlinks are of equal value.

One powerful backlink from a reputable website is much more valuable than multiple links from sites with low authority.

  • Tip: Use Ahref or Moz to assess the linking domain’s level and spam rate to determine if they are worth linking to.
  • Example: Industry focused blogs like Forbes and HubSpot hold much more authority in their backlinks compared to an unknown blog without credibility.

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Backlinks from websites not related to your niche raise flags for search engines and should not be pursued.

  • Tip: Identify websites whose content relates to what your business deals with.
  • Example: A wellness and health website should link back to a fitness blog.

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Links within the body of written content on a webpage are more likely to be accepted as opposed to those placed on footers and sidebars of webpages.

  • Tip: Grab the attention of bloggers and site owners with links by pitching top-grade content that makes them willing to link to your website.
  • Example: Include links to your website in author bios or content when you guest post on reputable blogs.

These are networks of websites that are of poor quality and exist only to be linked. For search engines, link mills and private blog networks (PBNs) are considered black-hat SEO, which could result in being sanctioned.

  • Tip: Avoid any site claiming to sell dozens of backlinks at an unbelievably low price.
  • Example: Rather than purchasing a PBN links, spend the same amount on getting a few quality links from credible sites.

Nofollow links are those with the tag ‘rel nofollow.’ With this tag in your website’s code, a search engine will not pass on authority to your site. Even though the site is not ranked highly, it can still be visited and will add to the backlink profile unlike other links.

  • Tip: When dealing with posts for payment, incorporate nofollow to stay within Google’s guidelines.
  • Example: When commissioning a guest post, request that the nofollow tag be integrated in the link.

6. Cultivate Connections with Site Owners

Instead of immediately purchasing a link, strategize on how to get it for free by establishing connections with a blogger or a website owner. These will earn you natural backlinks and eventually long-lasting relationships.

  • Tip: Connect with them via social media or email to initiate contact and position yourself as an influencer or industry expert.
  • Example: Propose the idea to contribute to one of their articles or help promote their content in return for a backlink.

Keep an eye on your backlinks regularly so that you do not acquire links which might be toxic or spammy.

  • Tip: You may monitor your backlinks through Google Search Console, Ahrefs, or SEMrush.
  • Example: If you’ve observed, for example, a spike in low-quality backlinks, use Google’s Disavow Tool to eliminate these links temporarily.

If buying links seems like it comes with more risk than reward, try these methods that are more within the bounds of decent ethics.

  1. Create Linkable Assets: Produce sharable content that can naturally receive backlinks.
  2. Guest Blogging: Provide guest blog posts for authoritative blogs in your niche.
  3. Broken Link Building: Reach out to a website and request that they replace their broken links with content you own.
  4. Outreach Campaigns: Approach bloggers and journalists and pitch them directly.

Normal Questions and Answers (FAQs)

Buying links is not illegal, but breaching Google’s Web Master Guidelines is punishable, hence buying them can land you penalties for it.

This entirely depends on the authority and quality of the site that is linking you. In most cases, good links would sell between a range of $100 to $1,000 or above.

You can, yes, but this includes removing or disavowing your bad links and filing for a reconsideration request to Google.

From another perspective, nofollow links can be highly useful. They serve to create diversity in your profile as well as drive traffic to your website.


Disclaimer

This article does not provide professional advice under any circumstances. Linking without due consideration can lead to unwanted consequences that may lead you to go against the principles of search engines. Ensure that every action you take on your link-building strategy is well-considered by an SEO expert.


Conclusion

Purchasing links can be great for promoting your SEO, but there are a number of factors that you should consider beforehand to avoid conflict. The quality and relevance of the backlinks is a good start when considering how to promote your website without harming it.

SEO takes time. There is no parimeters for how long will a website need to buy backlinks, because that will not have a lasting effect when creating a content rich resource and building solid connections. With a strategy in hand, you can buy backlinks and effectually streamline your SEO campaign.


The aforementioned guidelines will prove beneficial towards improving your SEO in the most appropriate manner. In case of additional queries or instructions, do not hesitate to get in touch with an SEO specialist.

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