Cheap Link Building Services: Are They Hurting Your SEO?

A cheap link building service is a backlink-providing service offered at the lowest possible price without harming your site’s SEO.

The value. This is the most important thing to consider if you want to outsource your link building. The value and the price are two different things. This is the same principle in link building as in any case.

In the image above, you can see a screenshot from Fiverr. So the system of the platform separates offers by their pricing. As you can see, some people sell backlinks for as little as $15. As an owner of a link-building agency, I have never suggested a price like that. Why? The answer is simple: They are selling cheap backlinks or cheap link building services, but they are not providing value-based services. They just selling their own website links or reselling PBN backlinks. In the short term, they can win as they can add many backlinks with the same budget as we can. But the time will fix that unfair thing. Google understands and distinguishes good websites from bad ones. The system of Google differentiates between the backlinks that are bought at the lowest prices, like 5$, and the contextual backlinks that are earned organically. So, as a conclusion, cheap link building pricing has a value if your imagination about the cheap backlinks is not $15.

Finding link building agency and choosing cheap link building services from them is not an easy task. You should find an agency that will not hurt your SEO and your current search positions. I have prepared some steps you can consider to avoid burning your money:

#1 Case Studies

As you appear on some agency sites, you can check the link building case studies. Once you check the clients they worked for, you can imagine the results you can expect from them. Another important point is checking whether they have experience in the industry you are in. As you can see, on their clients’ sites, you can check their backlink portfolios and the impact of the backlinks. I also recommend searching for the best-selling keywords of their clients. Once you notice that they have ranked positively at the top, that is a great signal that you can expect the same for your project.

#2 Request just one free link

Link building packages do not start from one backlink. However, to understand how it works as an agency owner, I am open to providing just one link as an example of the process. One backlink will not change the current situation of the website. However, this will help you understand whether the agency can provide the backlinks you expect to have in your backlink portfolio.

#3 Compare link building prices

To determine whether the suggested price for a backlink is reasonable, you can compare it with industry backlink providers and their pricing models.

Pricing within your niche

Let’s say you have a SaaS product on your site, and you expect to rank your product higher with the relevant keywords. You can find SaaS link building agencies and compare the prices that are included on their websites. Explore their differences and packages. If someone can suggest flexible prices for a year, and it is cheaper than what others can suggest, then go ahead.

Pricing taking into account the provided metrics

Let’s say “X” link building company provides the minimum metrics with a Domain Rating of 30+ and traffic of 500+, and the price is $100. “Y” link building company provides backlinks from sites with a Domain Rating of 40+ and traffic of 1000+, and the price is $110. Of course, company “X” company prices are cheaper, but “Y” company’s provided value is more than “X”. In this situation, I would rather suggest hiring the company “Y”  as $10 price difference is nothing for the value you will get from them. So the price of the backlink “X” is cheaper, but “Y” backlinks’ pricing is worth it.

Pricing of In-House Link Builder and Outsourced

In our link building pricing guide, I just counted the minimum expenses of around $1666 that the company should spend to hire one link builder who should build 10 backlinks per month. This is more than you can spend on outsourcing your link building to a contextual link building service provider like us. Once you count your expenses and it is below my calculated prices, you can have a cheap link building process on your side.

#4 Link quality

Link quality is the most important thing, considering the price. It is a famous proverb, “Buy cheap, pay twice”. This really matters regarding the quality. What should you look for?

• Link relevancy – Your backlink should be added in the relevant content with the relevant anchors.
• Niche link – Your backlink should be added to websites that are related to your business.
• White-hat tactics – Once you notice some agencies suggest your cheaper prices but their link building tactics are black-hat, I would rather recommend avoiding them.

# 5 Transparency

In our agency, we are providing a Google sheet where clients can see the progress, and they can make some comments. We are not providing just many links within the month. They can see the progress and make some changes if they need them. So, if the company does not want you to participate in the process and you do not have an opportunity to make the links live, this is a bad signal that paying them is not worth it.

There are some interesting hacks that I identified that the services are cheap and can harm website SEO.

• Guaranteed #1 ranking – No one can guarantee a ranking in the first position, as backlinks are just one of many factors for a higher ranking.
• No metrics provided – There are link builders that are providing backlinks with metrics like 0 traffic. The link destination can be relevant, but the domain quality is key for having an effect.
• PBNs – Many of the cheap link building providers are just link resellers. They buy backlinks at the cheapest price possible and resell them at a higher price. Many of them use PBN sites. Try to avoid them.
• Shared domain list – This is a signal that they will not provide a custom link building outreach. This is also a bad signal that you will not get a backlink for the relevant keywords, or you will get only backlinks that others got. It means no unique approach.

GoPeak.io

GoPeak.io is one of the leading companies that suggests flexible prices in the link-building industry. You can request a sample link to understand the type of backlinks they can provide, and after signing a contract for long-term growth. Clients can participate in the process or can monitor the progress via tracking sheets. The backlink price starts from $120. For each client, GoPeak.io creates a custom outreach process, and this is a good signal that the domains will be unique.

Cheap link building services are a dream of every marketer or business owner. However, imaginations about the word “cheap” are different, and you should take into account many aspects and signals before outsourcing your backlink efforts. Compare the pricing models of each agency, check case studies, and test them if you are not sure with just one backlink. Book a Call if you need backlink consultation, and we will help you find the best fit.