Buying backlinks is a risky game. But considering their importance within SEO and the effort required to earn them, it’s understandable why people risk the wrath of Google by buying backlinks.
Backlinks are right at the heart of the algorithm that powers Google Search and are one of, if not the most, important SEO ranking factors. In this article we explain why buying backlinks isn’t a good idea for your SEO, before giving some ethical link-building strategies.
Save your money and earn backlinks the WebHummel way.
Skip to
- The importance of backlinks
- Is buying backlinks a good idea?
- What are the risks of buying backlinks?
- The better way to earn backlinks
The importance of backlinks in SEO
Before getting into whether buying backlinks is a good idea, a brief refresher on backlinks. For deeper dives, see these WebHummel articles covering what backlinks are and why backlinks are important to SEO.
Backlinks are a form of hyperlink. Whereas a hyperlink can refer to any link, such as links between the pages of a website or to a section on the same page, a backlink is a special form of hyperlink. It’s a hyperlink from another website to yours.
Backlinks are important to SEO because search engines like Google consider them as a vote of confidence. In other words, backlinks signal to search engines that the content being linked to is valuable, credible, and useful. As such, backlinks are a critical ranking factor that help web pages rank in the SERPs.
A crucial point to remember: It’s not just the quantity of backlinks that Google’s algorithm considers when assessing your backlink profile, it’s also the quality and the relevance of backlinks.
Is buying backlinks a good idea?
No. Buying backlinks is a risky approach and can be seen as ‘black hat SEO’.
So, why then do some people continue to buy backlinks?
Because earning links naturally takes a considerable investment of time and effort, primarily through creating high-quality content and conducting outreach.
Given a choice between;
- a) earning backlinks naturally through content creation and outreach, or;
- b) buying backlinks through private link networks or schemes
many view option b as a viable shortcut.
And herein lies the problem. As with many other areas of business, choosing to take the low-effort shortcut doesn’t always pay off. Sometimes it can also land you in hot water.
Effective link-building is an honest game. It involves building up your site’s backlink profile gradually. It’s a process that should take time and effort.
Take outreach, for example —outreach involves identifying relevant websites with high authority and then negotiating with site owners to backlink to your website. Cost-effective outreach is based on an exchange of SEO value.
That is, site owners will only agree to give you a backlink if doing so will help them improve their own Google rankings. What this means is that you need to create backlink-worthy web pages that are original, accurate, and search engine optimised.
For those readers who are still tempted by the shortcut, let’s take a look at the risks that come with buying backlinks.
What are the risks of buying backlinks?
Buying backlinks presents a number of risks, including penalties from Google and damaging your backlink profile.
Noncompliance with Google’s guidelines
First and foremost, Google’s essential guidelines state that buying links is considered a form of link spam.
Remember that, as a key factor in determining the relevancy of web pages, backlinks are at the heart of Google’s algorithm. Therefore, buying links for ranking purposes is an attempt to manipulate the algorithm.
This is a violation of the guidelines that can result in Google penalising your site. Where Google does identify paid links, they can impose one or both of two potential penalties:
- Google will devalue the backlinks —the algorithm will not place any value in the backlinks.
- Google will penalise your site —Google can impose a manual action on a website that blocks your site from being shown in search results.
Interestingly, within the section of the guidelines on link spam, Google acknowledges that “buying and selling links is a normal part of the economy of the web for advertising and sponsorship purposes.”
Using link attributes
It is not a violation of Google’s policies to use paid backlinks as long as they are qualified with an appropriate link attribute.
Adding an attribute such as the rel=”nofollow” or rel=”sponsored” attribute value to the <a> tag helps Google identify paid or unnatural links and prevent penalties.
So, a clumsy or dishonest approach to buying backlinks can not only cost you money but also result in your site being penalised.
Negative effect on your backlink profile
The other risk of buying backlinks is the potential for poor-quality or irrelevant links which can have a negative effect on your backlink profile.
Remember the crucial point we mentioned in the section on the importance of backlinks to SEO?
It’s not just the quantity of backlinks that Google’s algorithm considers when assessing your backlink profile, it’s also the quality and the relevance of backlinks.
If you give up full control over where your backlinks come from, you may end up with a bunch of low-quality backlinks from low authority and low relevance websites. In this context, relevance means related to your industry or the content you publish.
Of course, if it’s you who is approaching relevant websites that have good authority, you can maintain control over the quality of backlinks you’re earning. Free tools like this website authority checker from Ahrefs can be used as part of a bootstrapped approach to link building.
On the other hand, those who prefer to take the shortcut and use a link scheme are at risk of having their site associated with spammy and low-quality sites.
The best way to gain backlinks
As Google acknowledged in its guidelines, some degree of buying and selling links is a normal part of the economy of the web. In this online age, the advertising landscape has been somewhat democratised and anyone can realise their value and sell access to their audience, their reach or their website’s authority. As such, it’s quite rare to not be asked for money in return for a backlink.
But, as experts in SEO, we can confidently tell you that it’s still possible to build backlinks without paying for them. There are a number of ethical link-building strategies that can prove to be extremely effective for your SEO.
The takeaway here is that all of the following link-building methods revolve around creating high-quality content that offers value to your audience.
1. Content Creation —developing high-quality content that earns a valuable backlink is the ‘bee’s knees’ of link-building. It’s a true backlink! A vote of confidence from your peers who have taken the time to read your work and thought so much of it that they decided to reference it on their own site.
Without being approached and persuaded by you, they’ve decided that your content is valuable to both their website and their readership. All forms of content can be considered as backlink-worthy. Infographics and detailed posts based on primary research and statistics tend to do very well, but a well-written blog article also has a chance.
2. Outreach —we’ve already mentioned outreach, but where content creation is the heart of link-building, outreach is the brain. The effectiveness of outreach lies in the degree of control you can maintain over the process.
It’s you who identifies and then reaches out to websites (that are both relevant and authoritative) and it’s you who negotiates/persuades/explains why your content can add value to their SEO efforts.
3. Collaboration —collaborating with influencers within your industry and guest blogging are 2 of the most effective ways to build up your backlink profile.
As well as gaining a backlink, guest blogging is a way to get your link in front of a massive audience and potentially increase organic referral traffic to your website. Many blogs welcome article applications from guest bloggers, provided that you can adhere to certain conditions, such as a style guide. As a guest blogger, your efforts are rewarded with the granting of one or more do-follow backlinks within the blog post.
Influencers are popular social media users who promote brands to their followers in exchange for goods, services, or promotion. If you have a product or service that you can offer in exchange, influencer marketing can be an effective way to build backlinks and brand awareness within a certain demographic.
Build your backlink profile the WebHummel way
As experts in SEO, we have a wealth of experience in conducting effective outreach and link-building campaigns. And we can tell you that link building never gets any easier. Building high-quality backlinks involves a number of processes, from dedicated content creation to extended periods of outreach, usually involving plenty of back-and-forth with website owners asking; ‘what’s in it for me?’
It may come as little surprise, then, that as many as 60% of businesses outsource their link-building to an SEO agency.
At WebHummel, we design SEO strategies and manage a variety of digital marketing services for growing businesses.
Send us a message or give us a ‘buzz’ to learn how we can improve your SEO.
