Building quality backlinks takes time and effort. Whether you’re emailing a website owner, applying to write a guest post, pitching to a magazine, or doing something so impressive that people want to share it, it’s all about building relationships. This process doesn’t happen overnight.
Some marketers find building white-hat links too time-consuming. Impatient for quick results, they often buy links from sellers. These sellers promise great things, claiming that buying links will bring lots of traffic and boost your site’s authority.
Unfortunately, the results are often disappointing at best and harmful to your business at worst.
Here are seven reasons why buying backlinks is a risky and careless digital marketing strategy.
1. Buying backlinks is against the rules
Google is clear: don’t buy links. It’s against their quality guidelines. They list several link schemes that can hurt your SEO rankings, such as:
- Buying or selling links that pass PageRank.
- Offering a free product in exchange for a link.
- Trading goods or services for links.
- Paying for posts that include links.
If you want more traffic from Google, it’s best to follow their rules. Google has ways to detect unnatural links and can penalize, demote, or remove your site from their index if they find any. Just ask companies like Overstock, JCPenney, or Genius.
In short, remember that Google takes link schemes very seriously.
2. Purchased links don’t have quantifiable monetary value
What does it mean to have a link on a popular website? What if only bots visit that site? Should the value be the same even if the metrics look good? How much would you pay for it? Ten dollars? Fifty dollars? A hundred dollars?
Well, link sellers usually charge much more than that. According to Ahrefs, the average cost of a sponsored link is $361.
What does it mean to have a link on a popular website? And what if only bots visit that site? Should the value be the same even if the metrics look good? How much would you pay for it? Ten dollars? Fifty dollars? A hundred dollars?
Well, link sellers usually charge much more than that. According to Ahrefs, the average cost of a sponsored link is $361.44. That’s a pretty specific amount for something so hard to measure.
3. There’s no guarantee backlinks will work
Just because your site gets a link from a high-authority website (DA80) doesn’t mean it will rank higher or get more traffic. If a site with great metrics but little real traffic links to you, there’s usually no money-back guarantee. And if they put your link on a penalized site, there’s not much you can do about it.
Also Read: Why Skyscraper Content Fails for You
4. Few humans will actually see it
Purchased links often end up on websites with very little real traffic. Sometimes, these are part of a private blog network (PBN), which is a group of blogs owned by the same person but made to look separate. Think about it: if these sites show great traffic numbers but no one actually reads the content or visits the pages, who’s really discovering your website?
It’s like the old saying, “If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?”
Buying links puts your website’s presence on search engines at risk.
5. Paid links can directly harm your site
Paid links are almost always bad for your website. They don’t create a good backlink profile. In fact, paid links can harm your site more than help it, whether they’re using spammy link language like “top lawyer attorney best legal,” placed on a penalized site, or causing an unnatural link penalty because 40 links suddenly showed up from a sketchy domain.
Buying links risks your site disappearing from search results.
6. It’s not a solid long-term strategy
Will you keep buying expensive links every month? A good marketing strategy usually has many parts working together to grow your market. You can measure these plans, calculate costs, and make informed decisions.
If your only strategy is to keep buying links, you will eventually get penalized. It’s just a matter of time.
7. The positive impact is difficult to measure
How can we know if this link brought in any money? How can we tell if our investment paid off? Sooner or later, a manager or accountant will ask, “What return on investment did we get from buying all those expensive backlinks?”
Some might think the increase in organic traffic is due to the paid links, but is that true? Could the growth be from new content, better SEO, or another marketing effort?
It’s tough, if not impossible, to measure the return on investment from a purchased link. It also doesn’t make much financial sense.
When choosing digital marketing strategies, think about your goals. Avoid tactics that are hard to measure, cost a lot with little return, or could harm your business. In short, stay away from buying backlinks.
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