If you’re here, it means you are asking the question, Is buying backlinks safe?
Before answering that, let’s answer a more fundamental question, Are backlinks important for SEO and do they improve rankings? The short answer is yes, but there are many different types of backlinks and not all are good.
For a deeper understanding of backlinks and their role in SEO, we highly recommend first reading the below two guides:
SEO Basics: The Simple SEO Guide for Website Owners [UPDATED]
What is certain is that backlinks are an effective way to positively influence inbound traffic if they are acquired from relevant sites. It is also common knowledge that Google and other search engines consider paid backlinks as an unnatural way of influencing page rankings and this can harm your SEO. This is covered in their guide here and link spam policies.
In short, buying backlinks can get you into trouble.
What is a paid link?
A search on Google for ‘buy backlinks’ will return thousands of hits for SEO companies who are set up to provide you with paid links.
These services come under all kinds of different names to hide the fact you are essentially buying links, which is considered to be Black Hat.
For example:
- Guest posts
- Niche edits
- Link placements
- Sponsored content
- Link insertion
- Paid editorial
- PBN (Private Blog Network)
And more…
Technically, if you need to spend money rather than time to get a link back to your site, it is considered a paid link.
In Google’s eyes, a paid link is a backlink that has been acquired through a financial transaction or other forms of compensation with the intent to influence a site’s ranking in search engine results.
Building links in this manner violates Google’s guidelines, as they manipulate search rankings and do not reflect the natural mechanism by which links are given.
So, is there a safe and effective way to buy backlinks?
Starting from as little as £0.10, you can purchase package deals or head to freelance websites like Fiverr where individuals will provide you with a backlink on their blog.
The potential penalties of 20,000 poor-quality backlinks can be severe. Image via Fiverr.
It’s easy to see why buying backlinks is so appealing; instead of hard-earned, organic growth, buying backlinks promises quick wins for quick cash.
However, buying backlinks to improve your page ranking is a breach of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines and is likely to backfire in the short or long term, once Google understands what you are doing (and they will).
In other words, buying backlinks or using paid links is considered Black Hat (or Grey Hat at the very least).
The worst-case scenario is that search engines like Google will penalise this kind of manipulation, although the latest comments from Google suggest they will just ignore links that are considered to be spam, meaning you will have wasted your money and incurred risk at the same time.
The dilemma of buying backlinks
The dilemma is this; you can buy backlinks and people have demonstrated that there is value in doing this by presenting impressive analytics showing improved traffic and ranking growth. People have demonstrated so much value in fact, that the rewards often outweigh the potential penalties for many website owners.
The ethical dilemma is also just as problematic.
Consider page rankings as a democracy; the people’s choice of site for its relevance for any given keyword.
Links can, therefore, be likened to votes and buying votes is simply unethical…, but it works. It works so well that many companies whose competitors are choosing to buy backlinks are falling behind in rankings; even if they are playing by the rules.
If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em? Companies face a dilemma of whether to buy backlinks or not.
White Hat vs Black Hat vs Grey Hat
The choice that many companies make is one of White Hat vs Grey Hat SEO tactics; playing strictly by the rules or borrowing the manipulative methods of Black Hat SEO tacticians.
Understanding the Difference Between Black Hat SEO Techniques, White Hat & Grey Hat [UPDATED]
These companies choose to buy backlinks that are designed to look natural and go undetected by Google’s systems.
The logical question people ask is, If you acquire a handful of links a month from relevant and quality sites that do not host thousands of other links, then how can Google determine whether these have been paid for or are organic?
The answer is that we have no way of knowing, but it’s safe to assume with Google leading the way in AI, their algorithms can probably detect the subtlest of patterns to determine whether a link is organic or paid.
Given this and many other reasons, our advice is to stay away from buying backlinks. Instead, focus on innovation and thinking outside of the box. Focus on being creative and spending time to come up with unique content and valuable insights. Focus on earning links.
If you invest your energy the right way, you don’t need to pay for links, as people will give them naturally.
Is buying backlinks a good idea at all?
Before concluding the article, it’s worth mentioning that buying backlinks on the right sites can deliver valuable click-throughs and business.
Despite the SEO risks, many website owners pay for backlinks for this very reason.
There is a simple answer though – just make sure that any paid backlinks have the nofollow attribute applied.
This will tell search engines that you are not using these links to manipulate search rankings.
So, is buying backlinks safe? No. Is paying for backlinks a good idea in modern SEO? Potentially, as long as it’s done for the right reasons and you take care to make sure the nofollow tag is correctly applied.
Unsure? Get in touch with Opace
There are plenty of ways to achieve organic growth with an effective SEO strategy, and this can be done without buying links.
For help and advice from an experienced SEO agency, simply get in touch with our team today.
And please feel free to drop us a comment below or share your own insights with us on social media, we would love to hear from you!
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