To buy backlinks or not to buy backlinks, that is the question. 

Most site owners will ask themselves this eventually (although maybe not in such dramatic terms). 

Backlinks, while essential for top search rankings, building trust with Google, and generating referral traffic – are difficult and time-consuming to build. 

The rule of thumb tends to be the more authoritative the backlink is, the more difficult it will be to acquire. 

That’s especially true for premium editorial backlinks that appear on trusted news sites and media outlets. 

These types of websites don’t link out to just anyone, and it can take months’ worth of outreach to land just one link. 

This is why site owners are tempted to just buy backlinks instead of generating them organically. 

The question then becomes:

Is buying backlinks safe? Should I buy backlinks, or is the risk too great?

As you may know, Google views buying backlinks as a link scheme that violates its search guidelines. 

If they catch you buying backlinks, you could receive a penalty. 

However, the truth is paying for backlinks is a thriving practice that even the most ‘white-hat’ SEOs occasionally partake in. 

There are times when building backlinks organically is just too slow, which is why most businesses end up buying backlinks instead. 

As long as you’re smart and partner with the right agency, you can buy backlinks in a way that appears natural and dramatically boosts your SEO. 

Read on to learn how! 

Want expert help navigating the world of premium link services? Book a free strategy call with our team!

What Does it Mean to ‘Buy’ Backlinks?

First, let’s distinguish between buying poor-quality backlinks and investing in premium editorial placements and outreach. 

For a backlink to boost your authority and impact your search rankings, it MUST come from a domain that’s:

  1. Relevant to your content 
  2. Trusted by Google (which you can measure with Domain Authority and Domain Rating)

As a bonus, it helps if the domain generates a lot of organic traffic because it gives you the chance to score referral traffic. 

Well, truly high-quality, relevant backlinks aren’t going to come cheap. 

As stated in the intro, top-quality backlinks aren’t exactly easy to build. As such, a backlink’s price tag should match its quality. 

Therefore, dirt-cheap backlinks should immediately raise a red flag. 

A cheap backlink is a sign that it comes from a poor-quality website that probably only exists to link out to other websites (a dummy site, essentially). 

Buying these types of backlinks will:

  1. Not do anything to help your SEO 
  2. Raise suspicion from Google that may lead to a penalty

So, if you see a deal for 500 backlinks for $5, it’s clearly a scam! 

Also, even if you do buy backlinks in bulk, you shouldn’t release them all at once. 

Suddenly acquiring a mass of backlinks will alert Google’s algorithm that you’re trying to manipulate the search rankings. 

Instead, slowly release your paid backlinks so that they appear more natural.

How to Buy High-Quality Backlinks: Vetting Domains and Link Placements 

The best way to buy the right backlinks is to closely evaluate each domain and link placement. 

Here are some tips for doing so.

  • Check each website’s DA and DR score 

Domain Authority (DA) is the top metric marketers use to gauge the strength of backlinks. Essentially, it measures how much trust and authority a website has built with Google. 

Our free domain authority checker tool will let you view the DA and PA (page authority) for any URL. 

  • Ensure topical or contextual relevance

Google’s algorithm devalues irrelevant backlinks. 

This makes sense, as irrelevant backlinks negatively impact user experience. For example, imagine coming across a link to a website selling dog collars in the middle of a news story about a hurricane. 

It wouldn’t make sense, which risks confusing readers. It also adds no value or further context to the story about the hurricane. 

That means the sites you buy backlinks on must relate to your website in some way, either topically (i.e., being in the same niche/industry), or contextually (i.e., mentioning your brand, industry, products, or services). 

  • Measure organic traffic

Knowing how much traffic a website generates is just good to know when buying backlinks. That way, you can find out if you can expect to see referral traffic from a particular backlink. 

You can use our completely free website traffic checker for this. 

  • Vet each link placement and anchor text before going live

Once you’ve purchased a backlink on a website, the vetting process still isn’t complete.

The final two steps are to:

  • Evaluate where your backlink appears on the page 
  • Approve the anchor text used to contain the backlink 

Where your backlink appears on a web page actually matters quite a bit. 

Ideally, you want your backlinks included in the body of the page’s content in a spot that makes sense contextually. 

Footer backlinks have a diminished impact on SEO, so make sure an agency isn’t selling you backlinks located there. 

Also, analyze the anchor text used in the backlink. You can check out our guide on anchor text ratios to learn some best practices. 

In a nutshell, you want anchor text that:

  • Previews the link’s destination 
  • Doesn’t spam target keywords 

Here’s an example using one of our backlinks found on Neil Patel’s website:

As you can see, our backlink appears within the body of the page’s content, and the website uses our brand name as anchor text (which is great). 

When buying backlinks, the most reputable agencies (like ours) will allow you to approve the placement and anchor text of a backlink before going live. 

Is Buying Backlinks Safe? Understanding the Risks 

No matter how you cut it, buying backlinks violates Google’s search guidelines, so there are some real risks involved. 

Don’t play your cards right, and you may receive a manual penalty. 

These are difficult to undo and can lead to your content disappearing from Google’s search results, so they aren’t something to take lightly. 

Yet, if you know what to look out for, you can mitigate the risks and improve your SEO with a paid link strategy. 

Here are the top risks to consider when purchasing backlink packages. 

Buying low-quality backlinks from PBNs and link farms 

PBNs (private blog networks) are terrible for SEO, and you definitely don’t want to buy backlinks from them. 

What are they?

A PBN is a series of poor-quality websites that only exist to link out to other websites. 

When building a PBN, SEOs look for old or even expired domains that have built up authority over time. This means that links coming from that domain will pass a decent amount of link juice (AKA authority or ranking power). 

From there, they build a ‘blog’ on each domain that offers guest posts and link placements to other websites. 

At face value, this is pretty awesome because PBNs give you the ability to generate backlinks to your site at will. You also have full control over the link placement and the anchor text. 

The only problem?

PBNs violate Google’s guidelines, and they’ve become increasingly adept at cracking down on them in recent years. 

As one Redditor points out, PBNs used to be a great grift for ‘black hat’ SEOs back in the day, but that time has passed.  

As Google’s algorithm became more sophisticated, it became more and more difficult to make a profit:

In the current era, PBNs pose too much of a risk compared to the minuscule results they generate. 

Whenever you see large bundles of cheap backlinks, it’s a telltale sign that the agency is using PBNs. Backlink packages on Fiverr are infamous for this (we recommend avoiding Fiverr like the plague when buying backlinks). 

Link farms are also best avoided. 

A link farm is a series of websites that hyperlink to one another to spread link juice. 

They’re similar to PBNs but with one key difference. 

PBNs exist to send link juice out to other sites, while link farms only provide link juice to the sites within the ‘farm.’ 

The red flags for link farms are mostly the same as PBNs, such as cheap bundles consisting of dummy websites. 

Working with agencies who aren’t transparent with reporting 

You should only partner with agencies that provide transparent reporting, meaning you should never have to guess how your paid link strategy is doing. 

For each backlink you buy, agencies should provide you with:

  • The linking website’s DA score 
  • How the website relates to your content (to ensure relevance) 
  • Updates to your DA score 
  • Notifications whenever you gain or lose a backlink 

If they aren’t upfront with this type of information, it’s a sign they aren’t being entirely truthful with you. 

Also, look for agencies that openly communicate with clients and provide great support. You should never be left hanging if you have a question or concern about one of your backlinks. 

Buying backlinks blindly 

Even if you’re super busy, you should never buy backlinks on a whim. As we’ve already discussed, proper vetting is a requirement for backlinks, not a luxury. 

If you buy random links, you risk:

  1. Buying irrelevant backlinks that won’t impact your SEO 
  2. Paying too much for mediocre backlinks 
  3. Buying links from PBNs or link farms (which can lead to costly penalties) 
  4. Overlooking far better deals 
  5. Spamming the same type of anchor text 

It goes without saying that you want to get the most out of your marketing budget unless you’re a fan of wasting money.

Therefore, you should meticulously evaluate every backlink that you spend your precious marketing dollars on!

Buying too many backlinks of the same type 

You need a natural-looking backlink portfolio to avoid suspicions of spam from Google. 

What does that mean?

It means you need a diverse portfolio consisting of different types of backlinks, and also varying degrees of quality. 

While authoritative editorial backlinks are the most impactful on search rankings, exclusively buying these can raise red flags with Google’s algorithm. 

Instead, besides super authoritative backlinks, you also need links coming from:

  • Social media platforms
  • Forum comments 
  • Business directories 
  • Medium-to-low-quality websites 

Why do you need these?

It’s because these are the types of backlinks that high-quality websites accrue naturally. 

The goal is to make it appear as if your website produces content that generates a lot of shares, which includes links on lower-quality websites (don’t worry, as long as they aren’t explicitly spam, you’re good). 

If your website only contains premium editorial link placements, it’s a sign that you’ve been manipulating the search rankings. That’s why you need to diversify to make your link portfolio appear more natural. 

Safe vs. unsafe backlink sources 

Here’s a chart breaking down safe vs. unsafe ways to source backlinks:

Safe link sources Unsafe link sources
Trusted news websites (both major and niche-specific) Link farms
Authoritative media outlets PBNs
Social media platforms Widgets
Respected business directories Low-quality directories
Niche blogs  Irrelevant websites
Resource pages  Poor-quality websites (super low DA scores) 

 

Want to ensure safe and effective link-building for your website? Check out our renowned Link Outreach services. 

Top Alternatives to Buying Links Blindly 

Instead of buying backlinks while blindfolded, try out these effective tactics to build some high-quality backlinks. 

Digital PR 

Digital public relations is the #1 way to generate premium editorial backlinks. 

It involves networking with online media professionals to secure coverage for your brand (and, in turn, backlinks). 

Common digital PR techniques include:

  • Distributing press releases covering newsworthy events 
  • Newsjacking (inserting your brand into a trending news story) 
  • Building long-term relationships with online journalists, prominent websites, and media outlets  

Check out our ultimate guide to digital PR to learn more. 

Do you want premium backlinks, improved SEO, and better brand awareness? Check out our Digital PR service! 

Creating link-worthy content 

Why work hard to build backlinks when you can attract them with great content instead?

Picture the last time you read an outstanding article or saw an eye-opening video. 

What was the first thing you did afterward?

If you’re like most, it was to share the content on social media with your friends, family, and colleagues. 

Certain types of content generate more shares than others, such as:

  1. Original research 
  2. Videos
  3. Infographics 
  4. Case studies 
  5. Ultimate guides 

Focusing on this type of content can help attract backlinks to your site without having to do any outreach. 

HARO-style link-building 

HARO (Help-A-Reporter-Out) is a link-builder’s best friend. It’s a platform that connects journalists with subject matter experts (SMEs), and you can use it to build high-quality backlinks. 

By signing up, you’ll receive email notifications three times a day containing queries from journalists (sorted by industry). Most of the time, they’re looking for a quote from an SME. 

To build backlinks using HARO, check out the journalist queries from your industry. 

Does anything stand out to you? Are you able to provide the quotes/resources they need for their story?

If the answer is yes, then you should reply to them ASAP. Don’t forget to request a backlink to your site whenever they quote you in their piece. 

Guest posts and relationship-building 

Lastly, posting guest blogs on relevant websites is a great way to build links and form lasting relationships. 

The tricky part is finding websites in your niche that accept guest posts. 

We recommend using Google and searching for terms like:

  • (your niche) + “guest posts”
  • (your niche) + “write for us”
  • (your niche) + “guest article” 

For example, here’s what happens when we search for fitness “guest posts” on Google:

Boom, now we’ve got plenty of outreach targets for fitness-related guest blogs. 

Wrapping Up: Buying Backlinks in 2025 

While buying backlinks is risky, it’s not something that you should explicitly fear or outright ignore. 

When done properly, a paid link strategy can work wonders for your SEO (and provide speedier results than normal). 

It all comes down to the way you approach the process. 

As long as you partner with trusted agencies, vet each domain, diversify with natural backlinks, and slowly release your paid links – you should be just fine. 

Do you want an expert agency to handle your SEO for you so that you no longer have to worry about it?

Sign up for HOTH X, our fully managed service, to enjoy hands-free SEO!