Link building pricing: what a link costs, and what you are paying for

What links cost: the published figures

There is no official price list, so the best you can do is compare what agencies and researchers have published. These are useful reference points, with their sources:

The spread is wide because these figures describe different products. An average that includes very cheap links from sites nobody reads tells you little about what a link from a site with real readers costs.

What the price actually pays for

When you pay a link building service, the money covers several separate costs. A cheap quote is usually cheap because one or more of them has been skipped.

• The publisher's fee. Most sites that accept link insertions or guest posts charge a fee for the placement.
• The seller's margin. Many sites reach buyers through sellers and resellers rather than directly, and each one in the chain adds a margin.
• Finding and checking sites. Someone has to decide whether the site and the specific page are worth a link. That is where much of the difference in quality comes from, and it is the step bulk sellers are most likely to skip.
• Outreach and editing. Agreeing the page, the sentence and the anchor with the editor, then following up until it is live.
• Replacement cover. Links drop when pages are edited or sites change hands. A replacement warranty costs the seller money, so it shows up in the price.
• Content, for guest posts. A new article has to be written. Link insertions skip this, which is one reason their price is mostly the placement itself.

Why one site gets three different prices

For every site I consider, I ask around three different sellers for the same three things: the price, the turnaround time and the publisher's guidelines. The answers often differ, sometimes by a lot. Usually it is for one of these reasons:

• Each seller reaches the publisher through a different chain, with a different number of margins added.
• One seller has a bulk deal with the publisher that others do not.
• They quote different turnaround times, and faster costs more.
• One mentions a publisher rule the others left out, such as a sponsored tag on every link, which changes what you are actually buying.

The lesson for a buyer: the cheapest quote for a site is not automatically the best one. Ask what the link will look like once it is live, not only what it costs.

What pushes the price up or down

One note on dofollow paid links: Google's spam policies count paid links that pass ranking value as link spam. That is a risk the buyer takes on, whatever the price. I explain it in what niche edits are and how they work.

How link building is priced

How to judge a quote

A price only means something next to what you need. This is the order I would check it in:

1. Work out how many links the page needs. Use the method in how many backlinks do I need. A cheaper price for twice the links you need is not a saving.
2. Ask to see the sites before you pay. Then check their organic traffic yourself.
3. Check the pages, not only the domains. A link on a page with no visits is worth little at any price. The 13 checks I run on every site cover what to look for.
4. Read what is included. Replacement cover, reporting with live URLs, anchor planning.
5. Budget for the total, not the unit price.

Illustrative example, not a real client: if the pages ranking for your keyword suggest you need about 10 relevant links, a $160 per-link quote is a $1,600 budget, and $40 a link for 40 unvetted links is also $1,600. The second one buys more links, and a lot more risk.

Where my pricing sits

My packages are published, so you can check them before any call: $875 for 5 links up to $3,675 for 15, which works out at $157.50 to $245 per link. Each package has a floor for both Domain Rating and organic traffic, and every link carries a one-year replacement. I only do link insertions, so there is no content fee.

That sits at the lower end of the agency figures above. What you pay for beyond the placement is the vetting and the outreach. The per-link breakdown is on my link insertion service page.