The cost of link building can vary a lot, depending on how many links you need and where they’re coming from. The typical price for link building in 2024 is around $250 per link.
Many people struggle to decide if paid link building is worth it for their websites. Will the costs justify the SEO benefits, or would you be better off just building links on your own?
In this article, we’ll go over some specific price points so you can decide if paid link building is in fact the route you want to take.
Link building is the process of placing links that point to your website, on other websites. It’s not just for fun, either—websites with lots of links coming from high-quality, authoritative websites get a big boost from Google in the search engines results pages.
The problem is, building links is much harder than it sounds—especially if you’re a new player in your industry without any authority of your own.
That’s why link-building agencies exist.
For the right price, these agencies will reach out to other websites in your niche and secure valuable links that point back to your website.
Link building costs vary tremendously. SEO, and marketing in general, naturally entail a huge variety of different strategies and ways to achieve success. As such, keep in mind that the numbers below are best estimates and not guarantees.
Per-link costs can range from $100-$1,500, with the common range being $150-$350 per link.
Flat monthly costs for link building usually cost around $10,000-15,000 per month. These links are usually built as part of a larger marketing strategy that also includes things like content creation and optimization, social media marketing, and SEO analytics tracking.
The primary factor that affects per-link pricing is the context in which the link will be used: guest post or niche edit.
Guest posts: Per-link costs for guest posts usually come in at around $300 or more, due to the nature of guest posting and the content creation that comes along with it.
Niche edits: Per-link costs for niche edits are usually around $225 or more, since niche edits involve less content creation and can be inserted directly into existing content pieces.
Finally, any link-building service that emphasizes manual outreach (as all the good ones do) will inherently cost more than one that uses cheap, automated outreach methods, as link farms do.
Not all link-building agencies charge for the services in the same way. To make the best decision for your website, it’s important to understand the three main pricing models.
Agencies usually offer per-link pricing for businesses that are looking to accomplish specific SEO objectives. For example, a business that wants to break into a new niche might buy 5-10 links on an individual basis, for placement on websites in that new niche.
While purchasing on a per-link basis can be convenient and highly strategic, it often results in slightly bloated prices, compared to what you can get if you buy links on a recurring basis.
This one is pretty standard. Like most service businesses, link-building agencies also sell backlinks in bundles, at a discounted per-link price. If you go this route, you can expect a 10-20% discount per link, as well as some other costly items for free, like link profile analyses and strategy sessions.
Broadly speaking, agencies that market themselves specifically as “link-building agencies” are less likely to offer this pricing model. This is because fixed monthly fee structures usually come from larger digital marketing agencies that offer link building in addition to other, broader marketing services like SEO-optimized blog posts, full SEO analytics, and sponsorship collaborations with other brands.
In addition to the “sticker prices” advertised for link-building services, there are a handful of other hidden costs that often take people by surprise. If you keep a detailed spending budget, and going over your monthly allotment would cause you something pretty close to physical pain, you’ll definitely want to keep reading this section.
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The process of building links looks different for every business. It all depends on what industry you’re in, what types of links you need, how fast you need them, and most importantly, how strong your existing link profile is.
As such, most link-building agencies need to schedule strategy meetings to learn about your business and website, and brainstorm the best way to move forward. These meetings often cost quite a bit—usually from $100-$500—and they’re usually not advertised up front, so they often take people unawares.
Some agencies, like us at Profit Engine, make a point to offer strategy meetings completely for free, 100% of the time.
Link building takes time—especially if it’s done the right way. The process usually involves content creation, outreach, communication with the linking website, link placement and publishing, as well as monitoring and maintenance after the fact.
If you need your links quickly—for example, in a week or less—you’ll probably be hit with expedited service fees, which can really cost any amount, depending on how many links you need, and how fast. Be extra sure to clarify these costs with the agency before pulling the trigger.
After backlinks go live, things can sometimes go wrong. Links break, leading innocent website visitors to the dreaded “404 not found” error. Link-building agencies commonly offer link maintenance services, where they monitor and fix the backlinks they’ve built for you, for a specified amount of time.
We’re not advising you to avoid this extra service—just decide for yourself whether you need it or not, and be aware of whether or not the agency is including it in your bill.
Unfortunately, the link building industry is rife with horror stories of scams, black-hat methods, and hefty penalties from Google and other search engines for unethical practices.
When choosing a link-building agency for your business, don’t just go with the cheapest option. Sure, don’t go with the most expensive one either just for the heck of it—but keep the below points in mind as well, in addition to price.
Ethical link-building methods: This is the most important one, by far. Go with link-building agencies that organically build links through manual outreach, content creation, guest posts, and niche edits.
Past success stories and references: This one comes in a close second place. Always prioritize agencies that can provide case studies and success stories for past clients.
Transparency and reporting: Ensure the link-building agency will be transparent about all of its actions, reporting back regularly to update you on progress.
Customization and flexibility: Depending on your niche, you may want to prioritize agencies that advertise highly customizable link-building services for SEO needs that may be out of the ordinary.
In 2024, link building costs range from $100 to $1,500 per link, with the standard range being closer to $150-$350. Services under a flat monthly pricing model average around $10,000 to $15,000, including other strategies like content creation and social media marketing.
Agencies charge in many different ways, including per link, via link bundles, or via fixed monthly fees, often as part of broader digital marketing efforts. “Hidden” costs can also come into play, like strategy sessions, expedited service fees, and link maintenance.
To end up with a host of quality links instead of an empty wallet and a happy scammer somewhere on the other side of the world, you’ll need to evaluate each agency’s ethical practices, success stories, transparency, and customization options before making a decision.
It would be a little self-defeating for our team at Profit Engine for us to write an entire article on link-building prices and what you should demand from a link-building agency, only to fall short on those promises ourselves.
We won’t fall short.
Book a free strategy meeting today, and we’ll prove it to you.
Should I use a link-building agency?
Link-building agencies are ideal for businesses that are new in their industries, need a big boost in online presence, and lack the authority and know-how to build links on their own. If your business is in this position and you have the cash on hand to pay the requisite fees, using a link-building agency is highly recommended.
Which is the best link-building agency?
There is no “best” link-building agency, as there are pros and cons to the varying pricing structures, costs, and industry emphases used by different agencies. That said, agencies like Profit Engine that provide free strategy meetings, up-front cost information, and full link profile analyses with AI are usually preferable to those that don’t.
What makes Profit Engine different from other link-building agencies?
Profit Engine is a premier link-building agency based in the UK. We differ from other link-building agencies in a lot of ways—namely that we have numerous proven case studies of our past successes with clients across all different industries, and we only build links through organic, Google-approved methods like guest posts, niche edits, and HARO.
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After years of experience growing brands just like yours, we know what gets results and what doesn’t. We’ll stop you from spending too much time, resources and money on backlinks that don’t help. We’ll stop you from building links on harmful or useless websites. We’ll use our AI Link Strategy to analyze your competition and give you a personalized action plan.
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