Have you considered buying cheap backlinks on Fiverr or Legiit, then you might want to think again! Are you aware that the majority of cheap links are hacked or they are poor-quality with a damaging potential?
In the remainder of this article, you will learn all about cheap links, why you should avoid buying them, and the only way to rank high on Google without paying for Google Ads. If you prefer watching a video instead of reading, click the play button on the video embedded below. In less than 11 minutes, you will gain enough knowledge to improve your website.
The High Price of Inaction vs. The Cost of Building Good Links
I talk a lot about how a lot of gurus in the SEO space will overcomplicate the link-building process. Link building is essential. If you don’t do it, you are going to, over time, face steep competition and eventually get outranked. I wish I’d been more proactive with link-building much earlier in my SEO career.
At first, I hesitated, thinking I was going to build the wrong links, get penalized, and/or I don’t have the money to build links. What’s the true cost in terms of the opportunities if I build some links, and make a lot more money from ranking much higher? In that case, I will keep on building links and dominate my niche.
❗❗
Remember! You’re better off doing link building within certain parameters rather than not doing link building.
I generally say 90% of SEO is just content and links. You shouldn’t overcomplicate that too much. The price of inaction is greater than the cost of action. Simply get on and start building links, even if you only get 80-90% right the first time.
Dangers of Cheap Backlinks
If you go with an agency, you’re typically going to be paying approximately $200 to $300 per link and that can be quite off-putting, especially if you’re just starting with maybe an affiliate blog or something similar. If you’re only getting small Amazon commissions, then it’ll be difficult to pay for those kinds of links. It’s very tempting to go down the path of cheap backlinks, going on to marketplaces like Fiverr or Legiit.
Some of the cheap links will genuinely work. You don’t know what you’re getting if you’re getting cheap links for $40, $50, or even hundreds of links for only $100. I’ve had potential clients reach out and say, “I’ve already got someone doing me 100 backlinks a month for $99.” And my response to them always is: “Trust me, you don’t want those links!”
❗❗❗ Based on thousands of websites we’ve handled and monitored and hundreds of my websites I tested, trust me when I say:
Getting a few really good links is going to be better than hundreds of spammy ones.
Two Types of Cheap Links You Should Watch Out For
1. PBNs: A Shady Backlink Network to Avoid
Private Blog Networks (PBNs) are basically where you rebuild old domains that have a bit of power and then sell links on them. And they can work if you use them correctly. But the chances are if someone’s selling insertions on their PBNs on Fiverr then it’s probably going to go quite badly. They’re not doing it the right way. Private blog networks should be private for a reason.
2. Niche Edits aka Hacked Links
Niche edits have become a general term for any sort of link insertion where you reach out to a webmaster, and rather than writing them a full guest post, you just say, “Here’s a five-minute job for you. Can you just insert this link with this anchor text on your page?” And that’s really good.
However, the issue is that niche edits come from hacked links. So there are networks out there, basically networks of hackers where you can get these links inserted on all kinds of websites for literally a couple of dollars.
This is a big problem, basically, because you’ve got someone who hacked into a WordPress plug-in selling links. This allows things like casino or adult websites to easily get links placed on innocent sites, like a mom blog. That, clearly, is highly problematic. And that’s the sort of links you’ll mostly find on places like Fiverr, Legiit, etc.
Just from a value perspective, you’re probably paying a very high amount for very low-quality links that have just been hacked and would therefore probably be taken down eventually.
There are also ethical considerations.
I’ve even seen big agencies using these kinds of tactics. They buy from one seller, thinking they’re getting a good deal, but they’ve got no idea that there’s actually layers upon layers of resellers and ultimately at the top of it, it’s a hacker providing the source of those wholesale links.
The True Cost of Quality Link Building (and Why It’s Worth It)
Now, I’ve honestly got no idea which link builders on the Legiit site are legit and which are not, but from running an outreach link-building agency, I can tell that by the time you talk to a webmaster, they won’t insert your link for free, especially those with good quality websites. Webmasters are getting more stringent about accepting link insertions and that affects how much you can expect to pay for those.
Then you have the cost of actually doing outreach. You need tools like Hunter, outreach software, email warm-up, and actually training a team to go through the necessary steps to ensure you’re building a link on a good, quality website. By the time you factor all that in, you’ve got quite an expensive link. So I know it might be off-putting when an agency is charging $200 to $400 per link, but the reality is that it’s very difficult to do it for less.
The Minimum Requirements for Powerful Links (DR & Traffic)
When I started my agency, I was doing things cheaply, just planning to undercut the competition, thinking why are they charging so much? Six months later, I realized why they were. It was just impossible. It was unsustainable. And so I just had to raise prices. My fees were still a lot less than many agencies out there, but I rated it fairly so we could make enough to cover what it costs to fulfill these orders.
Part of our high requirements is that we look for links that are really going to move the needle.
❗❗❗
My ultimate advice when building links:
Go for the minimum DR of 30 and minimum traffic of 1,000. If it doesn’t have those, we don’t build that link because we want the real links that are actually going to move the needle.
Are There Any Safe Bets with Cheap Backlinks?
A lot of cheap links won’t be hacked. But at the same time, if they’re that cheap, there’s no guarantee they’re not part of a PBN network, a seller’s own private list of websites that they use just for selling links on low-quality websites.
However, if you set DR to 30, and traffic 1,000, then suddenly you open up a whole world of websites that aren’t getting that much traction from Google. So yes, you absolutely should buy that kind of cheap links.
But first of all, I don’t know which ones are the hacked links and which ones are genuine. And if you do get the genuine ones for $40, I still do not believe they will move the needle at all if they’re not hitting the requirements mentioned above. Because right now, I can buy a domain that’s expired for $150, with a DR of 10 or 15, put some basic content on it, and start ranking for a few keywords. But I won’t get any serious traffic for commercial keywords. That is why you should always check both the DR and traffic.
Tiered Link Building: A Risky Strategy With Unpredictable Outcomes
One of the questions I often hear is if it’s true that Google is going to give your website any credit for cheap links. I highly doubt it. The way most SEOs will use weak links is for tiered link building (a 10-minute video that explains what are tiered backlinks and when they are good for you).
FYI:
Tired links are low-quality, very cheap links SEOs use to boost content published on other websites.
For example: If you publish an article on Linkedin, post on Quora, comment on Reddit, or add a video to the YouTube channel, you can use the Money-Robot app and build thousands of low-DR links to your peace.
How to Implement the Tiered Link-Building Tactics
You have an inner ring of high-quality links that direct traffic to your website. You post content on another website. By building inexpensive links to your guest content, you will increase its power and ranking value. Since you put a link to your “white” website in the guest post, Google will not recognize that the questionable links are directed to your website.
❗ IMPORTANT: maintain a white hat inner ring, and bolster guest content extensively. For the tiered link-building strategy, I recommend tools like Money Robot.
In terms of Google’s eyes, Google can’t see that you’re the operator here. If there is any penalty, it’s going to be to the linking website, not to yours. That sounds a bit dark, but in reality, Google’s not going to penalize LinkedIn, YouTube, or Reddit 😉. Sites get links all the time.
The Ultimate Advice About Cheap Links
I will repeat again and again:
DO NOT BUILD (BUY) cheap links to your website! That’s very dangerous.
The only situation when you should consider buying or building cheap backlinks is to point them to the big website where you published the guest post. A few dodgy-looking links will give some power to your post, helping it rank higher. And there, you have a healthy backlink for your site, plus, you can bring more traffic due to the higher ranking. The circle is closed, you didn’t endanger your website, but you gave it some power, and hopefully attract more traffic without any risk.
______________________
Final piece of advice:
Link-building takes time (a lot). Sometimes, to build one healthy, powerful link, you’ll have to invest 8-10 hours of your work. Many tried and failed. You have to run your business, handling a million things daily. And yet again, you need backlinks if you want your website to pay off (unless you need a website just to enjoy its beauty). So, what should you do?
Obviously, contact us and we’ll do the grunt work for you.
If you are on a budget under 1K, our affordable rank-boosting packages will be the best choice.
If your budget exceeds 1K, then you are the perfect candidate for our 360-SEO & Link-building service. Let’s begin!
Earning Quality Backlinks the Right Way
You have to start with having that good strong white hat foundation of good quality links pointing at your website. So that’s the service we provide in-house and that’s through genuine outreach for the right price, not cutting corners and hacking links. The real danger, as I say, is those agencies out there that are reselling these links from a list and they’ve got no idea who they’re actually buying from at the top of the tree.
I’ll tell you more about that in my newsletter. So if you want to hear more about that and what to avoid, then make sure you sign up for my Ranking Revelations Newsletter.
