Link Building Costs: Complete Pricing Guide
Comprehensive guide to link building costs and pricing. Learn what factors determine prices, in-house vs agency costs, and how to budget for quality backlinks.
Quick Summary: Quality links cost $100-$1,500+ each. Monthly budgets range from $5,000-$20,000 for effective campaigns. In-house teams cost $9,000+ per month for 10 links.
The key is understanding what makes links valuable and how to budget accordingly for sustainable growth.
Building backlinks is a fundamental step of a successful outreach strategy. If a good number of high-authority domains refer to your pages, you significantly increase the prospects of improving your SERP ranking as well as your site's authority.
Google utilizes multiple qualifiers when ranking SERPs, one of them being the number of reliable links from prominent sources that refer to your content. What you need to understand about this system is that it prioritizes trustworthy publishers and relevant content.
A successful link building campaign should rely on:
- • Producing relevant content
- • Controlling the quality of what and how you post
- • Develop combined strategies for building links to grow backlinks naturally
All these rules point to the unfortunate fact that link building is not only expensive but usually takes a lot of effort, which means you can't just improve your ranking overnight. In many cases, outsourcing this process is more affordable than doing it in-house, mostly because you won't need to create a whole new department with its own needs and ecosystem.
Link Building Prices
The overall cost of link building is determined by a combination of factors: link quantity, their quality, your industry, and the scope of your campaign.
It's always easier to calculate your estimates based on prices for individual links, which are directly tied to how you plan your content output. The potential price range starts at about $100 per link and goes all the way up to $1,500 and above.
Pricing Overview
Per Link Costs
$100 - $1,500+
Depending on authority and industry
Monthly Campaigns
$5,000 - $20,000
For comprehensive link building
Keep in mind that these prices reflect "good" links and buying practices that aren't related to toxic backlinks. This means that buying cheap backlinks is not a viable strategy. These types of links won't grant you higher visibility. They also won't improve your authority by way of sheer quality.
What Are Good Links?
To boost your ranking, your backlinks must be consistent in quality. If you want to simply buy cheap bad links in bulk in order to somehow outnumber competitors with numbers—well, in short, it won't work.
A good link must be:
Relevant
The linking site should be topically relevant to your content and industry
Trustworthy
From authoritative domains with good reputation and clean link profiles
Organic
Naturally placed within content with contextual anchor text
⚠️ Anchor Text Warning
When generating links, be careful of how you handle anchor text—keep it as natural as possible and avoid using too many PR pitches and main target keywords, otherwise it will set off red flags for optimized anchors. The more your links are natural, the more traffic and brand recognition you will get.
What Determines Link Building Prices?
The value of links is highly individual and hinges, above all secondary qualifiers, on your industry. Every professional field exists in the broader context of performance ranking, specifically how competitive your field is in terms of search queries.
Low-End ($100-$350)
Backlinks that are relatively inexpensive due to the lower levels of competition in the industry.
Mid-Range ($350-$600)
Mid-range links that are more or less averagely priced based on moderate levels of competition.
High-End ($600-$1500+)
More expensive links that require more intricate content development and input.
Additional Pricing Factors
Link Authority
Backlinks will be more effective and, in turn, more expensive if they come from publishers with higher authority scores.
- • DR 40+: $300-$350
- • DR 50+: $350-$450
- • DR 60+: $450+
Content Quality
Well-researched and competently written content tends to be more expensive, as it involves more intensive and dedicated labor on the publisher's part.
Campaign Duration
Dedicated campaigns are often more affordable with certain agencies. It might cost you less in the long run if you commission a bundle rather than single links.
Industry Competition
Highly competitive industries require more effort to secure quality placements, driving up costs significantly.
How DR and DA Impacts Cost
Aside from the aforementioned factors, link building agencies also implement the pricing model that relies on Domain Rating (Ahrefs DR) as well as Domain Authority (Moz DA).
Both DR and DA are third-party metrics, so estimating their true effectiveness for the value is somewhat problematic, especially considering that Google doesn't take DA into account. That said, these two indicators are routinely used for evaluating the website and link quality across the industry.
| Domain Rating | Typical Cost Range | Link Quality |
|---|---|---|
| DR 20-30 | $100-$200 | Basic quality sites |
| DR 30-40 | $200-$350 | Good quality sites |
| DR 40-50 | $300-$450 | High quality sites |
| DR 50+ | $450-$1500+ | Premium quality sites |
⚠️ Beware of "Too Good to Be True" Offers
When buying links based on DR/DA metrics, be aware of cheaper offers that sound a little too good to be true. Unnaturally low-priced links with supposedly high DR/DA are more likely to come from link farms, which essentially renders them worthless for SERPs.
Domain Rating (DR)
With DR, Ahrefs employs a 1-100 scale system to measure the strength of individual URLs and their complete backlink profiles.
High DR could be an indicator of websites that might yield organic search traffic based on their engagement, relevance of content, search words optimization, and other factors. It's important to remember that the DR score is by no means the defining factor for a website's potential.
Domain Authority (DA)
Moz's DA is designed to predict a website's performance on SERP on a score of 1 to 100. Note that this score denotes the ability of a page to rank based on multiple factors.
These qualifiers include attributes like domain age, outgoing/incoming link volume, linking root domain, quality of backlinks, spam score, and other features subject to penalties by search engines.
Building Links In-House vs Agency Method
If you don't want to rely solely on agencies and are set on doing it in-house, brace yourself for some serious expenses. Building a team takes time, effort, money, and serious dedication.
In-House Team Costs
Agency Partnership
Pros:
- • Immediate expertise
- • Established relationships
- • Scalable results
- • No hiring/training costs
Cost Per Link Breakdown
Assuming that you plan to produce 10 links in one month with an in-house team, the overall cost will likely start at $4,500-$5,000 per month for labor plus just as much for adjacent expenses. This sets the average link price at about $180-$200 per link.
In-House Link Types & Costs:
- Guest Posts$100-$300
- Resource Pages$300-$750
- PR Backlinks$750+
How Many Backlinks Do You Need?
The number of backlinks you need depends on your industry competition, current authority, and business goals. However, quality always trumps quantity.
New Websites
5-10
Quality links per month to establish authority
Growing Sites
10-25
Links per month for steady growth and competition
Enterprise
25-100+
Links per month for competitive industries
Quality Over Quantity
Remember: 5 high-quality, relevant links from authoritative domains will always outperform 50 low-quality links from irrelevant sources. Focus your budget on fewer, better links rather than bulk purchases.
Budget Planning Guide
Small Business ($1,000-$5,000/month)
Budget Allocation:
- • 3-5 quality links per month
- • Focus on local/niche relevance
- • Guest posting and resource pages
- • Basic outreach tools
Expected Results:
- • Gradual authority building
- • Local search improvements
- • Foundation for future growth
- • 6-12 month timeline
Mid-Market ($5,000-$15,000/month)
Budget Allocation:
- • 10-25 quality links per month
- • Mix of strategies and link types
- • Competitive analysis and tracking
- • Professional tools and software
Expected Results:
- • Noticeable ranking improvements
- • Increased organic traffic
- • Better competitive positioning
- • 3-6 month timeline
Enterprise ($15,000+/month)
Budget Allocation:
- • 25-100+ links per month
- • Premium publications and sites
- • Custom content and PR campaigns
- • Advanced analytics and reporting
Expected Results:
- • Rapid authority growth
- • Significant traffic increases
- • Market leadership positioning
- • 1-3 month timeline
Cost-Saving Strategies
Bundle Pricing
Many agencies offer discounts for bulk orders. Buying 10-20 links at once can reduce per-link costs by 10-20%.
Long-term Contracts
Committing to 6-12 month campaigns often comes with significant discounts and better priority service.
Content Partnerships
Providing your own high-quality content can reduce costs and improve link relevance and effectiveness.
Seasonal Planning
Planning campaigns during slower periods (like summer) can result in better rates and availability.
Red Flags to Avoid
🚩 Prices Too Good to Be True
Links under $50 are almost always from link farms, PBNs, or low-quality directories that can harm your rankings.
🚩 Guaranteed Rankings
Any service promising specific ranking positions is likely using manipulative techniques that violate Google's guidelines.
🚩 Bulk Link Packages
"1000 backlinks for $99" offers are spam and will likely result in Google penalties rather than improved rankings.
🚩 No Portfolio or Examples
Legitimate link building services should be able to show examples of their work and the types of sites they secure links from.
Conclusion
Link building costs vary significantly based on your industry, goals, and the quality of links you're targeting. While it may seem expensive upfront, investing in quality link building is essential for long-term SEO success and organic growth.
Key Takeaways
- • Quality links cost $100-$1,500+ each, depending on authority and industry
- • Monthly budgets should range from $5,000-$20,000 for effective campaigns
- • In-house teams cost $9,000+ monthly but provide more control
- • Agencies offer expertise and relationships but less direct control
- • Focus on relevant, trustworthy, organic links over cheap bulk options
- • Plan for 6-12 months to see significant results from link building efforts