As SEO becomes a more competitive game, many bloggers are starting to realize that rather than funding their blogs through advertisements they can make top dollar off of paid links.
With this becoming a more prominent practice, we want to share with you what links are worth paying for and what links are not. Paying for links can be risky for your site or your client’s because if the site depends on money rather than quality content, Google may begin to consider the site as spam. Google could also consider your link to be low quality which will effect your rankings. This post will go over what links are okay to pay for and what industries will charge the most.
1) When to Pay
We all go through tough months in the link department whether it is for your clients or your own business. Sometimes it feels as if we come up short. It is always important to note that the quality of the link is more important than the quantity of links. When we get several low quality links, this can cause Google to start recognizing them as spam. Paying for links can be seen as a last resort or a boost depending on the industry.
First, you want to make sure the PR for the site that will feature your link is a 2 or higher, since you are paying, the higher the quality of the site the better. Though you are paying, there is still a chance the site will not put up your link if it isn’t high quality content. In fact, a lack of high quality content is why many sites have begun to charge for links. If they seem more than willing to put up your guest post no matter the quality, you should be sure the other posts on the site are high quality, to keep up the legitimacy of your link.
2) The Industries That Cost
Paying for links has been especially prominent in certain industries and the cost of links is also industry specific. In the auto and insurance company, we have been hard pressed to find sites that don’t charge for links. The links for these sites can cost anywhere from $2-$100 and up. If you don’t want to pay for links in the auto and insurance industry a good alternative is finance blogs. SEO blogs have not been hit especially hard with people charging for links but if you are having a month of struggle trying to get free links, design blogs are a good alternative. SEO blogs are a bit more savvy to what is going on in the pay-for-links industry so we are starting to see a bit of a rise in paid posts. You can expect to pay upwards of $40 for links on SEO blogs.
The industry I have seen the most expensive paid links for is the travel industry. Travel blogs are huge and to get links on some of the major blogs, you can expect to pay $700 or more depending on the size of the post!
Remember, paying for links is not a sin. In fact, it’s becoming a greater and greater necessity in our industry with each day that passes. Just be sure to be cautious before you decide to pay as the links are coming direct from your own pocket!