Backlinks are a vote for confidence in search engines, which means links work as a positive recommendation so Google can trust your website. Hence, most SEO specialists try to keep a healthy backlink profile by looking for free or paid link building.
However, most people ask: Are free backlinks worth the effort, or should SEO specialists go for paid link building instead?
To know the answer, dig deeper by reading our blog!
Case Against Free Backlinks:
Indeed, you can improve your backlink acquisition by getting free links, which is more cost-effective for your business. But also remember that not all free links can yield great results.
Here are the reasons why:
👉 Low Quality Websites
Free links are quite easy to find on the internet. Just type “guest post article for (your product/service)”, and then you can see plenty of results. However, not all websites that offer free guest posts are of high domain authority. Some websites don’t even have a competitive organic search to attract visitors.
Additionally, the link juice from these websites will not significantly improve your ranking because of their issues with credibility and trustworthiness. Despite saving your budget, you will not see positive results from this effort.
As a piece of advice, sometimes it’s okay to spend your budget on SEO efforts to improve your backlink profile.
👉 Spammy Tactics
Free backlinks are indeed more cost-effective and more accessible to implement. Although it might seem like an easy process, free backlink schemes involve spamming comments or submitting to questionable directories, which can actually harm your SEO rankings.
To explain, spamming comments is posting irrelevant comments to online events, such as webinars, blog posts, and forums, to link back to your website. Google will see this as dubious because you intentionally inflate your links.
On the other hand, low-quality directories are also questionable according to Google’s standards. That’s why this tactic would do more harm to your SEO efforts.
You should be more careful when looking for free backlink opportunities. This will allow you to maximize your efforts and see positive results for your SEO.
👉 Risk of Google Penalty
According to SEMrush, a Google penalty is a negative indication that can affect your overall website’s rankings based on Google’s search algorithms. So, you must avoid getting a Google penalty through the free link building method. Here’s why:
Getting free backlinks is often a manipulative link building practice according to search engine’s standards. Since Google considers your link-building efforts manipulative, you will receive a penalty.
To avoid this, implement backlinking strategies that are effective and healthy for your link profile. Maximize your social media, infographics, and guest posting opportunities to improve your backlinks.
👉 Time Investment vs. Reward
Time is money in the business industry. So, wasted time may lead to a loss of sales! For this reason, you need to utilize your time to implement your backlinking efforts.
As such, Acquiring free backlinks can be a time-consuming process, often requiring manual outreach and potentially low success rates. Aside from this tedious process, free backlinks may even lead to Google penalties.
The time spent on low-quality link acquisition could be better invested in creating high-quality content or developing a solid SEO strategy that attracts natural backlinks.
✅ In short, free backlinks often come at a cost – wasted time, potential penalties, and minimal SEO benefits. For this reason, let’s look at another strategy you can try – paid link building.
Alternative Strategy: High-quality (Paid) Link Building
Getting free backlinks is not working anymore? It’s better to invest your budget with high-quality paid link building. Here are the reasons why:
👉 Higher Quality Links
Remember that in your link building efforts, high-quality links should be your primary focus. In the latest Google update, quality links are more important than quality, so even if you have 50 backlinks from non-reputable websites, you still need to improve your search rankings.
To solve this problem, you can find paid link building marketplaces that connect you with reputable websites that can provide valuable backlinks. In doing so, you can find credible websites relevant to your niche.
👉 Reputable and High-Authority Websites
Since you are getting higher-quality links, it is safe to say that these links come from high-authority websites with relevant content, giving your SEO a significant boost!
Remember that reputable websites have more link juice to help your website improve visibility and credibility. What’s best is that you can also increase your overall sales with high-quality links.
👉 Targeted Approach
If you’re planning to build links, it’s essential to focus on your target audience to get the appropriate organic search that may convert to sales or conversion rate.
Fortunately, paid marketplaces allow you to target specific websites within your niche, ensuring the backlinks are relevant to your audience.
In addition, you will save time because you don’t need to research whether the website applies to your niche. You only need to pay for specific websites to publish your guest post and reach the target audience.
👉 Reduced Risk
As mentioned above, there is a risk in the free link building process because it might seem manipulative to search engines and may cause penalties. So, the best thing you can do is connect with reputable websites.
One way you can do this is to learn the concept of link building marketplaces, where you can connect with reputable websites for backlinks according to your needs.
The Importance of using ethical marketplaces that prioritize high-quality links and avoid Google penalties can improve your SEO performance.
Final Verdict: Invest for Paid Backlinks ✅
Understandably, as a business owner, you are cautious about spending your budget on your SEO and marketing efforts. However, free backlinks are generally not worth the risk and may even cause more damage because of Google penalties, low-quality websites, and spammy tactics.
So, remember that if you want to reap potential rewards for your SEO efforts, it’s highly recommended that you look for paid backlinking services that can ensure high-quality websites and a greater focus on your target audience.
Most importantly, building a strong SEO strategy is essential for crafting quality content and improving user experience for better business performance.
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