Buying Links: What Should You Consider In 2025

Link building isn’t easy. In fact, it can take months just to get one good backlink. And let’s be honest—waiting for a reply, following up, and hoping for the best takes a lot of time and effort. That’s why some people look for a shortcut: buying links.

But is it really a good idea?

There’s a lot of discussion about it, and there’s no simple yes-or-no answer. Some companies spend anywhere from $3,000 to $10,000 on link building campaigns.

Well, there are risks—Google penalties, wasted money, and even harm to your website’s rankings.

So, what’s the right move?

Stay with us, and we’ll go through everything together.

What Does Buying Links Mean?

Backlink buying is paying another website a certain amount of money to get links to your website from theirs.

It sounds simple—you pay, and they place your link on their website. Some website owners even do the same in return, linking back to others.

Many people believe that buying links will help bring more visitors and boost Google rankings. At first, it might seem like there’s no real difference between natural link building and paid backlinks. Even search engines might not notice right away.

But here’s the thing—Google doesn’t like it when you buy links instead of earning them naturally.

Also, if you go for cheap backlinks, you never really know if they’ll actually help or completely backfire. 

So before you jump into how to buy backlinks, ask yourself: Are these links truly worth it?

Is Buying Links a Good Idea?

The short answer? Not really.

The longer answer? You’ll probably just waste your money. Why? Because the seller might not be upfront about the quality of the links they’re offering. 

Most of the time, they’ll try to sell you backlinks in bigger quantities—sometimes thousands at once. 

But let’s be honest, are you really going to check every single one? 

Probably not. 

And that’s the problem. You could end up with harmful links—ones that are broken, unrelated to your industry.

Why Buying Links Can Be Risky

We’ve already mentioned that one big risk of buying backlinks is ending up with spammy links. 

But there’s more to it. 

So, here’s a quick list of what could go wrong if you decide to go down.

Low-Quality Links

Many cheap backlinks come from bad websites that exist just to trick people. These links won’t help you grow—in fact, they can do the opposite by damaging your website.

Check out an email from one of our specialists.

Here’s another example that even comes with a big red warning. 

Always check where your links are coming from!

You Might Look Like Spam

Some websites are just there to sell backlinks, not really offer anything useful. These sites are usually part of Private Blog Networks (PBNs), which Google doesn’t like at all. 

They use the same content and mess with rankings, making your website look spammy instead of trustworthy.

Wasting Money on Useless Links

When you pay for something, you expect quality.

But with buying backlinks, you might just be throwing money away.

You can see here an unreliable website example that can negatively affect your website’s credibility.

Instead of helping, they can harm your rankings and do more bad than good.

So, always choose quality over quick fixes!

You Might Have to Remove Them Later

If Google devalues these links, you’ll have to spend time removing them. 

This can be frustrating, especially if some links were actually helping your rankings. 

It’s a time-consuming process that no one wants to deal with.

Instead of spending money on risky backlinks, it’s smarter to invest in creating great content that naturally attracts links.

5 Key Reasons to Avoid Buying Links

We already discussed the risks of buying backlinks, but there are even more reasons to avoid this shortcut. While it may seem like a quick way to boost rankings, the truth is that it comes with serious downsides that can hurt your website in the long run.

Penalties from Google

Google’s guidelines clearly state that paid backlinks are against their policies. If Google catches you, your website can face severe penalties—either a significant drop in rankings or even complete removal from search results. Google applies two types of penalties:

• Manual penalties: A human reviewer flags your website for violating Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. This can result in ranking drops or deindexing.
• Algorithmic penalties: Google’s system automatically detects spammy links and quietly pushes your website down in search rankings. The tricky part? You won’t get a warning, and fixing the issue can be really difficult.

In short, that’s a risk no one wants to take.

With so much at stake, buying links isn’t a smart move.

Spammy Links

Most paid backlinks come from low-quality sources that can actually hurt your website instead of helping it. So, here’s why:

• Private Blog Networks (PBNs): These are groups of websites created just to boost rankings by linking to each other. 
• Random, unrelated websites: Many paid links come from websites that have nothing to do with your business. This makes your backlink profile look unnatural and won’t help your SEO.
• Spammy links in forums or website footers: These are low-quality links that search engines usually ignore. They don’t add any real value to your website.

You can see here an example of forum websites.

So, before you consider how to buy backlinks, be aware that these risks can outweigh any short-term benefits.

Spammy backlinks do more harm than good.

Temporary Gains

At first, buying backlinks might seem like a good idea, right?

You could see a small increase in traffic and rankings, which feels like it’s working. But Google is always updating its system to catch websites that try to cheat the rules. Once Google detects paid links, your rankings can drop, and fixing the damage isn’t easy.

Even if you don’t get penalized right away, Google gradually ignores low-quality links over time. 

So, why waste money on something that won’t help in the long run?

Unethical SEO Practices

While some may not see it as a big deal, paid backlinks are considered unethical for several reasons:

• It violates search engine guidelines. Google and other search engines prohibit paid links because they create an unfair advantage.
• It misleads users. If your website ranks high because of paid links rather than genuine authority, users may lose trust when they realize your content isn’t actually valuable.
• It undermines fair competition. Websites that grow through great content and natural backlinks deserve their rankings, while paid links attempt to manipulate the system.

SEO should be about value and trust.

High Costs

Buying backlinks isn’t cheap, especially if you’re targeting good websites.

Some websites even charge recurring fees to keep the links live.

Instead of wasting money on risky links, your budget would be better spent on:

• Content creation: Relevant, useful content naturally attracts backlinks over time.
• Outreach and networking: Building genuine relationships with industry leaders can help you earn links from reliable sources.
• SEO best practices: A well-optimized website with strong content and proper keyword research will rank better than one relying on artificial link building.

Rather than spending your budget on risky buying links, put your money towards creating good content and building real connections.

How to Build Links Ethically: Our Approach

Now, we know you might be thinking, “Wait, you just told me not to buy backlinks—what am I supposed to do now?” Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. 

So, here’s how our team builds links in an ethical, safe, and sustainable way.

Try an A-B-C Link Exchange

Instead of directly buying links, we focus on the A-B-C link exchange method. It’s simple—three websites work together and exchange links, avoiding a direct one-to-one link exchange.

It feels more natural and keeps everything looking authentic to search engines like Google.

Personalize Your Outreach

Link building is all about building relationships, not just sending cold, generic emails. When we reach out to potential partners, we make sure to personalize each message. 

We don’t just drop their name; we mention things about their business, their needs, and how working together could benefit both sides.

Create Valuable Content

Great content speaks for itself. We focus on creating articles, blogs, and resources that are so valuable that others want to link to them naturally. 

When our content is share-worthy, people start reaching out to us for backlinks, instead of us having to chase them down.

Link Insertions

Another method we love is link insertions. This involves adding a link to already successful content that’s ranking well on Google. 

It’s a win-win because your link gets placed in a relevant, high-authority article without needing to create a whole new piece of content.

Sure, it takes longer than buying links, but trust us, the results will be far more rewarding—and you’ll keep your credibility intact while you’re at it. 

Remember, good links take time!

To Wrap Up

To sum it up, buying backlinks might seem like a quick fix, but it’s definitely not the way to go. It’s not worth the risk. 

The way we see it, building links the right way—through real relationships, creating amazing content, and working together with others—might take a bit more time, but the rewards are totally worth it. 

It’s about doing things the smart way. 

So, focus on growing your website the right way, and you’ll see lasting results. 

If you have any questions or need guidance, we’re here to help every step of the way!

FAQ about buying links