In 2019 it would be reasonable to think that the days of PBNs and cheap link building schemes are behind us, I mean what established SEO agency would be using those techniques now?
Unfortunately, based on our extensive research of the market, this is still many SEO agencies go-to product they peddle to unwitting clients.
Whilst, of course, there are some great agencies out there (like ourselves :)) it’s surprising how many are still around that boast of their incredibly cheap link building prices.
We won’t name names, but some of these sites are advertised on major SEO blogging sites.
These are SEO blogging sites that talk about the dangers of bad link building, yet do they really verify the companies they allow to buy ad space from them?
Whilst you may be asking, what isn’t great about buying links at affordable prices?
That isn’t the issue at stake here….
Of course, we all want a reasonably priced product, but at the same time, a product or services price usually comes at a direct correlation to the amount of time or the skill that is needed to create the product or fulfil the service!
And we’ll give you an example; recently a site caught our attention that was advertising links from a DA 30+ site, with a 500-word article for £80.
Instantly this caused us concern.
Firstly, any decent SEO professional will understand that a link from a 500-word article is now a dangerous path to go down.
Google saw how webmasters and SEO professionals had been trying to game the system by chucking up a load of 500-word articles and putting links in them. So those sorts of tactics are now an INSTANT red flag to Google.
Not only this but they then state that one of their ‘content creators’ will write the article for the blog or site your article will be put on.
So far, this means that for the small sum of £80, you will be having content created for you, AND outreach to find a suitable blog or website, and of course they will then be paying the site that will have your link on it a fee also.
This is in a company that has staff to pay, buildings to rent, so on and so forth. And you start to question how can £80 cover all of those costs? Especially when companies like these reside in the UK, USA etc and therefore still have higher costs of living!
It’s quite simple, it doesn’t!
There is no way business owners will be destroying their own bottom line just to provide a super cheap product or service, it’s unsustainable!
That means something’s got to give….
And unfortunately, it’s normally the quality of the site your link will be placed on or the quality of the content that is created for you.
Whilst yes, they may get you a link on a DA 30+ site, the reality is that site will probably be part of a network of sites owned by the SEO agency (like a Public Blog Network) where they can artificially inflate their DA and also create links to your site easily and quickly.
This is an issue because if a PBN is found out by Google they will drop those sites ranking instantly meaning the worth of your link is gone and that link actually then becomes a leech on your own ranking rather than helping boost it.
Or,
They are paying site owners, who just want to find a way to monetise their site, a tiny sum…
BUT, the SEO agency is the one content creating and putting the link on their site.
This is also dangerous and quite frankly stupid and unsustainable for both the SEO agency and the person with the site.
If a webmaster with a DA 30+ site begins having their site filled with blog posts with external links in an unnatural writing style, Google WILL notice. It will naturally lower the quality of that site, as the content on it will no longer be NATURAL to that of the authors or webmaster of the site. And you cannot underestimate how smart Googles algorithms now are at figuring out the language used in the content.
Not only this, but the humans who go to that site WILL notice the difference too, and how is DA achieved?
By the traffic that visits those sites!
If people are now clicking on these sites and finding subpar 500-word articles written by someone that has no actual connection to that blog then those users will lose interest, the traffic will decrease, and therefore so will the sites DA and the quality of that link you paid for….
Meaning it can actually begin harming your site, rather than benefiting it. Because low-quality links = damaging to your own sites ranking potential.
Not only that but they will have saturated these sites with external links, which also decreases the site’s trust in the eyes of Google.
Have you noticed that a lot of these SEO link building companies have a lot of content writers compared to the number of people who link outreach, this is a strong indicator that they require a lot more content to be produced than new links being found… i.e they are using the same PBNS/sites over and over again but are making sure to write new content in order to maintain the appearance of legitimacy!
Simply put there is no magic, quick fix, cheap formula to back linking!
It requires outreach, time and patience to find the right websites, editors, bloggers and so on to work with, who will produce great, relevant content that fits with your link but also sounds natural to their own writing style.
Whether you want a DA 30 link or a DA 60 link, the quality of the site SHOULD still be of utmost importance.
If not you’re playing a risky game, waiting for the moment an £80 link becomes poisonous to your site and becomes a much costlier loss.
